So the New Testament is not a collection of books with a single tight agenda that works on behalf of a powerful elite; it is the product of a community of people living at great risk and doing so because they sense themselves compelled by a mystery and presence that is completely authoritative for them – the presence of Jesus. They have been convinced that being in the company of Jesus is the way to become fully and effectively human. They are discovering how to live together without greed, fear and suspicion because of his company. They believe that they’ve been given the gift of showing the world what justice and mutual service and gratitude might look like in a world that is a very dangerous place because of our incapacity for these things. They take the risks because they believe they have been entrusted with a promise.
Whatever this is, it is not about cover-ups, not about the secret agenda of power; it may be nonsense to you, it may be unreal to you, but don’t be deceived about the nature of the message and those who lived it out in the days when the New Testament was being written. And that’s why if we want to know what it is about today, we need to turn to the people who are taking the same risks, struggling with the same mystery. We need to look at the martyrs and the mystics.
It's a good response though it wouldn't quite satisfy the seeker/questioner who is aware of the role of the church of the Nicene period in accepting the NT writings and not other writings; the hermeneutic of suspicion applies to the selection rather than the writing. However, drawing attention to the writing and it's life situations is a good move in letting what these writers wrote be heard above the din of suspicion.
Archbishop of Canterbury | Sermons and Speeches: Filed in: Rowan_Williams, Da_Vinci_Code, NT, Christian, apologetics
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