Guest Blogger Evan Curry asks the question: How does the Holy Spirit lead us into all truth in our Tradition?

I have to say that I often struggle with the role of the Holy Spirit in much of anything outside of comforting people when they lose their jobs (“let the Spirit lead you,” kinda thing). So, when people ask me, how does the Holy Spirit play into the relationship between Scripture and tradition? I often respond with a blank stare, thinking to myself, “I’m not sure I could even tell you since the Holy Spirit transcends my own comprehension. He/she/it’s work is unfathomable and so mysterious in my mind.”

But let me take a stab at this – In John 16, Jesus explains how he must leave soon, but he will be sending the Spirit to be with the disciples. He continues with a slightly odd statement –

I have much more to say to you, more than you can now bear. But when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all the truth. He will not speak on his own; he will speak only what he hears, and he will tell you what is yet to come. He will glorify me because it is from me that he will receive what he will make known to you. All that belongs to the Father is mine. That is why I said the Spirit will receive from me what he will make known to you (vv. 12-15 TNIV; emphasis added).

Now, I’m just aiming into the dark on this, but is it possible that Jesus had so much more to say that he sent the Holy Spirit to guide his Church into all truth and this came full-scale into our tradition, in our story? ... more

This is the next entry in the Text(s) of Scripture series with me and Dave. Our text this go-round is 1 John 2:4-11:

We can be sure we know him if we obey is commands. The man who says, “I know him,” but does not do what he commands is a liar, and the truth is not in him. But if anyone obeys his word, God’s love is truly made complete in him. This is how we know we are in him: Whoever claims to live in him must walk as Jesus did.

Dear friends, I am not writing you a new command but an old one, which you have had since the beginning. This old command is the message you have heard. Yet I am writing you a new command: its truth is seen in him and you, because the darkness is passing and the true light is already shining.

Anyone who claims to be in the light but hates his brother is still in the darkness. Whoever loves his brother lives in the light, and there is nothing in him to make him stumble. But whoever hates his brother is in the darkness and walks around in the darkness; he does not know where he is going, because the darkness has blinded him.

Thomas:

This passage makes apparent that the Word is not fulfilled until it is obeyed. That is why prophecy is only cautionary and rhetoric if it is not fulfilled. When prophecy is fulfilled, the words achieve their full purpose and meaning. We should view the words of Christ in the same way: that God’s love is not made complete in us until we obey his words. ... more

Scot McKnight began his lecture with several Cubs jokes and alluded to how he can write much faster than John Franke can.

The Bible is Story, God's Words and God's Story. 
When approaching the Bible we should Look, See, and Respond.

Scot establishes a dichotomy of Authority and Relationship, posing the question, "What is our relationship to the Bible?"
Our relationship is not with the Bible, but with the God of the Bible.
Saying the Bible is inerrant really isn't saying very much.  Saying it is true is far more profound.
The Bible is far more than Authority and Submission.
Authority and Inerrancy are inadequate terms, not wrong.
We must delight in the Bible.
A focus on a subject, the authority approach, is not enough.  The Bible is relational, and finds resonance in delight.
God and the paper are not the same.  An illustration: The Book of Jonah is about Jonah's God, not Jonah's whale.
God is more than the Bible, it is his communication in the form of words.
Behind all the doctrinal descriptions of the Bible it is still more than a repository.
A relational view of the Bible invites us to experience the Bible.
The Bible is a conversation between the different authors and their wiki-stories as they listen and relate to God.
The biblical books have their own context.
To read the Bible relationally is to read the Bible in community.
Our relationship with the Bible is a relationship with the God of the Bible. ... more

Blue Parakeet: Rethinking How We Read the Bible Review

With this book, Scot McKnight, more than ever, is building an ancient-future perspective of theology and hermeneutics.  As in A Community Called Atonement, McKnight is tackling the issue of hermeneutics, particularly the interpretation of blue parakeets (passages that create tension, division, and bewilderment) with a common sense approach that does not navigate the either/or of modernism but instead follows a pragmatic post-modern view, what some call critical realism, that sees the necessity of tackling issues with a "both/and" perspective. 

The thesis of McKnight's book, which he works out in the large case study on Women in Church Ministries Today, is that:

A)    We recognize that we read the Bible through our own particular lens...or, we are all pickers and choosers, and we must accept this as fact.

B)     We need to read the Bible with tradition, not through tradition.

The first part of McKnight's thesis is why he wrote the book, because he believes

many of us want to know why we pick and choose. Even more importantly, many of us want to know how to do this in a way that honors God and embraces the Bible as God's Word for all times. (13)

The second part of McKnight's thesis is what makes this an ancient-future book and not a paleo-orthodox book or a book praising theological nostalgia.  ... more

This is the third in the “Text(s) of Scripture” series between Dave and me.

Our present text is Psalm 18:30:

As for God, his way is perfect;
the word of the LORD is flawless.
He is a shield
for all who take refuge in him.

Thom:

This God—his way is perfect;
the word of the LORD proves true;
he is a shield for all those who take refuge in him.

“Prove It!”

That’s what a nine year old says to another nine year old when a boast has been made or a bluff is waiting to be called.  Even if something is proven, the person who is right still might need to take refuge from the more powerful or the bully.  Spun out into a cosmic game of good versus evil, where spears are being thrown at harp players and prophetic words seem weak when confronted with the sword, proving right over might seems impossible. ... more