Without them our ability to live out the faith would be dramatically compromised. The Scriptures are essential in shaping the outlook of Christian people. But here again he emphasizes the formal or external elements of the religion while attempting to avoid dogmatism and inflexibility. By immersing ourselves in the Scriptures we enter a new world. This happens quite apart from formal theories.
Scripture has a formative role.
It gives us a way of understanding ourselves and the world. It does not suggest, as is often said in our day, that believers find their stories in the Bible, but rather that they make the story of the Bible their story. When the Bible is properly employed, it enables us to understand and interpret our own lives. The teachings and stories, laws and prophecies enable us to pick out the pattern in the fragments of our lives. Lindbeck wants to be certain that Scripture remains a means of inculturation and transformation, a word under which we live.