Of course we began at the beginning

In Pentateuch and Wisdom Literature, the first order of business was an introduction to the "documentary hypothesis" -- the scholarly view that four or more distinct authors/editors, each with a particular theological perspective, were involved in the creation of Genesis across a period of some four hundred years. In about thirty places throughout the story of creation, the flood, and the establishment of God's covenant with the matriarchs and patriarchs of the faith, substantial chunks are repeated, often with contradictions. Yet we view this book as authoritative, as containing truth about the human condition and out relationship to the creator.

To begin our Jesus and the Gospels course, we read a passage from the DaVinci code claiming that the powerful men of the early church systematically prevented any gospel that would hint at women's roles in the church or Jesus' humanity from becoming part of the Biblical canon. We were given a case study about a contemporary church debating whether to include noncanonical scripture like the Gospel of Mary or the Gospel of Thomas in its worship -- and one week in which to prepare a pastoral answer for this church's council. I found myself wishing it had been as systematic as Dan Brown claimed; rather, it seems that a haphazard (and, we have to hope, spirit-led) process of recognizing the authority of the gospels that were getting the most use has given us the Bible we know today.

I'm lucky to have been given a way of looking at Biblical authority that doesn't depend on its historicity. If you've taken an introductory religion course at Augustana, you might be familiar with the phrase, "Some things that never happened are nevertheless very true."

If one came to seminary with the idea that the Bible dropped down from the sky as an eyewitness account of history from the birth of stars to the death of Christ and the birth of Christian community, this first week would be faith shaking. But if you begin by assuming that the Bible came together and remained in use because in it is the authoritative, true word of God, learning about the politics and processes involved is fascinating.