Ritröð Guðfræðistofnunar - 01.09.2008, Page 27

Gordon W. Lathrop
“Not as the Scribes, Not as the Rulers
of the Nations:”
On recovering the paradoxical authority of the
pastor in late-modern times
Late-twentieth century and early twenty-first century critical biblical
study has reminded us that the ancient Christian books that make up the
New Testament canon were not, at origin, foundational books. They were
not written as a sort of initial constitution for a society only beginning
to meet. Rather, they are important diverse sources for and records of
an ongoing critique at various places in the early progress of a Christian
movement already underway. They were intended as course corrections.
Even as they presented foundational principles, they were documents of
reform. The Pauline letters, for example, were written to existing Christian
communities — some of which Paul himself founded, some of which he
did not — and they were written with a still discernible reforming intent.
The Lord’s Supper had been going on at Corinth, but Paul was vigorously
seeking to convince its celebrants about important .changes they needed to
make in their practice. Preaching had been taking place in Galatia, but
Paul was seeking to refocus that preaching on what he calls “the gospel of
Christ” (1:7). A similar purpose can be discerned in other texts, beyond
the letters of Paul. Appointment to office had been taking place in the
deutero-Pauline communities, but the author of the letters to Timothy
was seeking, among other things, to reform and discipline the practice
of office-giving and office-keeping. The examples could be multiplied.
These written proposals, of course, became foundational documents as they
took on canonical status amid the controversies of the second, third and
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