Catalyst #1: The word "inerrancy" as it pertains to the Bible is "the wrong word at the wrong time, though it might have been the right word for a previous generation."
Huzzah!
The word "inerrancy" is a twentieth century construct created as push-back against 19th and 20th century Biblical criticism attacks. It is a word foisted upon the Scriptures that the original authors in their context would not have considered useful or important.
To wit: Psalm 119 is the longest chapter in the Bible. It is almost exclusively a celebration of the wonders and power of God's word. The word "inerrancy" is no where to be found. It's not in the OT, not in the NT.
A number of years ago I was walking past a fellow campus minister who I personally liked a good deal. He was counseling a student through their questions about the Bible. I overheard him say, "The thing about the Bible is that it is either 100% right or 100% wrong."
This, my friends, is ridiculous. All you need to do is look in your NIV footnotes where it says, "some manuscripts omit the word it." It is exactly this foolish all-or-nothing reasoning that caused UNC professor Bart Ehrman to chuck his faith over a very minor historical detail in Mark and become the lead prophet for the new atheism movement of the past several years.
So what we end up doing is making up ridiculous definitions for what we mean by "inerrancy" that have so many loopholes and qualifiers that the word itself has no more meaning.
I really like how InterVarsity has navigated these waters. Our doctrinal statement says that Scripture is uniquely authoritative. Amen to that.
The Danger
Of course, the danger is that if you chuck "inerrancy" then people just chuck the Bible entirely. Or maybe the reader becomes the locus of power or authority to decide what's "really God's inspired word" and what's not. Fair enough, there are dangers there.
But on the whole, I will take an intentionally developed and cultivated "uniquely authoritative" approach to the Scriptures over a very post-modern, revisionist, made-up, bastardized version of the word "inerrancy" any day.
The Verdict
This is a good movement not just for the Emergent church, but a more faithful way for all of us to take the Bible seriously as it really is.
3 comments:
agreed. :)
Alex,
I like everything you say and how you say it...
BUT I want to be picky and pt out that that's NOT what caused Bart to ditch his faith, according to him, at least. The Mark issue merely made him question inerrancy. He continued identifying as a Christian--though not an inerrantist--years after that. It's really the problem of evil that made him an agnostic--and he would identify as agnostic, not atheist. (I don't think he would consider himself part of any "new atheist" movement.)
It doesn't make a big difference as far as the pt of your post goes, but out of fairness to Bart, I wanted to be sure you had the full story (er, well, as full as he revealed to us in his class).
Btw, as I visit churches I'm finding that after hearing you speak so often, it's really hard to stay awake for any other white preachers. :-P
well-said, thanks Alex
and condolences on your grandmother
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