Biblical Ruminations

In preperation for my Biblical Theology paper coming up in the fall I've been reading a lot of material concerning this topic. Currently, I am reading Biblical Theology: Retrospect and Prospect which is edited by Scott J. Hafemann and contains contributions by such notable conservatives as Peter Stuhlmacher, G.K. Beale, Nicholas Perrin, and others. Yesterday I read Andreas Kostenberger's article, "Diversity and Unity in the New Testament" in which Kostenberger seeks to emphasize the unity of the NT witness against its diversity (which is for the most part only apparent). Kostenberger is a conservative, evangelical NT scholar so I knew to expect some harmonization tactics. But I was not prepared for the way Kostenberger "solved" the problem of the "apparent" discrepancy in the dating of the Passover between the Synoptics and the Gospel of John.

Therefore, I am going to put on hold my series concerning American Evangelicalism and the Gospel of John (sorry Q) so that I can take issue with Kostenberger's "solution" to this problem and to exhibit how Kostenberger's and other's belief in plenary verbal inspiration forces them to harmonize such discrepancies (such as this one) that cannot and should not be harmonized. However, I realize that some of my readers may not be familiar with this particular problem of conflicting Passover dates between the Synoptics and John so in the next post I will first present the chronological problem which arises from this discrepancy. Subsequent to this, we will look at Kostenberger's particular resolution to this problem and then show why this is in error.

At the outset, let me say that I respect Kostenberger and think that he is a very skilled, exegetical scholar. Unfortunately, it is his doctrinal position of a particular belief in inerrancy which leads him to make serious errors in exegesis. Ultimately, my attack is not against Kostenberger but against a particular form of inspiration which does not allow for errors of any kind in the biblical text. Moreover, I hope that I do not come across as attacking Evangelical scholars as a whole. If I had to force a label onto myself I would say that I am Evangelical, in at least some sense. Again, my problem is with those evangelicals who adopt this particular notion of inerrancy.

Also please allow a few days or more between the posts. I am very busy this month partly due to my boss being on his honeymoon (we all had to pick up extra shifts because of this) and mostly because I am heavily researching the topic of Biblical Theology.