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Inerrancy: a Bible free of error. All points of view.
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The meaning of inerrancy:
"Inerrancy" refers to a text that is considered accurate, truthful, and totally free of error. Any text that contains mistakes is errant. The term is often used by conservative theologians to refer to the content of their holy book(s):
Evangelical beliefs in the inerrancy of the Bible:In 1977, the International Council on Biblical Inerrancy (ICBI) was established to "clarify and defend the doctrine of biblical inerrancy." Under its auspices, during 1978, over 300 evangelical scholars met and signed the Chicago Statement on Biblical Inerrancy. The Dallas Theological Seminary describes the statement as "... probably the first systematically comprehensive, broadly based, scholarly, creed–like statement on the inspiration and authority of Scripture in the history of the church." 1 It states in part:
"Article X
We affirm that inspiration, strictly speaking, applies only to the autographic text of Scripture, which in the providence of God can be ascertained from available manuscripts with great accuracy. We further affirm
that copies and translations of Scripture are the Word of God to the extent that they faithfully represent the
original.
We deny that any essential element of the Christian faith is affected by the absence of the autographs. We
further deny that this absence renders the assertion of Biblical inerrancy invalid or irrelevant." 2
Belief of biblical inerrancy in the U.S.:
On 2007-MAY-25, Gallup reported the results of a national poll on Biblical inerrancy. Those polled were asked which of three statements comes closest to describing their personal views about the Bible. The average of polls taken during MAY of 2005, 2006 and 2007 were:
- 31% believe that "The Bible is the actual word of God, and is to be taken literally, word for word." This would imply acceptance of biblical inerrancy.
- 47% believe that "The Bible is the inspired word of God, but not everything in it should be taken literally."
- 19% believe that "The Bible is an ancient book of fables, legends, history, and moral precepts recorded by man."
- 3% were uncertain or didn't answer.
An identical poll taken during 2011-MAY showed little change:
- 30% believe that "The Bible is the actual word of God, and is to be taken literally, word for word."
- 49% believe that "The Bible is the inspired word of God, but not everything in it should be taken literally."
- 17% believe that "The Bible is an ancient book of fables, legends, history, and moral precepts recorded by man."
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4% were uncertain or didn't answer. 4
Formal education can have a devastating effect on a person's belief in inerrancy. 46% of persons with high school education or less believe that the Bible should be interpreted literally. This dropped to 22% for persons with some college education, and to 15% among college graduates.
Topics dealing with inerrancy in this section:Most of the following essays deal with inerrancy from a Christian
perspective
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Classroom video:
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Bible.org provides a theology program (TTP) which explains
various historical beliefs from a conservative Protestant perspective. One
free video is Session 8 - Inerrancy. See:
http://www.bible.org/
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"Records of the International Council on Biblical Inerrancy," Dallas Theological Seminary, undated, at: http://library.dts.edu/
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Text of the Chicago Statement on Biblical Inerrancy, Dallas Theological Seminary, 1978, at: http://library.dts.edu/
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"One-Third of Americans Believe the Bible Is Literally True," Gallup, Inc., 2007-MAY-25, at: http://www.gallup.com
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Jeffrey M. Jones, "In U.S., 3 in 10 Say They Take the Bible Literally," Gallup, 2011-JUL-08, at:
http://www.gallup.com/
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Copyright © 1997 to 2013 by Ontario Consultants on Religious Tolerance
Author: B.A. Robinson
Latest update: 2013-SEP-14
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