“This book is a road map of pathways to pursue and pitfalls to avoid in handling Scripture. D. A. Carson would be the first to agree that God himself upholds his written word, the Bible. But God uses means. In recent decades, Carson’s voice has been among the most forthright, consistent, rigorous, faithful, and compelling in serving the vital divine end of testifying to Scripture’s veracity. This book guides readers to the priceless destination of confidence in God’s Word through refutation of its critics and commendation of its truth.”
—Robert W. Yarbrough, Professor of New Testament, New Testament Department Chair, Trinity Evangelical Divinity School [Read more…] about Endorsements for Collected Writings on Scripture
A 5,000-piece puzzle of “Neuschwanstein and Surroundings”
I am not saying that the Bible is like a jigsaw puzzle of five thousand pieces and that all the five thousand pieces are provided, so that with time and thought the entire picture may be completed. Rather, I am suggesting that the Bible is like a jigsaw puzzle that provides five thousand pieces along with the assurance that these pieces all belong to the same puzzle, even though ninety-five thousand pieces (the relative figures are unimportant for my analogy) are missing. Most of the pieces that are provided, the instructions insist, fit together rather nicely; but there are a lot of gaping holes, a lot of edges that cry out to be completed, and some clusters of pieces that seem to be on their own. Nevertheless, the assurance that all of the pieces do belong to one puzzle is helpful, for that makes it possible to develop the systematic theology, even though the systematic theology is not going to be completed until we receive more pieces from the One who made it. And meanwhile, even some systematicians who believe that all the pieces belong to the same puzzle are not very adept puzzle players but sometimes force pieces into slots where they don’t really belong. The picture gets distorted somewhat, but it remains basically recognizable.
D. A. Carson. Collected Writings on Scripture. Wheaton: Crossway, coming July 31, 2010.
