Scripture-less

During my time at Duke I’ve had various conversations concerning numerous points of conflict within the Church. It seems an almost daily occurrence. Looking back at these talks I’ve noticed a disturbing trend. In all but one we never once consulted Scripture. I remember only one talk, concerning the ordination of women, where my conversant proposed to actually read some Scripture concerning the topic at hand. In all other conversations, ranging from the Eucharist to the Virginity of Mary, from homosexuality to universalism, Scripture remained eerily absent from our words.

Why is this? Why does a community founded on the Word of God so often forget that foundation? What happens in our mind, what gives us the freedom to run away with our thoughts, only occasionally glancing back to the Word that gave us the language with which we play? We toss around words such as ‘Trinity,’ ‘salvation,’ and ‘Incarnation’ as if they were always in our mind, waiting for our intellects to make use of their mysterious implications. In doing so we not only reject the presence of Scripture, we also reject the extensive and costly tradition of the Church. Wars came and went over the same arguments we banter about during lunch or in our leisure. Initially, I ascribed the absence of Scripture to two things.

I know for me, I just assume I know it already. (Wow, that felt horrible to even write). I do not mean this in a conclusive way, but I easily lapse into this assumption that because I spent my last twenty-odd years hearing the same verses in churches and classrooms and devotions that I’ve heard all there is to hear. This thought vanishes entirely whenever I read Scripture, because it is new and fresh and convicting every time I pick up the pages. Nevertheless, I am slow to pick them up.

Another reason I suspected we avoided Scripture is the simple fear that we would find it disagreeable. How miserable is our arrogance here in North America? The illusion of egalitarian existence has each person convinced of their own autonomous authority. As a result, authority has vanished within society. From parents to teachers to pastors, anything and everything we hear must first and foremost must suit our tastes before we will accept it. We must approve of our authority figures. To some extent this is needed for the simple purposes of accountability and protecting against the corruptive seductions of power. But to subject all manner of authority to our own leanings or tendencies is not only foolish, it could be damning. This lack of authority has found its way into how we even read Scripture, because now we believe Scripture must agree with us before we will agree with it.

I suspected both of these reasons as being responsible (though not exclusive)for why we are so hesitant to read Scripture amidst our disagreements. Yet now I believe there may be a third reason. We simply do not believe for that which we argue. The topics we so hotly contest are not always matters of truth or falsehood; they are matters of pride. Our opinions do not affect truth; we are either right or we are wrong. Any dialogue that occurs must always commit itself to the pursuit of truth and not to the preservation of our ideas. Unfortunately, I feel as if these conversations have decayed into the habit of debate. We come to enjoy the dialectic, especially when we can present our cases succinctly and with conviction. We have become skilled rhetoricians. As such, for what need have we of Scripture? We are our own authority.