Thread by @DennyBurk

“The intention of the human author has been consistently valued throughout most of Christian interpretation…”

-Jonathan Pennington, 𝘙𝘦𝘢𝘥𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘎𝘰𝘴𝘱𝘦𝘭𝘴 𝘞𝘪𝘴𝘦𝘭𝘺, p. 125

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“From the ethics of Scripture itself—for example, the Golden Rule and the Ninth Commandment—we must respect and listen to what the author of a text is saying.”

-Jonathan Pennington, 𝘙𝘦𝘢𝘥𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘎𝘰𝘴𝘱𝘦𝘭𝘴 𝘞𝘪𝘴𝘦𝘭𝘺, p. 126

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“This does not mean, however, that all texts—and especially normative texts like Holy Scripture—are simply wax noses that can be bent and manipulated into whatever shape and direction we choose...."

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"This ‘anything goes’ approach is a valid cause for concern, especially for people who do consider some texts authoritative (and inspired) across all generations of situated readers,..."

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"...hence the continuing role of authorial intent discussed above.”

-Jonathan Pennington, 𝘙𝘦𝘢𝘥𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘎𝘰𝘴𝘱𝘦𝘭𝘴 𝘞𝘪𝘴𝘦𝘭𝘺, p. 128

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I am grateful for my colleague and brother, Jonathan Pennington. He's a master teacher, prodigious scholar, and faithful pastor. If you don't know him, here's a great introduction. This is from @SBTS chapel a few weeks before the lockdown.

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Earlier today, I read an irresponsible attempt to call the above into question. I’m not going to go back and forth, tit for tat, with this kind of asininity. But in this case, perhaps it will help for fair-minded readers to be able to see the baselessness of the charge below:

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The tweet above refers to the following line from Dr. Pennington’s book 𝘙𝘦𝘢𝘥𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘎𝘰𝘴𝘱𝘦𝘭𝘴 𝘞𝘪𝘴𝘦𝘭𝘺:

“If Jesus did not appear as the named figure in both of these accounts, one would never suspect they were stories about the same person” (p. 56).

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This comment appears in a section of the book noting the differences between the synoptic gospel accounts. Nothing controversial here. Dr. Pennington is merely explaining that the Synoptic Gospels have both similarities AND differences before explaining how to harmonize them.

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And in fact several pages later, Pennington writes this:

“We can see that the wide differences between Matthew’s and Luke’s birth narratives don’t really contradict each other but are complementary; they can be reasonably harmonized” (p. 62).

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To insinuate that Dr. Pennington believes the Bible contradicts itself or has errors is a gross mischaracterization. Indeed, it is a slander and bearing false witness.

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If you really want to understand Dr. Pennington’s convictions, I encourage you to read his book for yourself. I also encourage you to watch the video below.

@dailygreek @DrJTPennington

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