The Christian Story (Vol 2): Authority: Scripture in the Church for the World (Pastoral Systematics)

As a pastoral systematic, The Christian Story rises from, and strives to be a resource to, the life and witness of the church and its leadership. The first volume (revised edition, 1984) offered an introductory overview of the basic Christian doctrine.

Now turning his attention to the individual doctrines, Gabriel Fackre here surveys a spectrum of views on authority — from inerrantist to experientialist — and sets forth an alternative perspective along ecumenical and narrative lines. The author's search for a full-orbed position affirms Scripture as the source, the church and its traditions as resource, the world of human experience as setting, the Gospel as substance, and Christ as the center of authority.

A detailed analysis of hermeneutical issues is included in the book. The quest for evangelical catholicity leads to a restatement of the fourfold method of scriptural interpretation: common sense, critical scholarship, canonical perspective, and the contextualization process — personal and social. An extensive exegesis of a key Christological text, John 14:6, illustrates how this method works.

Gabriel Fackre (1926–2018) was a theologian and ordained minister who was influential in the formation of the United Church of Christ. He taught at Lancaster Theological Seminary and Andover Newton Theo­logical School (now Andover Newton Sem­inary at Yale), where he was professor emeritus of Chris­tian theology. During his career, he served as president of the American Theological Society. He was also a prolific author who published thirty books, including the five-volume work The Christian Story.