Author(s) of Bible

     In a Collect what does it mean to pray who hast caused or who caused all holy Scriptures to be written... ? Does it mean that God controlled or dictated the writing of the Bible? This Collect was composed by Archbishop of Canterbury Thomas Cranmer for the 1549 Book of Common Prayer and reflects the usage of that era. "Caused" need not mean "compelled," "forced," or "coerced," nor does it imply "dictated." A book in "The New Church's Teaching Series" notes that "...we can appreciate the authority of scripture within the context of the Incarnate Christ: the Bible is not the only or last word of God to us. Certainly it is, as Hooker said, 'an oracle of God,' but it is also a historical book, one written by fallible human beings. We can believe that by the guiding of the Holy Spirit its writers were led to witness authentically to the revelation of God in Christ, but most Anglican biblical scholars and theologians, as well as most ordinary Episcopalians, would agree that it always needs to be interpreted and understood within the church itself - in the light of Christ." [Griffiss, The Anglican Vision (1997), p. 106] Note also the Prayer Book's Catechism section on "The Holy Scriptures" (pp. 853f.), especially: "We call them [the Scriptures] the Word of God because God inspired their human authors and because God still speaks to us through the Bible." In less elegant language the Collect means: "Blessed Lord, who inspired the writing of all holy Scriptures for our learning........."