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Ancient Word, Changing Worlds: The Doctrine of Scripture in a Modern Age

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Stephen Nichols has quickly become one of my favorite contemporary authors. Some of my favorites include his biography of Martin Luther, his book on the "American Jesus" (Jesus Made in America), the book on the Reformation- How a Monk and a Mallet Changed the World, and his work on the early church entitled For Us and Our Salvation. Nichols now pipes in with a helpful book on the doctrine of Scripture with a specific emphasis upon our contemporary age.

Ancient Word, Changing Worlds focuses on the contemporary challenges to and defenses of the Bible. Nichols observes that these challenges have providentially caused a "deeper reflection on and clearer expression of the doctrines of Scripture." Furthermore the author writes,

These doctrines orbit around three words, words that have received a great deal of attention in the nineteenth, twentieth, and now into the twenty-first centuries. These three words are inspiration, inerrancy, and interpretation. This book tells the story of these words, and particularly the story of how these words were developed in these last few centuries. It is the story of how the ancient word of God speaks to and in our changing world.

The format for the book is as simple and informative. After unpacking each of the three key words listed above in their own chapters the author then compiles a list of writings from folks in the midst of the respective debates over Scripture. In the midst of these quotations Nichols provides helpful commentary, observation and conclusion. So for instance, you have quite a bit of quotations from BB Warfield, A.A. Hodge and J. Gresham Machen. But at the same time we have the other side of the debate from liberals like Harry Emerson Fosdick. Nichols also takes you back to some of the most important developments of the past couple of hundred years in these battles. His unpacking of the `new evangelicalism' and the events that surrounding Fuller Seminary's departure from historic biblical orthodoxy were both riveting and troubling. The reader is reminded afresh of the hot coals that still burn today in this battle and the need to continue to work hard on such important issues. So in this sense it refreshes you with the doctrines, informs you of the issues, reminds you of the battles, and charges you to be faithful in both understanding and defending inspiration, inerrancy and interpretation.

Overall the book was a very enjoyable read. It really combined three of Nichols' strengths as a writer. He is doctrinally precise, an astute historian, and a terrific writer. Many people may not get too excited about a book on this subject but Nichols not only makes it informative but quite enjoyable. In my opinion, at a minimum pastors need to refresh themselves on the doctrine of Scripture at least annually. Here the author serves you by making it easy.

In the book of Genesis, we find in chapter 3 verse 1 the first recorded words of Satan--"Indeed, has God said..." (NASB) From the beginning, Satan has attempted to cast doubt or even to destroy the word of God. In the past 150 years, the word of God has come under attack as never before. However, the most vicious attacks have not come from outside the church by scientists who sneer at the idea of God creating the world out of nothing or by philosophers who dismiss the Bible as just another book.

In fact, the most sinister attacks have been from those who call themselves "Christians" but who reject the idea that the Bible is the word of God with all the authority that being the word of God entails. The book Ancient Word, Changing Worlds: The Doctrine of Scripture in a Modern Age written by Stephen J. Nichols and Eric T. Brandt seeks to give a solid overview of the fundamental doctrines of scripture (inspiration, inerrancy, and interpretation) by reviewing some of the major theological figures in the debates ranging across denominations from the end of the 19th century through the new millennium. While the book itself is not very long, it does an excellent job of packing quite a bit of information in a concise, accessible format that would be useful for all Christians interested in defending God's word.

First of all, the book is a fairly quick read. Including three appendixes, the book totals only 175 pages. Furthermore, each chapter is laid out logically presenting both the arguments for and against the conservative evangelical position including material from a wide variety of scholars. The book is full of good information without being overly technical. A person could read the book in under a week without having to devote a undue amount of time to reading it.

Second of all, the book does an outstanding job of tracing the development of the doctrine of biblical inerrancy in the modern age, going all the way back to the Princeton Theologians Charles Hodge and B.B. Warfield. While not giving an exhaustive examination of all their writings, the authors do a splendid job of including some of their major writings on the subjects covered while also providing a fair examination of the opinions of dissenting theologians. In short, a person who read this book would come away with a solid foundation of the major points related to the inerrancy, inspiration, and interpretation of the sacred text.

In short, I highly recommend this book. It would make an excellent addition to any Christian's library and would also work well for a small group study. In a world where the word of God is constantly under attack, it is imperative for all Christians to be able to give solid answers to the hard questions regarding the reliability of the word of God.

Ancient Word, Changing Worlds the Doctrine of Scripture in a Modern Age by Stephen J. Nichols and Eric T. Brandt, is another one of those jewels that I ordered largely on the basis of needing to increase my order for some other books, to recieve free shipping. Ifll grant you that the title of this book caught my attention, but I was not really shopping for a book on the doctrine of scripture. Nevertheless, I am very glad I bought it. I found it to be an informative and helpful read. I am also pleased that I now have this as a resource in my library because it contains the writings of some really brilliant minds, representing orthodox and reformed Christian theology. More about this in a moment.

While perhaps not in the league with a seminary textbook on the subject of the doctrine of scripture, this book still provides a tremendous overview on the subject, and one that particularly focuses on the changing and gemergingh views that have characterized modernity and post-modernity.

The authors have organized the book in a very friendly and readable structure. The book first of all, centers around three critical words with respect to the doctrine of scripture, inspiration, inerrancy, and interpretation. These three words receive treatment from the authors in a separate chapter dedicated to each. In these chapters, they provide a narrative of the history and development of these three critical words as they relate to scripture and the differing points of view that have materialized from the mid-1800s to the present. Following each of these chapters is another dedicated to select readings from the primary source documents that were used to construct the authorfs narratives.

I don't believe I have ever read a book structured quite like this, and I admit that initially I didn't quite get it. But it proved to be very effective. Effective in the sense that rather than quoting a reference and simply footnoting it, the authors provide the actual texts from which they drew their conclusions, in the succeeding chapter. The three chapters containing these source readings are titled, fittingly enough, In Their Own Words. The theologians represented in these source readings include Hodge, Warfield, Wescott, Manly, Machen, Preus, Henry and Packer among others. But the authors also include some opposing views to these conservative theologians such as Barth, Berkouwer, Beegle and Fosdick along with others, who have succumbed to varying degrees to modernist/post-modernist sensitivities.

Ancient Word, Changing Worlds is an excellent book, but definitely not suited for the casual reader of religious non-fiction. Although it reads easily, and I found it incredibly helpful, anyone who is comfortably challenged theologically by authors such as Max Lucado or Rick Warren will likely be very frustrated by the technical content and more academic nature of this book. My guess is you will be frustrated within the first chapter. You will find a vast resource of information in this book, but very little in the way of reflection and contemplation, such as you might expect in books written by those two authors and others who are similar. But, if you are interested in a challenge and a trip that takes you much deeper into the important, let me correct that, the essential teaching of the authority of scripture, this really is an excellent book.

This book is a brilliant, and very clear, introduction to some of the issues within a Biblical understanding of the Doctrine of Scripture. The approach the author's have taken is to devote chapters 1, 3, and 5 to a historical overview of inspiration, inerrancy and interpretation. These chapters are well written and clear leaving the reader with a good understanding of the issues around each topic as well as giving confidence in an orthodox position. The remaining chapters (chapters 2, 4 and 6) give extended quotations from people and works that have been significant in the history of the issue that the given chapter is considering. This is brilliant in allowing the reader to consider the source text themselves, as well as providing leads for further study and thought.

I would wholeheartedly recommend reading this book to anyone who wants an introduction, and defence, of a Biblical understanding of the doctrine of Scripture.

If you asked Jesus what he thought of automobiles, he would look at you bewildered. "Ancient Word, Changing Worlds: The Doctrine of Scripture in a Modern Age" is a scholarly discussion about how scripture applies to the modern world, if it applies to at all. Interpretation is the main focus here; "Ancient Word, Changing Worlds" uses history to analyze how scripture has been applied to rapidly changing society and technology. "Ancient Word, Changing Worlds" is an utterly fascinating look at the evolution of interpretation, when scripture itself remains unevolved.

There is plenty to like about this book for those who have gained an interest in the subject matter. The book is conveniently divided into six basic parts. Chapters 1, 3, and 5 give the authors' commentary on the the modern history pertaining to the discussion among conservative and not-so-conservative scholars about biblical inspiration, inerrancy, and hermeneutics. Chapters 2, 4, and 6 give quotes from authors and exegetes on both sides of the discussion. These even numbered chapters, I think, are the real strength of the book. There are lots of nice quotes across the board in one handy little book. Also, chapters 1, 3 and 5 give a nice sketch of the outbreak of controversy as it initially happened in various denominations in the US during the 20th century. Much of that history is not often mentioned in your average book arguing for this or that position on inspiration.

On the other hand, the "modern" history the book starts with basically begins with Hodge and Warfield at Princeton University at the turn of the 20th century. Granted, the book intends to focus on the "modern" discussion, but it would have been nice to have a decent introduction to tell us how the discussion went in prior centuries (our introduction is about four pages). After all, the real clash with biblical criticism started hundreds of years earlier in post-Reformation/post-Enlightenment Europe. Particularly Germany has been very important. The discussion did not start in the late 19th century in the USA.

In fact, it has continued to be true that the leading "modern" thinkers on the non-conservative side have often been from Germany. Our authors even quote Karl Barth, a Swiss theologian. Unfortunately, despite the fact that Europe has produced the leading thinkers on the non-conservative side, the commentary sections of our book focus almost exclusively on the discussion in the USA during the last 125 years. Indeed, the author's preference for the conservative position is much more obvious in the commentary chapters. However, the book is worth having just for the quote chapters. After all, $10 is not all that much for the book.