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Course 17 · Lesson 8.3

Admitting what remains unresolved

12 minute read

Lessons in this course

Course 17 outline

Module 1: What Christians Mean by Scripture

  1. Revelation and inspiration: two different ideas
  2. Models of inspiration across the traditions
  3. Inerrancy and infallibility: what each term claims
  4. Reading in historical and literary context

Module 2: How the Canon Was Formed

  1. The formation of the Old Testament canon
  2. The formation of the New Testament canon
  3. The Apocrypha and the deuterocanonical books
  4. Protestant, Catholic and Orthodox canons compared

Module 3: The Text and Its Transmission

  1. How manuscripts were copied
  2. Variants and how scholars weigh them
  3. The Old Testament text: Masoretic text, Dead Sea Scrolls and Septuagint
  4. What the manuscript evidence shows and does not show

Module 4: Apparent Contradictions

  1. A method for testing a claimed contradiction
  2. Numbers, names and parallel accounts
  3. Differences among the Gospel accounts
  4. Tensions that remain and how traditions handle them

Module 5: Difficult Old Testament Passages

  1. Reading difficult passages honestly
  2. The conquest narratives and the question of violence
  3. Slavery in the ancient world and in the Bible
  4. How Christians have read hard texts: the church fathers to today

Module 6: Archaeology and Chronology

  1. What archaeology can show
  2. The limits of archaeological evidence
  3. Dating events: kings, exile and the exodus debate
  4. Genealogies, ages and calculations

Module 7: Scripture and Science

  1. Ancient cosmology and the opening chapters of Genesis
  2. Approaches to Genesis and science among Christians
  3. Augustine, accommodation and caution in interpretation

Module 8: Writing a Response

  1. Choosing and framing a problem
  2. Building a response from context and tradition
  3. Admitting what remains unresolved

All courses

Program / Course 17: Defending Scripture / Lesson 8.3

What you will learn

  • Explain why honest acknowledgment of unresolved questions strengthens rather than weakens a response.
  • Distinguish a problem that is unsolved from one that is unsolvable, and from one that is a real disagreement.
  • Describe how the traditions and the saints have lived with open questions.
  • Review the course as a whole and state in your own words what you have learned and what you still do not know.

The big idea

The last step of a good response is to say what remains open. This is not a confession of failure. It is part of telling the truth about the evidence, and it is the habit that separates inquiry from propaganda. Some problems are unsolved but may be solved with new evidence, some may never be solved, and some mark a real difference in the sources or among the traditions. A mature reader can hold a conviction firmly while saying exactly where it meets limits. The course ends with this skill because every hard question the Bible raises will meet it.

Key terms

Unsolved
A problem for which no explanation is agreed, but which may be settled by further study or evidence.
Unsolvable
A problem that the available evidence cannot settle, because the data are lost or the question is of a kind that evidence cannot decide.
Mystery
In Christian use, a truth that surpasses full human understanding although it can be known in part. It is different from a puzzle that awaits an answer.
Epistemic humility
The practice of holding beliefs with a confidence proportionate to the evidence and acknowledging one’s limits.
Apophatic
A way of speaking about God that stresses what cannot be said. Used in the Orthodox tradition, it teaches reverence before what exceeds words.
Fideism
The view that faith does not need or cannot rely on reasons. Most traditions reject it in this strong form.

Background

Teachers in all three traditions have counseled both courage in facing difficulty and patience in waiting. Augustine confessed that there were many things he did not understand in Scripture and said that he preferred to admit his ignorance than to claim knowledge he did not have. Thomas Aquinas, after a lifetime of writing, is reported to have said that all he had written seemed like straw compared with what had been revealed to him. The report comes from later sources and is a matter of tradition, but it expresses an attitude honored in the church.

In modern settings, the pressure runs the other way. Debaters and online commenters are often rewarded for certainty and punished for admissions. A student of this course has seen that the evidence does not always allow certainty. The task now is to say so without losing conviction, and without letting uncertainty on one point spread to all.

Step-by-step explanation

Step 1: Name the kind of unresolved

When a problem is not solved, say which kind it is. An unsolved problem may be resolved by new manuscripts, inscriptions or arguments. The date of the exodus and the identity of the author of some letters are examples. An unsolvable problem is one where the evidence is gone or the question exceeds what evidence can show, such as why God permitted a particular evil. A real disagreement is one where the sources differ or the traditions hold different positions, such as the extent of the Old Testament canon.

Naming the kind guards against two mistakes. One is to treat every unsolved problem as a refutation, and the other is to treat every problem as certain to be solved. It also helps readers to see what can be done next: look for more evidence, accept the limit, or recognize the difference among traditions and discuss it with respect.

Step 2: Say what follows and what does not

An honest account also says what follows from the open question. If a numerical difference in Chronicles is unresolved, it does not follow that the Bible is worthless, and it does not follow that inerrancy is established. What follows depends on the view of Scripture that one holds. An inerrantist may say the matter is simply open, and a critic may say it is a small piece of evidence for human authorship. The honest writer states these consequences and does not claim more than the evidence supports.

Where the question touches core doctrine, as with the resurrection, the writer should say how the claim relates to the evidence and to faith. The traditions agree that Christian faith includes trust that goes beyond what can be demonstrated, while also holding that it is not blind. Aquinas, Calvin and Pascal in their different ways, all describe faith as supported by reasons and completed by grace.

Step 3: How the traditions live with open questions

Catholic teaching distinguishes truths of faith, which are defined, from many questions on which Catholics may differ, and its saying in essentials unity, in doubtful matters liberty, in all things charity is often quoted, though it is not of ancient origin. Orthodox tradition stresses mystery and the apophatic way, and many of its saints counsel silence before what cannot be grasped. Protestant traditions emphasize that Scripture is clear in what is needed for salvation (Westminster Confession 1.7), while admitting that not all things in it are alike plain.

Jewish tradition preserves open questions in the Talmud, recording debates without always resolving them, and has a term for a question left standing: teiku, said to mean let it stand. The practice shows that a community can honor a text and leave a problem unsettled for centuries. Christian communities have done the same with questions on the canon’s edges, the days of creation and the dating of events.

Step 4: Looking back over the course

The course began by distinguishing revelation from inspiration and asking what inerrancy and infallibility mean. It then followed the history of the canon and the text, learned a method for contradictions, faced violence and slavery, weighed archaeology and chronology, and looked at Genesis and science. In each part, the same pattern appeared: define the terms, read in context, state the best objection, compare the traditions, and say what is left.

You have not been asked to adopt a single answer to every question. You have been asked to be accurate about the evidence and fair to those who differ. Some of the open questions will matter more to you than others. Choose to return to them with patience, and consider reading them with others in a church, a study group or a conversation with a trusted teacher, since the program does not claim that private study replaces the common life of the church.

  1. Which of the problems studied in this course do you consider unsolved, which unsolvable, and which a real disagreement?
  2. How does admitting an open question affect your confidence in the rest of what you believe?
  3. What would you say to someone who thinks that any unsolved problem refutes the Bible?
  4. What would you say to someone who thinks that believers must have an answer to every question?
  5. Which saint, writer or teacher in this course gave you the best model of honest inquiry?
  6. With whom could you discuss the questions that remain for you?

Examples

Teiku

In the Talmud, when a legal question cannot be decided, the text may say teiku, often explained as let it stand. Later tradition adds a playful explanation that it means that the prophet Elijah will come and resolve all questions. The example shows a community living calmly with an open question.

Augustine on his own limits

In his Confessions Augustine says to God that he does not know what time is when no one asks him, and does not know how to explain it when he is asked. He goes on to a careful discussion and does not reach a final answer. The example shows a great mind using honest ignorance as a starting point.

A response that ends well

A student’s essay on the death of Judas ends: Both accounts agree on the betrayal and on the field. The details differ, and the proposed harmonies are possible but go beyond the text. I conclude that the tension remains, and that it does not by itself settle the question of inspiration, which depends on other reasons.

Different perspectives

Catholic

Catholic tradition holds that faith and reason are compatible and that the Church guards the deposit of faith, while allowing freedom in disputed questions. The Church has asked theologians and exegetes to work honestly and has acknowledged that some questions await further study.

Orthodox

Orthodox theology values the apophatic way and a reverent silence before mystery. It teaches that truth is known in the life of the church and in prayer, and that knowledge of God is not exhausted by argument. This outlook makes it easy to admit that some things are beyond understanding.

Protestant

Protestants have emphasized the clarity of Scripture on essentials and have also practiced careful scholarship that acknowledges difficulty. Calvin spoke of the limits of human understanding, and Luther distinguished the hidden God from the God revealed in Christ. Many modern Protestants value the phrase faith seeking understanding.

Jewish

Jewish learning has long preserved open questions, from the Talmud to modern commentary. It teaches that to study is a form of worship and that the question is a way of honoring the text.

Secular and skeptical

Secular thinkers value the willingness to say I do not know as a mark of intellectual honesty. They sometimes argue that believers fail to practice it, and believers reply that they hold their commitments on grounds that include reasons and experience. Both can learn from each other here.

Why it matters

The mark of a trustworthy guide to a difficult subject is that the guide says where the knowledge ends. The tradition of the church, in its best teachers, includes this honesty. Practicing it will make you a more reliable friend to those who doubt, a more careful reader of the Bible and a steadier believer when new questions arise. It also keeps the study of Scripture humble, and it leaves room for wonder.

Common misunderstandings

Misunderstanding: Admitting uncertainty is a loss of faith.

Correction: The great teachers of the church admitted what they did not know. Faith is trust in God, and it does not require claiming to understand everything.

Misunderstanding: If one thing in the Bible is uncertain, everything is.

Correction: Uncertainty about a number or a date does not spread to the whole. Each claim is judged on its own evidence, and the core of Christian faith does not rest on the disputed details.

Misunderstanding: Mystery is just a polite word for not having an answer.

Correction: In Christian theology, mystery names a truth that can be known in part but not exhausted. It differs from a puzzle that has a solution, though it is possible to misuse the word to avoid a question.

Misunderstanding: Private study is enough to settle hard questions.

Correction: Study helps, but the traditions teach that reading Scripture is done within a community, with teachers and with others who can correct. Consider talking with a pastor, priest or teacher in your own church.

Knowledge check

What are the three kinds of unresolved question named in this lesson?

An unsolved problem has no agreed explanation but may be settled by further study or evidence. An unsolvable problem is one the evidence cannot settle because the data are lost or the question is beyond evidence. A real disagreement is one where sources or traditions differ, such as the extent of the Old Testament canon. Naming the kind helps decide what to do next.

Why does honest acknowledgment of limits strengthen a response?

It shows that the writer has tested the argument and has not hidden difficulties. A reader trusts a writer who says what is certain, probable, possible or unknown. It also prevents overclaiming, which gives critics an easy reply. Honest limits make the parts of the response that are strong more credible.

What does it mean to say that an open question does not automatically refute the Bible?

A problem that has not been solved is not the same as a problem that has been shown to be a contradiction or an error. Many historical documents have unsolved questions. What follows depends on the nature of the problem and the view of Scripture held. A critic and a defender will often draw different conclusions, and each should state them honestly.

Name one way a tradition has lived with open questions.

The Talmud records debates without always resolving them and uses the word teiku for a question left standing. Orthodox theology cultivates the apophatic way and reverence before mystery. Catholic teaching allows liberty in disputed matters while holding to defined truths, and Protestants hold that Scripture is clear on what is necessary for salvation while admitting difficulties elsewhere.

Think it through

  1. What question from this course do you most want to carry forward, and what would it take to make progress on it?
  2. How has your view of the Bible changed or been confirmed by this course?
  3. Who in your life could you talk with about the questions that remain?

Independent assignment

A closing statement and a list of open questions

In your own notebook, write 400 to 600 words in two parts. In the first part, finish your response from Lesson 8.2 with a paragraph that names what remains unresolved and what kind of question it is. In the second, write a list of five questions from the whole course that you still hold open, with a note on what kind each is and what you plan to read or do next. Do not send this to anyone or post it anywhere.

Further study