One of the tenets of Anglicanism is that the Bible, in the words of Article 6 of The Thirty-Nine Articles, “containeth all things necessary to salvation”. Anglicans, in other words, are committed to an intelligent understanding and following of the Bible.
The issues dividing us across Anglicanism is not biblical authority in itself, but rather our interpretation of the certain texts. We agree on a lot more together than we sometimes recognise. Anglican Christians disagree, not so much on the centrality of Scripture, but on the ways in which Scripture is to be interpreted for us today.
There are three principles involved in interpreting Scripture. In the first place, faithfully listening to Scripture means taking seriously the context out of which it arises. This aspect means primarily awareness of the ancient world which is so very different from the modern Western world in its values and attitudes. It includes listening to the immediate contexts out of which individual texts have emerged. To what immediate situation are the biblical authors addressing their narratives, prophecies, rhetoric, teachings?
This question is of vital importance in interpreting Scripture because it is possible to make erroneous assumptions about what the text means. It is easy to view the text as a mirror in which we see only our own worldview, our presuppositions, even our prejudices, reflected back at us.
The second issue is that tradition plays a role in understanding and interpreting Scripture. The early creeds and councils of the Church in the first centuries outlined core aspects of Christian belief. The doctrines of the Trinity and the two natures of Christ are not always explicit in the New Testament. These teachings are drawn out through the experience and reflection of the early church into something much clearer, something to which we as Anglicans give assent.
The noted Anglican scholar Kevin Giles has argued that tradition plays a part in the interpretation of the Bible in "What the Bible actually Teaches about Women" (Cascade Books, 2018). For him tradition represents the ongoing consensus of the church in its exploration of scriptural truth for the current context. It may take time before the church reaches consensus on a particular matter but discussion and even disagreement are part of the process.
Giles says what needs to be discerned is the difference between church teaching that goes beyond the Scripture – that is, moving into new areas that the Bible itself does not envisage – and teaching that goes directly against it. The former is inevitable, the latter theologically problematical. However, on how this distinction operates, some Anglicans may sharply disagree. Yet we all agree that new problems and new contexts that have no direct word from Scripture require new answers, guided by theological principles that derive ultimately from the Bible itself.
The third aspect that is essential in interpreting Scripture is the role of experience. Previous generations might have spoken of this as “reason”: the lived out Christian reflection on our context and on creaturely existence that shapes our response to Scripture. The teachings of the Bible are neither irrational nor arbitrary. They arise from the experience of community — Israel and the church — and are directed at shaping and deepening that experience. Biblical teaching does not run contrary to reason, though it may well take us beyond it.
We also believe that the Holy Spirit not only inspired the text but also continues to inspire its interpreters, whether clergy, theologians or ordinary Christians endeavouring to live as faithful disciples of Christ in the light of God’s gracious rule. We need therefore to gather around the Scriptures in dialogue not only with the text but also with one another, bringing our diverse perspectives to bear on how we read and live out the text. That is part of what it means to be church.
As Anglicans, therefore, we accept the authority of Scripture in its prophetic and apostolic witness to Jesus Christ, the Word of God. Where we differ is the ways in which we interpret the text. That diversity might include the different weightings we give to tradition and experience or reason in our interpretation of Scripture.
Our commitment to worship and mission is nourished by Scripture which unites us in love and in a common desire to proclaim the good news to the world around us in word and deed. Together, in our diverse readings of the text, we bear living witness to Jesus Christ, to the holy Trinity, and to the comprehensive reach and reality of God’s grace.
The Reverend Professor Dorothy A. Lee AM FAHA is the Stewart Research Professor of New Testament of Trinity College Theological School and associate of St Paul’s Cathedral, Melbourne.
A version of this article was first published in the September edition of The Melbourne Anglican in 2022.
