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The Doctrine of Inspiration arises from the Doctrine of God

Some preliminaries: First, a prudent theology will treat questions concerning the nature and interpretation of Scripture indirectly, that is, as corollaries of more primary theological teaching about the relation of God and creatures: this, because Scripture is (for example) part of God’s providential supplying of the life of the church, and we will remain unclear about Scripture as long as we are unclear about God, providence and church. Indeed, part of the strain evident in some modern conceptions of Scripture and hermeneutics originates in their unhappy alienation from their proper doctrinal habitat: uprooted, they find themselves exposed, lacking the resources afforded by a larger theological and spiritual environment, and so unable to flourish. This fate they share, of course, with the doctrine of revelation which has suffered similar dislocation; in both cases, disarray is overcome in part by restoring them to their proper subordinate place.