What do you think?
Rate this book
Sacra doctrina
Living and Active: Scripture in the Economy of Salvation
For all of the Bible's popularity, confusion reigns about what the Bible is, its relationship to God and to its human authors and readers, and its proper use. Living and Active answers these fundamental questions by looking anew at Scripture from the perspective of Christian doctrine. Rather than treating the Bible as a sourcebook for theology, Telford Work uses systematic theology to build a compelling new doctrine of Scripture that allows us to see the Bible at work accomplishing God's purposes in the world. Throughout the book, Work incorporates insights from the Eastern Orthodox, Roman Catholic, Lutheran, Calvinist, Anabaptist, and evangelical traditions. He also interacts with patristic theology, historical-critical methods of interpretation, and postmodern thought. As a result, Living and Active is the most relevant and ecumenical statement of Scripture now available.
343 pages, Hardcover
First published September 30, 2001
3 people are currently reading
47 people want to read
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 of 1 review
July 5, 2012
“Telford Work has written a book of extraordinary theological breadth. More importantly, he has written a book that signals a new day for evangelical refection on Scripture. It is a sad reality that many evangelicals are still trapped in liberal-conservative debates regarding Scripture, opting for such theological bankrupt terminology of Scripture as ‘infallible’ and ‘inerrant.’ Finally, with Work’s text we have a vision of Scripture that is theologically rich, ecumenically sophisticated, and intellectually powerful.” – Willie James Jennings (on book jacket)
From Telford Work’s “Introduction:”
“The project that follows develops a fully trinitarian account of Scripture. . . . It claims that the Christian Bible, as divine message . . . participates in the Trinitarian economy of salvation.” (2)
“This is not a book about inerrancy, infallibility, authority, inspiration, the principle of sola Scriptura, or revelation. . . . it is about something more basic and more comprehensive: the Bible’s relationship with God and its role in God’s plan of salvation. Our bibliology stares where the Bible starts: in the eternal purpose of the Triune God.” (9)
“It aims to develop a doctrine of Christian Scripture informed by three main convictions. The first is that if Scripture is God’s Word, then in some sense it reflects God’s character; and if God’s character is Triune, then the bile reflects the trinity of God in some significant way. The second is that Scripture playas a role in the divine economy of salvation in history, then the work of the Bible in human history and in the lives of its respondents can be seen in terms of that same divine economy of salvation. The third is that if Scripture is written, kept and performed principally by, for, and to the Church of Jesus Christ, then in some sense its character confers and reflects the character of the Church.
In theological language, the three claims are that the Bible’s character as the Word of God suggest a Trinitarian ontology of Scripture; that the Bible’s role in salvation suggest a historical and personal soteriology of Scripture,; and that the Bible’s inextricable relationship with the church in its eschatological setting suggest an ecclesiology of Scripture.” (10)
Work, Telford. Living and Active: Scripture in the Economy of Salvation. Sacra Doctrina: Christian Theology for a Postmodern Age. Grand Rapids, MI; Cambridge, UK: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 2002.
From Telford Work’s “Introduction:”
“The project that follows develops a fully trinitarian account of Scripture. . . . It claims that the Christian Bible, as divine message . . . participates in the Trinitarian economy of salvation.” (2)
“This is not a book about inerrancy, infallibility, authority, inspiration, the principle of sola Scriptura, or revelation. . . . it is about something more basic and more comprehensive: the Bible’s relationship with God and its role in God’s plan of salvation. Our bibliology stares where the Bible starts: in the eternal purpose of the Triune God.” (9)
“It aims to develop a doctrine of Christian Scripture informed by three main convictions. The first is that if Scripture is God’s Word, then in some sense it reflects God’s character; and if God’s character is Triune, then the bile reflects the trinity of God in some significant way. The second is that Scripture playas a role in the divine economy of salvation in history, then the work of the Bible in human history and in the lives of its respondents can be seen in terms of that same divine economy of salvation. The third is that if Scripture is written, kept and performed principally by, for, and to the Church of Jesus Christ, then in some sense its character confers and reflects the character of the Church.
In theological language, the three claims are that the Bible’s character as the Word of God suggest a Trinitarian ontology of Scripture; that the Bible’s role in salvation suggest a historical and personal soteriology of Scripture,; and that the Bible’s inextricable relationship with the church in its eschatological setting suggest an ecclesiology of Scripture.” (10)
Work, Telford. Living and Active: Scripture in the Economy of Salvation. Sacra Doctrina: Christian Theology for a Postmodern Age. Grand Rapids, MI; Cambridge, UK: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 2002.
Displaying 1 of 1 review