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 | Some Catholic theologians claim that, in its original autograph version, the Bible is inerrant -- without error. This appears to be the consensus of the popes, and most of the Catholic scholars and other church leaders until the mid 20th century. This belief developed naturally from their conviction that God inspired the authors of the Bible. If God was influencing the writers, then he would not have led them into error; deceit is not normally one of the attributes expected of God. |
| Other Catholics teach a more recent concept: that of limited inerrancy. This views the Bible as being without error in certain matters such as faith, morals and the criteria for salvation. However, the Bible contains errors when describing other matters, such as scientific observations and historical events. This belief had its origins in the church with the writings of Richard Simon (1638 - 1712) who rejected Moses as author of the Pentateuch. He partly inspired the literary-criticism method of analyzing biblical passages which became influential among some 19th century Christians. |
| Still other Catholic theologians and scholars have agreed with liberal Protestants by rejecting the inerrancy of the Bible. They interpret it as containing much legend, myth, historical and scientific inaccuracies, religious propaganda, etc. Of these intellectuals, Dominic Crossan is one of the most popular Catholic writers among the general public. |
Some writings by Catholic popes, church leaders, and theologians:
| St. Augustine: He supported inerrancy in a letter to St. Jerome. He wrote: |
"On my own part I confess to your charity that it is only to those books of Scripture which are now called canonical that I have learned to pay such honor and reverence as to believe most firmly that none of their writers has fallen into any error. And if in these books I meet anything which seems contrary to truth, I shall not hesitate to conclude either that the text is faulty, or that the translator has not expressed the meaning of the passage, or that I myself do not understand."
| The Council of the Vatican (1869-1870): They determined: |
"The books of the Old and New Testament, whole and entire, with all their parts, as enumerated in the decree of the same Council [Trent] and in the ancient Latin Vulgate, are to be received as sacred and canonical. And the Church holds them as sacred and canonical not because, having been composed by human industry, they were afterwards approved by her authority; nor only because they contain revelation without errors, but because, having been written under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, they have God for their Author."
[Note that it is not the Vulgate version, in Latin, which is considered to be "without errors." It is the original Hebrew, Aramaic and Greek documents.]
| Pope Leo XIII (1893): His encyclical letter "Providentissimus Deus" said in part: |
"For all the books which the Church receives as sacred and canonical are written wholly and entirely, with all their parts, at the dictation of the Holy Spirit; and so far is it from being possible that any error can coexist with inspiration, that inspiration not only is essentially incompatible with error, but excludes and rejects it as absolutely and necessarily as it is impossible that God Himself, the supreme Truth, can utter that which is not true. This is the ancient and unchanging faith of the Church..."
He wrote that the Holy Spirit assisted the authors of the books of the Bible so that they "expressed in apt words and with infallible truth. Otherwise, it could not be said that He was the Author of the entire Scripture. Such has always been the persuasion of the Fathers." He wrote this letter at a time when liberal elements in Christianity had embraced biblical criticism. They had largely abandoned the idea of the inerrancy of the Bible, had rejected God's inspiration of its authors, and were interpreting the Bible like any other historical religious document.
| Pope Benedict XV (Reigned 1914-1922): According to Catholics United for the Faith, Pope Benedict XV wrote in "Spiritus Paraclitus" (On the Fifteenth Centenary of the Death of St. Jerome) that he: |
"...also emphasized the Bibles absolute immunity from error. He went so far as to say that 'belief in the biblical narrative is as necessary to salvation as is belief in the doctrines of the faith' (no. 24). After explicitly condemning any position that restricts inerrancy only to so-called 'religious' elements of the Bible, he quotes Saint Jerome, the Father of biblical science, who wrote more than 1,500 years ago that '[i]t would be wholly impious to limit inspiration to only certain portions of Scripture or to concede that the sacred authors themselves could have erred'." 1,8
| Pope Pius XII (1943): in his 1943-SEP-30 encyclical "Divino Afflante Spiritu" (On the Most Opportune Way to Promote Biblical Studies ), he compared the inerrancy of the Bible to the sinlessness of Jesus: |
"For as the substantial Word of God became like to men in all things, except sin, so the words of God, expressed in human language, are made like to human speech in every respect, except error."
He also condemned the concept of limited inerrancy. He wrote:
"The sacred Council of Trent ordained by solemn decree that 'the entire books with all their parts, as they have been wont to be read in the Catholic Church and are contained in the old vulgate Latin edition, are to be held sacred and canonical.' ... When, subsequently, some Catholic writers, in spite of this solemn definition of Catholic doctrine, by which such divine authority is claimed for the 'entire books with all their parts' as to secure freedom from any error whatsoever, ventured to restrict the truth of Sacred Scripture solely to matters of faith and morals, and to regard other matters, whether in the domain of physical science or history, as "obiter dicta" and - as they contended - in no wise connected with faith, Our Predecessor of immortal memory, Leo XIII in the Encyclical Letter 'Providentissimus Deus' ... justly and rightly condemned these errors."
| The Second Vatican Council (Ended 1965): Over the previous three centuries, some liberal Roman Catholic writers had promoted limited inerrancy by suggesting that that God preserved the authors of the Bible from error only in matters of "moral and dogmatic teaching, excluding everything in the bible relating to history and the natural sciences." 2 So, when the Bible talks about a dome over the earth supporting heaven or of a flat earth, or of the sun stopping in the sky, we can accept that it is in error. The authors were limited by the pre-scientific culture in which they lived. During Vatican II, some theologians suggested that the Church modify its traditional stance on Biblical inerrancy. The document issued by the Council, titled "Dei Verbum," (Constitution on Divine Revelation). Article 11 discusses the inspiration and inerrancy of scripture. A key clause states |
"...we must acknowledge that the books of Scripture firmly, faithfully, and without error teach that truth which God, for the sake of our salvation, wished to see confided to the Sacred Scriptures."
This phrase appears to be ambiguous: 3
|
Wikipedia explains:
"This document states the Catholic belief that all scripture is sacred and reliable because the biblical authors were inspired by God. However, the human dimension of the Bible is also acknowledged as well as the importance of proper interpretation. Careful attention must be paid to the actual meaning intended by the authors, in order to render a correct interpretation. Genre, modes of expression, historical circumstances, poetic liberty, and church tradition are all factors that must be considered by Catholics when examining scripture. The Roman Catholic Church holds that the authority to declare correct interpretation rests ultimately with the church through its magisterium."
| The Catechism of the Catholic Church (Imprimi Potest) 1994, states in section 107: |
"The inspired books teach the truth. Since therefore all that the inspired authors or sacred writers affirm should be regarded as affirmed by the Holy Spirit, we must acknowledge that the books of Scripture firmly, faithfully, and without error teach that truth which God, for the sake of our salvation, wished to see confined to the Sacred Scriptures."
Again, this statement is ambiguous. It could imply that the Bible is errant if God was not particularly concerned about error creeping in on matters that are only of scientific or historical significance.
| In 1999, the Secretariat for Ecumenical and Interreligious Affairs of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops published the results of a conversation between scholars and church leaders of the Catholic Church and the Southern Baptist Convention. They emphasized limited inerrancy, and rejected the literal inerrancy of Fundamentalist Protestants. The Secretariat wrote: |
"For Roman Catholics, inerrancy is understood as a consequence of biblical inspiration; it has to do more with the truth of the Bible as a whole than with any theory of verbal inerrancy. Vatican II says that 'the books of Scripture must be acknowledged as teaching firmly, faithfully, and without error that truth which God wanted put into the sacred writings for the sake of our salvation" (Dei Verbum 11). What is important is the qualification of 'that truth' with 'for the sake of our salvation'." 5
| The Catholic Encyclopedia: Under the topic of "Authenticity
of the Bible," the Encyclopedia states that the contents of the
Bible "...possess a higher authenticity, because invested with a
Divine, supernatural authority through the Divine authorship which makes
them the inspired word of God." 6 Under the
topic of "Inspiration of the Bible," the Encyclopedia states
that: "...on several occasions the Church has defined the inspiration
of the canonical books as an article of faith...Every Christian sect
still deserving that name believes in the inspiration of the Scriptures,
although several have more or less altered the idea of inspiration."
2 Yet the Encyclopedia elsewhere implies that the Bible is errant, at least in its statements about the authorship of the Pentateuch. These are the first 5 books of the Hebrew Scriptures (Old Testament). They state in numerous locations that Moses is the author of all 5 books. This is confirmed by passages in the Christian Scriptures/New Testament. The exact date of Moses' death is unknown. However, we might use the Schofield Reference Bible's estimate of 1451 BCE. The Encyclopedia states:
| ||||||||||
| New Advent, a massive Roman Catholic website, supports a concept of limited inerrancy. They commented on a point raised by a visitor to their site: |
Question: "I read a book by a scripture scholar who said the Bible is inerrant only in religious matters that pertain to our salvation. He quoted Vatican II as the source of this "limited inerrancy" doctrine."
Answer: "If the whole of Scripture is inspired, and if what the biblical writer asserts the Holy Spirit asserts, then, unless error is to be attributed to the Holy Spirit or unless the biblical authors assert only religious truths (which isn't the case -- some make historical assertions, such as the historical existence of Jesus), inerrancy can't be limited to religious truths....Although inerrancy isn't limited to religious truths which pertain to salvation but may include non-religious assertions by the biblical authors, this doesn't mean Scripture is an inspired textbook of science or history. Inerrancy extends to what the biblical writers intend to teach, not necessarily to what they assume or presuppose or what isn't integral to what they assert. In order to distinguish these things, scholars must examine the kind of writing or literary genre the biblical writers employ." 7
| Catholics United for the Faith appear to accept inerrancy: |
"Inerrancy simply means the state of being free from error. The Catholic Church has always taught that Sacred Scripture is inerrant. Since all the books of the Bible were composed by human authors who were inspired by the Holy Spirit (cf. Jn. 20:31; 2 Tim. 3:16; 2 Pet. 1:19-21; 3:15-16), they truly have God as their author and communicate without error Our Heavenly Fathers saving truth....The Church has always taught that we can approach the Scriptures with a rock-solid confidence because they are inspired by God Himself and therefore contain no error. This inerrancy is a great gift because it gives the Bible a credibility on which we can base our lives" 1
Related essay on this site:
| Biblical inerrancy as understood by Protestants |
References used:
The following information sources were used to prepare and update the above essay. The hyperlinks are not necessarily still active today.
- "Taking God at His Word: A Catholic Understanding of Biblical Inerrancy," Catholics United for the Faith, 2005-AUG-29, at: http://www.cuf.org/
- "Inspiration the Bible," Catholic Encyclopedia© 1999 at: http://www.newadvent.org/
- R.E. Brown, "The Virginal Conception and Bodily Resurrection of Jesus," Paulist Press, (1973)
- M. J. Sawyer, "Theories of Inspiration" http://www/bible.org/
- "Southern Baptist - Roman Catholic Conversation. Report on Sacred Scripture," 1999-SEP-10, at: http://www.usccb.org/
- "Authenticity of the Bible," Catholic Encyclopedia© 1999 at: http://www.newadvent.org/
- "Quick Questions (1991)," Catholic Library, at: http://www.newadvent.org/
- Pope Benedict XV, "Spiritus Paraclitus," The Vatican, 1920-SEP-15, at: http://www.vatican.va/
- Pope Pius XII, "Divino Afflante Spiritu," The Vatican, 1943-SEP-30, at: http://www.vatican.va/
Copyright © 1997 to 2008 by Ontario Consultants on Religious Tolerance
Author: B.A. Robinson
Latest update: 2008-FEB-29
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