The Nature of Biblical Authority

Why Progressive and Conservative Christians Can’t Talk with Each Other, Part 2

The other day I was scrolling through TikTok and came across a powerful response video by Dr. Aaron Higashi, a biblical scholar. An Evangelical scholar had claimed that the New International Version (NIV) of the Bible was “a solid, well-researched scholarly translation which is very neutral” (and by neutral he means not influenced by dogma). To this, Dr. Higashi responded with two main points.

First, he showed that the translators of the NIV at the time chose linguistic translations that prioritized dogmatic theology. In other words, they translated the Bible to say what they wanted it to say, rather than what it was actually saying.

Second, he recognized that there's no perfect translation, but the majority of mainstream scholars consider the New Revised Standard Version (NRSV) to be the best translation available. He pointed this out to the evangelical as the reason the SBL uses it for their Study Bible. 

Apparently, this supposed evangelical scholar replied with, “What’s the SBL?”

“SBL”, by the way,  stands for the Society of Biblical Literature. 

For a “biblical scholar” to not know what the Society of Biblical Literature is would be like a psychologist not knowing what the American Psychological Association is. 

I can think of no better illustration right now to demonstrate the chasm between conservative evangelicals and progressive Christians when it comes to a scholarly understanding of the Bible and how it is authoritative.