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April 1977 · Vol. 6 No. 2 · p. 2 

In This Issue

Delbert L. Wiens

How shall we read the Bible? That this is a question which even “evangelical” Christians must face has been widely recognized since the publication last year of Harold Lindsell’s The Battle for the Bible. In December the Mennonite Brethren Board of Reference and Counsel sponsored a meeting of Bible and theology teachers to discuss contemporary hermeneutics.

We hope to present the papers from that conference in the July issue of Direction. In this issue the articles focus on how Christians have interpreted Scripture in the past.

In the first article, Howard Loewen exegetes 2 Timothy 3:14-17 and Luther’s writings to show that Lindsell has not adequately understood either the biblical text or classic Protestantism’s understanding of the nature of the Word of God.

Ben Ollenburger presents the hermeneutics of the Anabaptists, and Ken Berg describes a research instrument he devised to test the extent to which present Mennonite Brethren remain in that tradition.

Devon Wiens, who describes his quest to understand the Bible, refers to contemporary methodologies which help us to understand better what the texts originally meant while, at the same time, they call in question our traditional attitude toward them. These methods will be illustrated in the July issue.

It is remarkable, and unplanned, that the contributors have achieved consensus on one thing: whatever is thought or said about the Bible is important, but secondary. The crucial “interpretation” of the Scripture is that which takes place in the daily walk of the Christian who listens for the Word of God and who obeys.

D.W.

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