Over many centuries, the light of revelation—God's message of hope, salvation, and love—has warmed and illumined the hearts of those who study the Bible. Countless individuals have been healed, have been inspired, and have felt that God's presence has been revealed to them.
At the threshold of the twenty-first century, Biblical scholarship has, like many other academic disciplines, been revolutionized by social and technological change. It is asking new questions, for example in the area of feminist theology; and it is able to uncover and manipulate data in ways that were virtually inconceivable before the development of the computer. As an academic discipline, however, its main concern has not greatly changed over the centuries. Academic Biblical study remains for some scholars an effort to understand God's word and creation largely through the human intellect. For that reason, such Biblical scholarship has a limited usefulness to persons of whatever religious persuasion whose primary concern in reading the Bible is growth in spiritual understanding and regeneration. It can be useful up to a point, just as many other human disciplines are, in drawing lines of thought and making significant distinctions.
But strong spiritual growth cannot be achieved by the human intellect alone. Nor can the human intellect with its harvest of academic treatises on the Bible properly be regarded as the corroborator of revelation. The truth of the matter is quite the other way around. It is revelation and demonstration that authenticate scholarship, illumine it, redeem it from becoming an arid, intellectual exercise, and indicate when it is headed in a fruitful direction.
This observation was as true in ancient times as it is today. Jesus wasn't the promised Messiah just because one or two of the Pharisees, like Nicodemus, acknowledged him. Consent from their human learning did not validate his mission, nor did lack of consent invalidate it. Rather, in a very few instances, human learning came to the Christ light and was humble enough to bow meekly before it. (Even Nicodemus did not bow without arguing!) The official scholarship of his day, more often than "bowing meekly," attempted to extinguish the spiritual light of Jesus' mission.
So when a student finds, in a commentary or learned work on Scripture, an insight that corresponds to something that he has gained from his own inspired reading or that he has demonstrated in his own experience, he may rejoice in this enlightened scholarship. But he would be mistaken to conclude that scholarship is the test of his inspiration's value and accuracy.
Perhaps the basic issue, after all, is a matter of priorities. Does one approach Scripture as an end in itself, as a literary text full of human insights and details of people's experiences in their quest for the divine? Or does one regard Scripture as a window on God Himself, leading each individual reader forward in an adventure of spiritual discovery and unfoldment concerning his or her very real and very specific relationship to God? If the former approach is taken, then the ways and means of the human intellect are generally adequate to fathom the significance of the Bible. But if the latter, then prayer and intuitive listening to God are the place to begin in developing a Scriptural study plan.
As we do approach our Bible study intuitively and prayerfully, we shouldn't be surprised when the light of revelation "breaks in." I recall in particular one instance of this about fifteen years ago. I was enrolled in a doctoral degree program in Biblical studies. Qualifying examinations, four hours each in five different areas, faced me, and I felt very frightened and alone. One exam was to be an oral test, and another was in a subject that no one at the university had ever prepared for before. To study for these required seemingly endless reading in several modern languages and painstaking translation of a large number of ancient texts.
I was in the midst of one of these translation projects, up to my elbows (literally!) in lexicons, grammatical handbooks, and commentaries, when suddenly the word Israel leaped off the page at me. It was as if the term glowed in the dark; and at the same time I felt a rush of warmth and peace surrounding me and dissolving the panic that had been my more or less perpetual state. That was a moment I'll never forget, because it touched my heart.
Years of study had contributed to an intellectual sense of what the Hebrew community called Israel included, whence it originated, and how it developed. But in that moment I felt myself at one with "Israel" in a far deeper sense. I felt part of the family of God that includes all creation, not just a "favored" tribe of people. I felt directed by divine light, guided and protected by the same omnipotent Mind that had spread before the feet of the Exodus generation a dry path between walls of churning water. They had made it through to the other side—to freedom, to hope fulfilled in a new life. And I knew I would make it through my own (ultimately far less dire but at that moment no less personally terrifying) "Red Sea" of examinations and dissertation. Eventually I did, with God's help and guidance.
On the surface, the circumstances under which this insight dawned upon me couldn't have been more academic. My conscious focus at that time was figuring out the grammatical construction of an ambiguous Hebrew verb form. But that focus didn't stop the light of Christ, Truth, from coming into consciousness and meeting a heartfelt need. And the incident just related didn't end there. Similar influxes of light have come to me countless times as I've pursued Biblical research, and especially as I have taught in the classroom.
To the Christian Scientist, these experiences are not mystical or supernatural. They are the natural outcome of communion with God and explain the priority that Christian Science accords to the revelatory Word of Scripture. As Mrs. Eddy states in Science and Health, giving the first tenet of Christian Science: "As adherents of Truth, we take the inspired Word of the Bible as our sufficient guide to eternal Life."Science and Health, p. 497.
Many people have wrestled long and hard with the challenge of reconciling a love for the Bible as the sacred text of God's Word with an intellectual interest in it. Those who accord priority to inspiration and the spiritual sense of the Bible may nevertheless be nudged in a helpful way by intellectual activity to examine their faith, look at it from a variety of perspectives, and ask questions of it that cannot be answered quickly or glibly. Faith, which nurtures spiritual understanding, isn't something handed out on a silver platter. It comes to the individual only through humility, persistent listening to God, and wholehearted seeking after light.
One way to look at the Bible is as a record of people's search for, experience of, and communion with, God; and academic methods are often useful in making that record as clear as possible. In-depth study of the history of the Bible and its literary characteristics can close the distance between ancient customs, thought patterns, and idioms and those of today. It presents, moreover, what evidence exists as to the human circumstances and conditions of Truth's appearing. For example, Moabite inscriptions corroborate and supplement Biblical accounts of the Monarchic period (see, e.g., II Kings 1:1). Literary studies highlight the sublime beauty and mastery of form and style that Old Testament poets brought to the expression of inspired sentiments, as if they were precious jewels displayed in finely wrought settings. A study of the development of the English language in the Bible can open doors. Semantic study has shown, for instance, that in the time of King James the word prevent meant "go before." Thus, the intended sense of Psalms 59:10 ("The God of my mercy shall prevent me ... .") is quite different from that which might at first appear to the modern reader of this English translation. And historical inquiry can reveal the circumstances under which a text was composed or written. We may discover, for example, that a letter of St. Paul was addressing problems in his time which show a remarkable correspondence to present-day challenges confronting churches and individuals.
Scholarship can and does inform the intellect. It remains the province of spiritual sense, however, to reflect on the Biblical record and perceive within it the light that has for centuries pointed the path to life in God. That spiritual light is what has given to the Bible its divine authority and central place in the development of Western civilization; and without it, Biblical history would be of no broader significance than, say, the ancient poetic texts of Ugarit or the temple records of Babylon. In Science and Health, the Christian Science textbook, Mrs. Eddy writes, "Take away the spiritual signification of Scripture, and that compilation can do no more for mortals than can moonbeams to melt a river of ice."Ibid., p. 241. A Biblical poet said of God, "The entrance of thy words giveth light; it giveth understanding unto the simple."Ps. 119:130. The Bible is important to individuals, and to people working together in groups, precisely because these words of the ancient poet are true. The Bible is more than history or literature. The Bible contains light for all mankind.
St. John's Gospel speaks of the light that "shineth in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not."John 1:5. A knowledge of New Testament Greek shows that the verb rendered in the King James Version as comprehended also can mean "seized; overcame." Accordingly, the text indicates that darkness does not master light; light dispels darkness. Just so has the human intellect attempted to stifle the spiritual message of God's word in Scripture within an intricate, tangled mass of doctrinal, historical, and literary theories. Such theories, and the arguments accompanying them, have existed for centuries. But even as the Gospel declares, they have never eclipsed the light of truth that brightens the pathway of the honest seeker who turns for guidance to the pages of the Bible.
Biblical scholarship does not operate in an intellectual vacuum. Like thinkers in other fields, Biblical scholars apply critical (i.e., analytical) methods to the history, literature, and tradition of Scripture. Some—probably most— of these methods are applied to other texts or in other settings by colleagues in various academic disciplines. There is a significant difference, however, between the expected outcomes. A classical scholar may study Homeric poetry and a Biblical scholar may study the book of Job, using the same academic methods and procedures. But what is to be found in the two texts is not at all the same.
If each piece of literature were a market, general shopping techniques would work in either one; but the latter has a much more extensive, varied stock of items. And beyond the matter of variety is the more basic difference in substance. Homer's work is superlatively beautiful; but the Bible transcends human superlatives with its richness of concepts rooted in spiritual reality. Spiritually interpreted, it gives an accurate and demonstrable understanding of God's nature and man's identity in relation to Him. The Bible provides a definition of life that has divine authority and thereby has power to redeem human experience, to heal and regenerate it. In a word, the Bible transforms. No one whom its message really touches is ever the same again.
I recall a classroom experience that serves as a case in point. Cheating had been reported on an assignment, but I did not know the identity of the students involved. As I prayed to be shown how to proceed, I felt impelled to read aloud to the class the story of Christ Jesus' encounter with Zacchaeus recorded in Luke 19:1–10. I did so without comment, trusting the Christ-power that had transformed Zacchaeus's character to touch the hearts of students and instructor alike with a revived sense of purity and love. Later that day the students who had cheated acknowledged what had taken place and apologized. In each case we were able to speak directly and honestly, without personal condemnation but with a strong commitment to upholding the moral law. No further incidents of dishonesty took place in that class. Truly, on that occasion I felt my students and I could answer an enthusiastic "yes!" to the questions with which Mrs. Eddy begins her "Communion Hymn": "Saw ye my Saviour? Heard ye the glad sound? / Felt ye the power of the Word?"Poems, p. 75. And that is what a course in Biblical study should help to do. Learning historical facts and theological concepts is useful. But feeling the redemptive, transforming power of God within brings blessings that remain forever.
The Bible declares, "All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness."II Tim. 3:16. There do, however, seem to be aspects of the Bible and its message that disturb the modern reader: accounts, for example, of slaughter and pestilence apparently visited on enemies of Israel by a national God. Where's the light in something like that? This is a query not to be dismissed summarily, for one cannot deny that Biblical authors vary in the perspectives they take on many basic issues. Some perspectives are more transparent to light than others. Sometimes historical study can reconstruct the circumstances under which a spiritual perspective became obscured, and so can serve as a useful warning. Sometimes literary criticism can expand the meaning or context of a concept so that its unsavory nature, to our modern sensibilities, is somewhat mitigated. Sometimes one simply may conclude that ancient authors weren't always successful in expressing accurately through human language what God had unfolded to them.
Christian Scientists love and study the Bible. Together with the Christian Science textbook, the Bible is the ordained pastor of their church. (See the Manual of The Mother Church by Mrs. Eddy, Art. XIV, Sect. 1.) It was through Mrs. Eddy's inspired, careful study of the Bible that the textbook was written, and it contains two chapters in which Mrs. Eddy sets forth a spiritual exegesis—a precise, verse-by-verse analysis —of sections of Genesis and Revelation, respectively. Accordingly, no wise student of this Science would spend all of his time with the textbook and neglect the Scripture it is intended to unlock and explain. Christian Scientists seek Bible light just as energetically as they can, and in this seeking they join their Jewish and other neighbors. The Bible speaks to the hearts of people in individual ways; so it's natural that people derive different ideas from Biblical study. People walking together along a woodland path notice different things about their surroundings and have their own thoughts to ponder as they go along. But the important point is that insofar as they can walk the path together, they encourage and support one another in every way possible.
Sometimes, however, our paths do part, as happened with Christ Jesus and the scholarly theologians of his time. Both studied Hebrew Scripture and cited it in their teachings. But for Christ Jesus, that Scripture was more than a compilation of human history and theories about God. It was alive with power to heal and aglow with light to redeem and regenerate human experience. Jesus didn't spend his time in merely intellectual arguments; through the new light he brought to Scripture he demonstrated the authority and truth of the Bible in his daily ministry.
Surely the world is ready for a fresh, spiritual perspective on the Bible, one that can actually be applied and tested in the laboratory of human experience. The academic field of Biblical scholarship needs in its midst individuals who are imbued with the spirit of practical Christianity, and whose research and teaching are guided by the revelatory light of Scripture that redeems and elevates the scholar. Mrs. Eddy writes: "Those, who are willing to leave their nets or to cast them on the right side for Truth, have the opportunity now, as aforetime, to learn and to practise Christian healing. The Scriptures contain it. The spiritual import of the Word imparts this power."Science and Health, p. 271. Mankind as a whole needs in its midst all those who are actively seeking to know the Bible better; it needs Christian Scientists who are willing to follow Christ, Truth, in walking in the light that Scripture reveals.
