F
Fr_of_Jazz
Guest
RE differences in the Gospels I would read the PBC’s document Instruction on he Historical Truth of the Gospels. The Vatican has not issued their own English translation yet.
Also good is Pope Benedict XVI’s Jesus of Nazareth, Vol I; Chap 8.
RE inerrancy proper, here’s some things I put together.
Inerrancy
= The Bible is free from error. How is this to be understood?
“Since everything asserted by the inspired authors or sacred writers must be held to be asserted by the Holy Spirit, it follows that the books of Scripture must be acknowledged as teaching firmly, faithfully and without error that truth which God wanted put into sacred writings for the sake of our salvation.” Dei verbum, #11]
The basic problem
We maintain that the Bible is inerrant, yet it contains statements that at face value in any other teaching text would be regarded as erroneous. Why, then, should the Bible considered inerrant?
Examples of statements in the Bible that often cause difficulty with regard to inerrancy.
Gn 7:17 flood–40 days; Gn 7:24 flood–150 days
Mk 2:26 - Abiathar is said to be high priest; 1 Sm 21:2 - Ahimelech is high priest
Mt 23:35 - Zechariah, son of Barachiah; 2 Chr 24:20-22 - son of Jehoida
Fig tree withers immediately Mt 21:18-22; withers next day Mk 11:12-14, 20-25.
Inscriptions on the Cross differ - Mt 27:37; Mk 15:26; Lk 23:38; Jn 19:19
Death of Judas and origin of Field of Blood differ - Mt 27:5-8; AA 1:18-19
Going from or coming to Jericho? - Mt 20:29-34; Mk 10:46-53; Lk 18:35-43
Jn 7:38 - no such exact quote in the OT
The universe wrapped in water held back by a solid dome called the firmament
Joshua 10:13 - the sun stood still . . . . the sun moves, not the earth???
Solution
(1) Note literary forms - history, legend, creation epic, poetry, law, parable, etc. Along with that, note literal use of language vs. figurative use of language.
(2) The Bible is inerrant in its original text. Certain copying inaccuracies may account for some discrepancies.
(3) Inerrancy applies to the God-given purpose of the Bible to teach salvific truth. Scripture does not set out to teach the full rigors of natural science or convey historical detail for their own sakes as only a modern scholarly treatise on these subjects would. This is not its purpose. So one cannot make inerrancy hinge upon the technical perfection of modern academic research and scholarship.
“We do not read in the Gospel that the Lord said: ‘I send you the Paraclete, that he may instruct you concerning the course of the sun and moon.’ For it was Christians he wished to make, not mathematicians.” [St. Augustine, *De Actis cum Felice Manicheo I, 10]
(4) Inerrancy applies to what the biblical author intends to teach–“assert” as Dei verbum puts it–not what he materially uses in the process. So Ps 19:5-7 (“the sun runs from one end of the sky to the other”) is a hymn of praise to God for His creation as perceived, not a lesson in modern astrophysics. The biblical author is not asserting–intending to teach–that the sun goes around the earth.
The Biblical authors describe phenomena and things as they appear to the senses and are not intending to teach a scientific theory. In Joshua 10:13 it is mentioned that the sun stood still. The description of the event is they way Joshua perceived it, not a scientific statement of fact that the sun revolves around the earth.
(5) Inerrancy applies to all of the Bible taken as a whole and in the light of the whole, not isolated passages out of context. A complete reading of the whole Bible leads to the inescapable conclusion that killing innocent civilians in a war is wrong. But at an early stage of the unfolding of revelation the abhorrent ancient practice of killing the whole population was permitted or written about as if normal and willed by God (Dt 20:16-18; Josh 6:21; 1 Sam 15:3).
Also good is Pope Benedict XVI’s Jesus of Nazareth, Vol I; Chap 8.
RE inerrancy proper, here’s some things I put together.
Inerrancy
= The Bible is free from error. How is this to be understood?
“Since everything asserted by the inspired authors or sacred writers must be held to be asserted by the Holy Spirit, it follows that the books of Scripture must be acknowledged as teaching firmly, faithfully and without error that truth which God wanted put into sacred writings for the sake of our salvation.” Dei verbum, #11]
The basic problem
We maintain that the Bible is inerrant, yet it contains statements that at face value in any other teaching text would be regarded as erroneous. Why, then, should the Bible considered inerrant?
Examples of statements in the Bible that often cause difficulty with regard to inerrancy.
Gn 7:17 flood–40 days; Gn 7:24 flood–150 days
Mk 2:26 - Abiathar is said to be high priest; 1 Sm 21:2 - Ahimelech is high priest
Mt 23:35 - Zechariah, son of Barachiah; 2 Chr 24:20-22 - son of Jehoida
Fig tree withers immediately Mt 21:18-22; withers next day Mk 11:12-14, 20-25.
Inscriptions on the Cross differ - Mt 27:37; Mk 15:26; Lk 23:38; Jn 19:19
Death of Judas and origin of Field of Blood differ - Mt 27:5-8; AA 1:18-19
Going from or coming to Jericho? - Mt 20:29-34; Mk 10:46-53; Lk 18:35-43
Jn 7:38 - no such exact quote in the OT
The universe wrapped in water held back by a solid dome called the firmament
Joshua 10:13 - the sun stood still . . . . the sun moves, not the earth???
Solution
(1) Note literary forms - history, legend, creation epic, poetry, law, parable, etc. Along with that, note literal use of language vs. figurative use of language.
(2) The Bible is inerrant in its original text. Certain copying inaccuracies may account for some discrepancies.
(3) Inerrancy applies to the God-given purpose of the Bible to teach salvific truth. Scripture does not set out to teach the full rigors of natural science or convey historical detail for their own sakes as only a modern scholarly treatise on these subjects would. This is not its purpose. So one cannot make inerrancy hinge upon the technical perfection of modern academic research and scholarship.
“We do not read in the Gospel that the Lord said: ‘I send you the Paraclete, that he may instruct you concerning the course of the sun and moon.’ For it was Christians he wished to make, not mathematicians.” [St. Augustine, *De Actis cum Felice Manicheo I, 10]
(4) Inerrancy applies to what the biblical author intends to teach–“assert” as Dei verbum puts it–not what he materially uses in the process. So Ps 19:5-7 (“the sun runs from one end of the sky to the other”) is a hymn of praise to God for His creation as perceived, not a lesson in modern astrophysics. The biblical author is not asserting–intending to teach–that the sun goes around the earth.
The Biblical authors describe phenomena and things as they appear to the senses and are not intending to teach a scientific theory. In Joshua 10:13 it is mentioned that the sun stood still. The description of the event is they way Joshua perceived it, not a scientific statement of fact that the sun revolves around the earth.
(5) Inerrancy applies to all of the Bible taken as a whole and in the light of the whole, not isolated passages out of context. A complete reading of the whole Bible leads to the inescapable conclusion that killing innocent civilians in a war is wrong. But at an early stage of the unfolding of revelation the abhorrent ancient practice of killing the whole population was permitted or written about as if normal and willed by God (Dt 20:16-18; Josh 6:21; 1 Sam 15:3).