Peopled by the Book

Christians, along with other religious groups, are sometimes called “people of the book.” Despite its laudable intentions, this phrase sometimes fosters the tendency to set up readers of the book as masters of this object in their possession. I seek here to unsettle this prejudice with the suggestion that the Triune God uses the Christian Scriptures to master us by transforming us into the people of God. We are, in fact, peopled by the book. I will unpack this thesis in three steps: by exploring the notion of authorship of Scripture, by discussing the question of scriptural authority, and by exploring the notion of authenticity of Scripture. In conclusion, I will consider some consequences of this treatment of Scripture for contemporary readers