The Authority of Scripture AND Evangelical Unity

This week at CIU, it is our "Authority of Scripture" emphasis week. Along with World Evangelization, Prayer and Faith, Victorious Christian Living, and Evangelical Unity, the Authority of Scripture is one of our five core values at CIU. We are fortunate to have Dr. Doug Moo, a prolific New Testament scholar from Wheaton College, as our chapel speaker and guest lecturer in some classes. 

Dr. Moo serves as the chair of the Committee on Bible Translation, a team of fifteen that specifically work with the New International Version (NIV). As I listened to his first presentation in chapel (a very winsome and accessible one worth listening to), I was impressed that the CBT committee not only holds to an evangelical authoritative view of Scripture but there is also a sense of evangelical unity in the process. As the slide in the picture shows, this team is deliberately comprised of scholars from different evangelical denominations and theological persuasions and includes men and women as well as international scholars.

In short, through this talk, Dr. Moo has demonstrated the synergy of two values we hold dear (biblical authority and evangelical unity) at work in the precious work of translation--rendering a translation that is faithful and accurate and also understandable to all English speakers. Having such a diverse team laboring together surely helps to expose the biases that could lead to theologically driven translations and allows the Scripture to speak for itself.