The Crisis of Biblical Authority

The Crisis of Biblical Authority is noted biblical scholar John H. Walton's response to one of Christianity's most pressing challenges: the damage done when believers treat the Bible as a tool for advancing their own agendas rather than as a sacred text to be faithfully understood. Christians agree that the Bible has authority, but it can be difficult to identify where that authority resides in the text. Without a clear framework for reading Scripture faithfully, we risk leveraging its authority for our own interests, causing damage to our churches and fractures to our witness. If our methods only reinforce our own ideas, we are at risk of following our own word rather than God's. At its worst, this kind of individualist interpretation doesn't just lead to mild disagreement, it fuels conflict between believers and has even been used to justify the dehumanization of others. Even further, to weaponize Scripture in service of our own agendas is to abuse the very text we claim to hold sacred. Walton shows the way forward in learning to read the Bible well and developing appropriate approaches to these issues vital to our faith. He presents a clear, step-by-step hermeneutical framework for interpreting Scripture that remains faithful to the text without overstepping its boundaries. The Bible's authority isn't found in how we think it should work; rather, interpretation should focus on the author's original intent. The result is a thoughtful approach to biblical interpretation that takes the Bible seriously without falling into individualism.