It is clear that, after initially being in warm support of the project represented in Inspiration and Incarnation: Evangelicals and the Problem of the Old Testament (I&I) (see his blurb on the back of the book), Waltke has had a change of heart after a second reading. He and I discussed this matter at some length over the past year or two, and we both thought an exchange in WTJ would be fruitful. I appreciate Waltke’s candor in his views and the respectful tone with which he presents them.

I am posting these articles because I think they lay out clearly two very different approaches to dealing with some pressing matters of biblical interpretation and perhaps lay some groundwork for how those with training and interest in biblical studies can further this conversation.

Waltke and I clearly have sharp differences on a number of issues but this exchange is (I trust) free of rancor and condescension. What has struck me in the last several months is the considerable gap there is among some between the manner in which important matters are discussed and the basic ethic that Jesus promulgated, an ethic that even the most ardent secularists throughout history have taken note of and even admired. This is not to deflect the importance of debate and sharp disagreement, as I hope this exchange demonstrates, but neither Watlke nor I want to contribute to such dysfunction in the church. We hope, rather, that the complex and perennial academic points can rise to prominence, as they should. I hope readers enjoy and profit from this exchange.

Download Revisiting Inspiration & Incarnation by Bruce Waltke (PDF)

Download Response to Bruce Waltke by Peter Enns (PDF)

I have a longer history with this book than most others, except for the author himself. I was asked by Baker to review the book in pre-publication form in January 2007, and I did so with great interest. After its publication in 2008, I was able to read the book again, and all of this culminated in an extremely well attended session at this past year’s meeting of the Society of Biblical Literature in Boston in November 2008.

In two posts, I would like to (1) outline briefly what I think are the central tenets of the book, and (2) recreate, as it were, something of the SBL session. On the second point, I will outline my own comments as well as make available, with their gracious permission, the written comments of Stephen Chapman (Duke Divinity School) and Bill Arnold (Asbury Theological Seminary).

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Peter Enns – Author of the controversial Inspiration and Incarnation, Enns was until recently a professor of Old Testament at Westminster Theological Seminary. His academic interests include: Old Testament Theology, Biblical Theology, Wisdom Literature (esp. Ecclesiastes), the NT’s use of the OT, Second Temple literature, and the general issue of how the historical context of Scripture affects how we understand the nature of Scripture within Reformed and Evangelical commitments.

Stephen Chapman – Stephen Chapman has been a professor of Old Testament at Duke since the fall of 2000. His research centers on issues of canon, hermeneutics and theological approaches to scriptural interpretation. An active participant in the Baptist World Alliance, he is a member of both its Workgroup on Theological Education and its Committee on Doctrine and Interchurch Cooperation.

Website: http://socraticclubtwoviews.blogspot.com/

Defining “inerrancy” is certainly a topic of discussion among Evangelicals, and opinions are voiced from one extreme of maintaining older paradigms at all costs to jettisoning the term all together as hopelessly over-qualified in contemporary discussion.

I am among those who feel that the term inerrancy has become for Evangelicals severely overqualified because of the recognition of the tensions between older formulations of the term and the developments in our understanding of the Bible and its world. The Evangelical understanding has diversified and developed—sometimes begrudgingly, perhaps—over the last several generations, which is a fact that is both desirable and unavoidable.

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Inerrancy
The Audience of I&I