BIBLICAL AUTHORITY
by James T. Draper and Kenneth Keathley
Broadman & Holman Publishers, 147 pages, $12.99

In a technical sense, Biblical Authority, is a book written by Southern Baptists to Southern Baptists. However, the breadth of this volume goes well beyond any one particular denomination. The book's subtitle, "The Critical Issue for the Body of Christ," more accurately suggests the substance and scope of biblical authority.

Just how crucial is biblical authority? Draper and Keathley maintain that "many in the church have shifted from divine revelation to rationalism as their ultimate base of authority. This tragic shift had led us into religious experience without theological foundation, situational ethics without absolutes, and evangelism without an adequate biblical concept of our lost condition or God's revealed response" (pg. xi).

The pair explain how "Christians have slowly moved away from the historic position on the nature of the Bible" to "reliance upon mystical personal experience instead of revealed truth" and to an "unjustified attachment to human reasoning" (pp. 1 2). When considering such comments by the authors, one can easily see how the problem is just not confined to Southern Baptists.

The challenges to scriptural authority and each specific response presented in the volume will greatly aid any Christian's understanding and appreciation for the Word of God. It is a book of both history and theology—yet one that is within the comprehension of any lay person.

Even in the few sections which specifically address "authority" problems within the Southern Baptist denomination, a non Southern Baptist can greatly learn from their error and the action taken to correct the error. For example, the recently modified Baptist Faith and Message (revised in June 2000) eliminated what was referred to as the "criterion loophole" which, in essence, allows one to adopt a theology on the basis of what he (or she) believes Jesus would have taught. During my years as a Sunday school teacher in Southern Baptist churches, this reviewer has repeatedly come up against such mindsets. It was a problem not borne out of a flawed Southern Baptist statement of faith, but out of a lack of devotion to the authority of the Bible. Ultimately, it is a matter of what one wants Scripture to say, not what it actually says. It is a hermeneutical fallacy which unquestionably transcends denominational boundaries.

As Draper and Keathley draw their book to a close, they stated that "the next big issue for Christians" is "the sufficiency of Scripture." Private revelation, the introduction of psychological and social theories, and the supplanting of the preaching of the Word are some of the more common practices. While such undermining of the sufficiency of Scripture is quite recognizable within Charismatics and the modern day revival movements, these toxic seeds have taken root in conservative churches as well.

Biblical Authority is a much needed book for our day and time.

—MKG

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