J
jmcrae
Guest
As I understand it, the Scriptures are inerrant, but they do not contain sufficient information to be reliable on certain subjects - in other words, the information that the Scriptures contain on these subjects is accurate, but there is not enough information to learn anything useful about these subjects from the Scriptures - the reason is that these subjects are not the actual subject of the Scriptures, which is: the relationships of human beings with God and with each other.I agree. But the way we think of “inerrant” has changed significantly in the last 150 or so years, hasn’t it. Do you disagree that Leo XIII thought the Bible historically inerrant, or that the Church no longer teaches that?
Because the Bible is not a book about science, any reference it makes to scientific subjects are, by necessity, incomplete, and therefore not particularly useful to scientists. It is also not (primarily) a book about history, so although there are references to historical subjects, again, it is incomplete, and thus, less reliable than books that are, in fact, intended to be historical.
Some theologians have gone this route, it’s true - but I don’t think they are in line with the Church’s tradition by doing so, and I think that this particular school of thought will come to a dead-end and disappear, as it works itself out , together with the literalist view that Scripture can or ought to teach us about science and history as well as about religion (which both developed at around the same time, interestingly enough).The dogma on the inerrancy of Scripture developed away from a belief in the historical and scientific accuracy of Scripture, and toward a more spiritual and less literal interpretation.
On the other hand, it has always been generally understood that the Scriptures are not intended to cover every subject in depth - even St. Augustine knew that, and made fun of people who thought that the world was only 4,000 years old during the time of Christ.