User:AKjeldsen/Handling Inerrancy

(My notes on dealing with the Biblical Inerrancy stuff, stored here for convenience. Feel free to comment if you wish, but probably better ignored for the moment.)

Programme

 * Reduce focus on the Bible itself: Only serves to bog down the discussion in peripheral detail issues.
 * Focus instead on investigating the primary subject, the inerrantist "movement" (assuming such a thing exists and can be identified) and the way it argues/supports its viewpoints.
 * Research quotes and examples that show the inerrantist approach. Good places to start:
 * Answers in Genesis
 * Chicago Statement on Biblical Inerrancy
 * Same, with comments by Norman Geisler
 * Gary Habermas
 * Differences among denominations
 * Refutations based on science, history, theology, etc.

Further Details

 * Important to distinguish between Biblical inerrancy, infallibility and literalism. Connected and overlapping, but separate concepts.

The Bible as a Source

 * No such thing as an uncomplicated historical source - Bible more complex than most
 * No such thing as a source at all until questions are asked.
 * Widespread problem with anti-inerrancy, e.g. Sceptic's Annotated Bible, attacks the source material itself, lowers to same level as those who exploit it, impose own/modern standards on the source.
 * Fairness doctrine in history. A historian should not be a judge, cf. Marc Bloch.


 * Brief introduction to the Bible.
 * Structure
 * Content
 * Origins - the Documentary Hypothesis, e.g. R. E. Friedmann
 * Use by later historical periods
 * Early Christianity: Apostolic writings, canon
 * Middle Ages: Auctoritas
 * Early Modern: Beginnings of critical biblical scholarship
 * Modern:
 * Contemporary: