Challenging the traditional meaning of Scripture is not easy, even in the face of issues that call into question those traditional interpretations. In these reflections, Brueggemann says that the Bible, as the live word of the living God, will not submit to the accounts we prefer to give of it. The Bible's inherent, central evangelical proclamation has greater and more permanent authority than our inescapably provisional interpretations. Placher notes that taking the Bible most seriously means struggling to understand its meaning as well as affirming its truth. And Blount distinguishes what some may claim as a 'last word,' which is necessarily a dead word, from the living word that is God's word to us today.
