Holy Scripture: A Dogmatic Sketch

A professor once told me, "John Webster does not waste his words." That is certainly the case in this book. While subtitled a "sketch", and only consisting of 137 pgs of text, this is one of the "meatiest" theological works I have read in a long time. It was a difficult read, yet not in the sense that I couldn't understand it, but because Webster is packs in important theological points in every paragraph. It's as though you're in a lecture and the professor says, "If you doze off for even 10 seconds in the next 20 minutes then you will miss the overall point!" At the same time, I have read 4-500 pg books that ultimately say less than Webster did in just over 100 pages. I could certainly re-read this book over the next few years and continue to benefit from it. Webster is an excellent theologian who does first-rate theology with a genuine concern for the church and discipleship in the midst of his discussion of Holy Scripture in light of the Trinity. Other reviewers here have outlined and summarized the book, and so I will not repeat what they have said. Nevertheless, while the reading may be slow, the reward is great. I highly recommend this book to those interested in understand what Holy Scripture is (or even those interested in how to do good theology).

This little book is not a light read. Webster writes at a high level of discourse and assumes the reader is familiar with theological terms and developments. As a masters level student, I read this at the tail end of my first year and still felt I was only grazing the surface. Webster is particular with his word usage, serving the purpose of delivering a very punctual, direct message. He uses terms that require industry specific familiarity, nearly to the scholar's level. It is not enough to look up the unfamiliar words in a dictionary, as the words are nuanced according to current-day use. That said, John Webster was certainly targeting his scholarly peers with this book. It is fascinating and brilliant. He addresses the both the liberal and fundamentalist position over scripture as arrogant and overstepping the authority given to the church by God. The main thrust is that the church should come before God on its knees in humility, instead of "lording" over the Scriptures. The church should not act like God, thus "limiting" God. It should not claim to know things it can not know. The church should not worship its own authority, but allow God to continually make and rebreak it, to continue to allow God's truth to speak... Jesus upholds the church, just as he upholds the individual believer. The church never "arrives", never has it all figured out. God's revelation has not stopped. The Scriptures are not God's Word without the Holy Spirit. Otherwise, it is just a book. The Holy Spirit is required for truth from the Scriptures to be grasped. This is because God's revelation is being continually revealed to us. The Scriptures are living and breathing and powerful because of the HS. We should be open to God's leading. We can not read the Bible and force our interpretation on the Bible. Instead, we should approach it with humility before God and wait for him to reveal it to us. We should maintain our understanding of it in humility. Neither the individual nor the church is ever an authority over the Scriptures. The Scriptures are in continued authority over the church, and with the HS will reshape the church over and over, perserving truth. This is much like how walking with God is a faith proposition. To try to define it and box it up, or to create a list of rules and say "this is walking with God" is to miss the point. The church must do the very same thing with regard to the scriptures.

Hurray! At last a robustly trinitarian and systematic account of Scripture! Webster lays out succinctly, and with refreshing clarity, a doctrine of Scripture in terms of the doctrines of God (chapter 1), the church (chapter 2), and salvation (chapter 3), and then turns, in the final chapter, to a consideration of the role of Scripture in the task of theology. Rejecting critical detachment from his subject, refusing distraction by debates in modern hermeneutics, and setting aside even such pertinent issues as Scripture's relation to tradition and proclamation, Webster has written an urgent and focused account of the nature of Scripture and its role in the economy of grace. Chapter 1, `Revelation, sanctification and inspiration'. Webster argues that a doctrine of Holy Scripture must be based on a prior account of divine communicative activity; everything to be said about Holy Scripture must be `subservient to the self-presentation of the triune God' (6). Webster then describes this self-presentation in terms of revelation, sanctification, and inspiration. Revelation is `the life-giving and loving presence of the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ in the Spirit's power among the worshipping and witnessing community' (12). `The "sanctification" of Scripture (its "holiness") and its "inspiration" (its proceeding from God) are aspects of the process whereby God employs creaturely reality in his service' (8-9). Speaking of Scripture in terms of these three particular aspects of divine communicative activity preserves the priority of divine action, what Webster calls `proper dogmatic order'. Particularly helpful are Webster's explanation of his choice of the term `sanctification' to depict God's use of Scripture, along with his critique of descriptions of Scripture as divine accommodation, as analogous to the hypostatic union, as testimony, as a means of grace, and as taking `servant form' (Berkouwer). Chapter 2, `Scripture, church and canon'. Where God is communicatively present, says Webster, there also is the church. The church, therefore, is rightly described as the `creature of the word', and so a doctrine of Scripture must also address Scripture's relationship to the church. According to Webster, `The definitive act of the church is faithful hearing of the gospel of salvation announced by the risen Christ in the Spirit's power through the service of Holy Scripture' (44). Webster then offers suggestive sketches of the visibility and apostolicity of the church, Scripture's authority within the church (`its Spirit-bestowed capacity to quicken the church to truthful speech and righteous action' (52)), and the church's act of canonisation. Chapter 3, `Reading in the economy of grace'. What then does God's communicative presence, within the communion of the church, achieve in the individual reader of Scripture? In this deeply moving, even devotional, chapter, interwoven with seasoned advice from the likes of Calov, Calvin, Bonhoeff