Lewis: authorities

Tuesday, April 5, 2016
Meditation:
    [Jesus concluding a parable:] “‘No, father Abraham,’ he said, ‘but if someone from the dead goes to them, they will repent.’
    “He said to him, ‘If they do not listen to Moses and the Prophets, they will not be convinced even if someone rises from the dead.’”
    —Luke 16:30-31 (NIV)
Quotation:
    The rejection as unhistorical of all passages which narrate miracles is sensible if we start by knowing that the miraculous... never occurs. Now I do not want here to discuss whether the miraculous is possible: I only want to point out that this is a purely philosophical question. Scholars, as scholars, speak on it with no more authority than anyone else. The canon, “If miraculous, unhistorical,” is one they bring to their study of the texts, not one they have learned from it. If one is speaking of authority, the united authority of all the Biblical critics in the world counts for nothing. On this they speak simply as men—men obviously influenced by, and perhaps insufficiently critical of, the spirit of the age they grew up in.
    ... C. S. Lewis (1898-1963), Fern-seed and Elephants, Walter Hooper, Fontana, 1975, p. 113 (see the book)
    See also Luke 16:30-31; Amos 4:6-11; Matt. 13:58; Luke 13:3; Rom. 1:20; Rev. 16:9-11
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, I need Your power and grace in my life, and Your miracles in my struggles. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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