Marcus Borg has written a brief outline of some arguments about the authority of the bible. It succinctly summarizes and illustrates a basic conflict between the fundamentalist believers and the more modern Christians. The heart of the argument is as follows:

Central to the conflict are two ways of seeing the Bible's origin. The first sees it as a divine product; the second sees it as a human product.

The first is affirmed by fundamentalist and most conservative Christians. They say that the divine origin of the Bible is the basis of its authority. Unlike any other book, the Bible is the uniquely revealed word of God, and that's why it matters. Why should we take it seriously? Because it comes from God.

It is easy to understand why the Bible is seen this way. In the Christian tradition, we have consistently spoken of it as "the Word of God" and "inspired by God," language which suggests that the Bible is a divine product as no other book is.

The second way of seeing the Bible views it as the human product of two ancient communities. The Old Testament is the product of ancient Israel, and the New Testament is the product of the early Christian movement. As the product of these two communities, the Bible tells us about how they saw things--how they thought about God and told their stories.

This view is the result of modern biblical scholarship over the last three centuries. Thought it was known mostly in scholarly circles until recently, this approach is now being embraced by many mainline Christians.

Indeed, a strong grass-roots desire for a new way of seeing the Bible is one of the most remarkable features of the contemporary church.

He gives illustrations about how this affects understandings of creation, the law (specifically, the treatment of homosexuals), and other aspects of Christian life and belief.

Reading this short article certainly makes me even more interested in reading one or more of Borg's books for which I've heard high praise.