A Word on Wisdoms
by
William Wesley Elkins
Drew University
As a general editor of this journal, as a pastor and a scholar, I would like to
share some of my thoughts on the personal and intellectual impact of the work of
Scriptural Reasoning. I find that as a reader of scripture and as a philosopher,
I am pulled in two ways: faith and reason. They seem to conflict. But do they?
When the study of scripture is at the same time a teaching that addresses the
texture of our lives, reasoning becomes wisdom and scripture becomes reasoned.
The Society for Scriptural Reasoning is a community of scholars who seek to share
the wisdoms of reason and the reasons of scripture, not only out of one
tradition, but from the three traditions of the Abrahamic faiths.
I have found that traditionally academics have sought to resolve the tension
between faith and reason in one of two ways. The first has been the
enlightenment model: identify some form of universal reason that eliminates the
tension between faith and reason by redefining faith as a private and subjective
interpretation of a single public world. The other, a romantic model, is to
eliminate the tension between faith and reason by privileging the subjective,
making the private and the personal the foundations of different faith cultures.
In each model, however, the tension between faith and reason is resolved by
simplifying reason and faith by separating them from the textures of life that
give them content and form.
In the Enlightenment model, without reference to the complex textures of
practice, reason becomes self-referential and self sufficient. So constructed,
reason becomes unresponsive to the depths and hopes that sustain reason and call
reason to responsibility. In this model "reason" simplifies the shape of our
lives by excluding the richness of our participation in communal traditions of
faith. Outside the context of practices that shape reason, outside the depths and
hopes that guide particular resolutions of the tension between faith and reason,
reason is empty. Without reference to the practices of faith, reason cannot
become what it is meant to be: wisdoms that form and reform the textures of our
lives.
In the Romantic model, faith becomes self-expressive but in language that is
self-referential and self-sufficient. However, outside the context of public
practices and discourses, faith is without sense. Outside the context of
faithful practices in which reason shapes faith, faith cannot become what it is
meant to be: wisdoms that form and reform the textures of our lives.
In these models the differences between faith and reason seem tragically
irreconcilable. Unless there is a third alternative, it appears that we must
choose one to the exclusion of the other. Scriptural Reasoning is a "third way",
a means of honoring reason while remaining loyal to faith. Over the last six
years, I have discovered that the developing practice of Scriptural Reasoning
seeks the wisdoms of reason and the reasons of faith so that we might be taught
how to live and think faithfully.
As a society dedicated to the practice of thinking faithfully, the work of the
Society for Scriptural Reasoning has developed over a numbers of years in the
context of the American Academy of Religion. In this context, the society has
served as a forum where different philosophers and theologians interpret
scripture philosophically without excluding the Abrahamic faiths from shaping
their patterns of interpretation. The practice of Scriptural Reasoning is
definitely academic. It is also practical. The work of the SSR is directed
toward answering significant personal and professional questions: What should be
the direction and shape of the lives of scholars interested in philosophy,
theology and biblical interpretation? Is it necessary to separate out and
isolate academic practices and faith commitments? Is it possible to acknowledge
a commitment to philosophical and scientific disciplines and affirm the relevance
of the faith communities of the Abrahamic traditions to the shape and direction
of academic disciplines? The claim of the society is that the "divorce" of faith
and reason is a symptom of a deeper a problem that can be resolved by recovering
a wider view of reason and faith. The project of the Society for Scriptural
Reasoning is to clarify and justify this claim by discovering the ways the
resources of faith as scriptural wisdom respond to the problems of reason and the
ways resources of scripturally informed reasoning facilitate community based
practices of scriptural interpretation. The hope of the Society of Scriptural
Reasoning is that the practice of scriptural reasoning will represent a way
relating faith and reason that will honor the deepest values of both reason and
faith.
As part of the ongoing project of Scriptural Reasoning the Journal of Scriptural
Reasoning continues the work of the society in a number of ways:
1. It publishes major papers of senior scholars and the commentaries of
scriptural reasoners on these papers. . Each year papers are presented at the
American Academy of Religion on a specifics scriptures and topic. Papers are web
published before the meeting and commentaries are invited for submission and
publishing on the website of the Society for Scriptural Reasoning:
2. The Journal of Scriptural Reasoning presents a record of the dialog that
occurs at each annual meeting.
3. It provides a context for the presentation of continuing reflections on the
topics that provide the yearly focus of the annual meeting.
4. It represents a forum for the publication of independent scholarly work and
reviews of work related to the practice of scriptural reasoning.
5. It represents a record of resources supporting the ongoing work of the
Society for Scriptural Reasoning.
In the final analysis, Scriptural Reasoning is a practice that is both an act of
faith and a practice of reasoning; it is a faith practice and philosophical
commitment. The Journal of Scriptural Reasoning hopes to record and contribute
to the dialog between faith and reason that forms the teachings and wisdoms of
the Abrahamic faiths.
William Wesley Elkins
The Theological School
Drew University
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