The Moral Vision of the New Testament: A Contemporary Introduction to New Testament Ethics

by Richard B. Hays

The relationship of reason to the New Testament as an authority is sometimes problematical. That is so not because the New Testament is unreasonable but because reason itself is always culturally influenced. One important insight of philosophical reason in the late twentieth century has been the recognition that we have no access to a universal objective “reason.”8 Rationality is a contingent aspect of particular symbolic worlds. Consequently, when we ask about the relation between Scripture and “reason” as sources of authority, we are in effect seeking the best way to coordinate the cultural logic of the New Testament writings with the cultural logic of our own historical setting.