Is There One Single Coherent Story?

It is true that none of the Christian faith traditions (Roman Catholic, Orthodox, Anglican and Protestant) have official statements or creeds declaring that the Bible tells a single, unified coherent story. But, sure, individual readers and even individual faith communities may see the Bible as conveying a big single story that is both unified and coherent. However, to consider the question a little deeper, whether the Bible conveys one unified message depends largely on the reader's interpretive framework and how broadly or narrowly they assert that "message" or "story" to be. Much of the biblical text is clearly connected to other portions. Genesis through Judges traces a continuous narrative of origins, covenant, and conquest. The same is true of Samuel through Chronicles, the prophetic books in its engagement with Israel's covenantal failures, the Gospels and Acts as a unified account of Jesus and the early church, and the epistles as theological reflection on that same movement. There is, therefore, substantial basis for recognizing both the connectivity of the individual books and a coherence of recurring themes.

However, interconnection among texts does not by itself establish unity of message. Multiple writers can address the same events and eras without arriving at a common theological conclusion. Thematic overlap is not the same as theological harmony.

What most powerfully drives a perception of unified message is the degree to which the reader sees the Christ of the New Testament as prefigured throughout the Old. When that hermeneutical lens is applied, the entirety of Scripture tends to be read as converging on a single redemptive arc, and unity of message appears far more evident.

However, even those who see the Christ of the New Testament as being prefigured in the Old, do not all agree on what in the Old prefigures Him or how it does. This, of course, is part of what will shape the message that is believed presented.

So, insisting that there is or isn't one "unified message", is a bit simplistic. Those who insist that there is, ignore the clear reality that not all people and Christian faith communities apply the same interpretative framework. Therefore, they define the story a little differently. In fact, in large part, that is the very reason that there is such a variety of faith communities. Those who insist that there isn't ignore the realities that, indeed, there are valid interpretative frameworks through which the scriptures are viewed and that such do produce a unified and coherent story. Fortunately, however, the life changing value of the Scriptures does not depend upon uniformity of message drawn from its content. The real issue is whether one is allowing the scriptures to reveal God, God's love for the individual and the individual's need for God.