Kevin Vanhoozer – Biblical Authority After Babel
Episode: What’s the verdict? Kevin J. Vanhoozer presents the case and renders a judgment. It is easy to charge the Protestant Reformation with the crime of fracturing the unity of the church. Others have added skepticism and secularization to the list of misdeeds. In Biblical Authority After Babel, Vanhoozer explores these common criticisms of the Protestant Reformation–and finds them wanting.
OnScript host Matthew W. Bates and Kevin discuss a wide variety of topics: whether Kevin is truly an anarchist, what motivates Kevin’s research, the interaction of grace and nature, “faith” in philosophy and theology, models for how Scripture and tradition relate, and the keys of the kingdom as this relates to church authority. These matters are central to the gospel and salvation!
Guest: Kevin Vanhoozer is currently Research Professor of Systematic Theology at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School. He was formerly Blanchard Professor of Theology at Wheaton College and a Senior Lecturer at the University of Edinburgh. He has written numerous books, including several award winning publications: Is There a Meaning in this Text? (Zondervan, 1998; Christianity Today Book Award, 1999) and The Drama of Doctrine (Westminster John Knox, 2005; Christianity Today Best Theology Book of the Year, 2006).
Book: Kevin J. Vanhoozer, Biblical Authority After Babel: Retrieving the Solas in the Spirit of Mere Protestant Christianity (Brazos, 2016). In recent years, notable scholars have argued that the Protestant Reformation unleashed interpretive anarchy on the church. Is it time to consider the Reformation to be a 500-year experiment gone wrong? World-renowned evangelical theologian Kevin Vanhoozer thinks not. While he sees recent critiques as legitimate, he argues that retrieving the Reformation’s core principles offers an answer to critics of Protestant biblical interpretation. He offers a positive assessment of the Reformation, showing how a retrieval of “mere Protestant Christianity” has the potential to reform contemporary Christian belief and practice. This provocative response and statement from a top theologian is accessibly written for pastors and church leaders..
The OnScript Quip (our review): Schism. Skepticism. Secularization. Due to these crimes the case against the Protestant Reformation appears overwhelming. Here world-class theologian Kevin Vanhoozer acts as an expert trial lawyer. He sifts the evidence, weighs causes, and presents his case in a winning fashion. The table-turning verdict: “Not guilty!” — Matthew W. Bates, Quincy University, OnScript