Devotion, Criticism and the Bible

The Opinion, v10 n1, p. 9

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I was paging through the Princeton Seminary Catalogue the other day and ran across a very interesting course being offered there. The title is NT 02: The Bible and the Devotional Life. The description of the course goes like this:

The Scriptures as a sourcebook in the development of the devotional life. The relation of the devotional use of the Bible to its scientific study. Analysis of selected passages from the Old and New Testaments….

I wonder if the problem which gives rise to a course like this could not use more discussion this year at Fuller Theological Seminary. Instead of offering a course, perhaps there could simply be a more liberal sharing of insights.

Surely the faculty members have wrestled with this problem; and I know such effort has not been in vain. So I ask not for a new course, but that in every course the wisdom of the years as well as the knowledge be shared.

And there are students who have come to insight in this matter of the critical vs. the devotional uses of the Bible. Don't put that kind of light under a bushel. Others of us need to see it.

The presence of such a course in Princeton's catalogue was enlightening as to the extent and importance of this problem. What really impressed me, though, was that it was being taught by the foremost American authority in textual criticism, Dr. Bruce Metzger. Now you would think a man of his stature has more important things to do than lend a hand to meager B.D. candidates struggling with the relation between critical and devotional approaches to the Bible. But apparently not.

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