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Biblical inspiration without strict inerrancy

The case for Christianity does not require the strongest twentieth century North American doctrine of inerrancy.

A common stumbling block: "If the Bible has historical errors or contradictions, the whole edifice falls. Either the Bible is the perfect Word of God or it is just another ancient book." This is the wrong dichotomy.

The strict inerrancy view (Chicago Statement, 1978, in its strongest form) is one Christian view among several. It is not the historical Christian default; it is a particular twentieth century North American formulation. The historical Christian doctrine is inspiration, a more flexible category.

The range of Christian views: strict inerrancy (the Bible without error in everything it affirms, including history and science); limited inerrancy (without error in matters of faith and practice; historical and scientific details may reflect ancient understanding); infallibility not inerrancy (reliably accomplishes its salvific purpose; details may be culturally conditioned); inspiration without modern inerrancy categories (the patristic and medieval default; current Eastern Orthodox).

The site does not commit to any one. It commits to: the Bible is historically reliable enough to ground the resurrection claim. The historical reliability of the New Testament documents is what the case rests on. Theological doctrines of inspiration are downstream of, not upstream of, the resurrection.

A reader convinced of the resurrection will move into the question of biblical authority next, but the site does not gate the resurrection case on a prior commitment to strict inerrancy. The Genesis creation narratives can be read as theological symbolic literature in dialogue with ANE creation accounts (John Walton) without forcing a young earth creationist reading. Apparent contradictions in genealogies and harmonisation puzzles do not threaten the historical case for the resurrection.

Reading

  • John Walton, The Lost World of Genesis One, 2009.
  • Peter Enns, Inspiration and Incarnation, 2nd ed., 2015.
  • Kevin Vanhoozer, The Drama of Doctrine, 2005.
  • Nicholas Wolterstorff, Divine Discourse, 1995.

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