What Authority does the Bible Have for Us Today?

In what sense does the Bible have authority for us today? How can we say this ancient book can still inspire us and guide us through our struggles in a time drastically different than the time it was first written? How can we consider it authoritative when we know it has errors, misunderstandings, limitations, and had different audience in different historical contexts? Is the Bible really relevant to the church’s current struggles for peace and justice? These are some of the questions the author strives to answer. The book introduces an eschatological approach to the understanding of apostolicity. Based on this fairly new concept, the author contends that the Bible has an eschatological apostolic authority and the biblical writings themselves are exemplary for our eschatological apostolic mission. Eventually, the author sets forth the implications this apostolic eschatological understanding of the Bible has on ecumenical dialogue, missionary practice for the church, and for a new hermeneutics for the church’s creative mission. In so doing, the author presents a new image of the Bible: a predecessor and a co-sojourner for the church’s current missions in our own context.