David Fitch on the Bible
"I'm willing to die for it" vs. "The Bible is inerrant"
I consider the “inerrancy” of Scripture discussion tacky. It brings up “old debates” like dirty laundry that have little applicability to the issues we confront in today’s culture. It is tired, overworked and well-worn conversation. Yet it continues to raise ire … among us evangelicals ... even the emerging churches. Regarding the first of the Big Five theological issues facing emerging churches, THE AUTHORITY OF & INTERPRETATION OF SCRIPTURE AND COMMUNITY, I believe we all are in need of better ways to speak about the authority of Scripture, its nature as a deposit of truth and the way Scripture functions within the hermeneutic of the Community of Christ. I don’t believe "inerrancy" is the key issue here but it nevertheless seems to remain the defining backdrop for how we evangelicals must go forward. So I propose the following comments in relation to “inerrancy” in order to further clarify where the issues lie for we who are looking for ways to go forward at the end of modernity. For those who want to skip the comments on “inerrancy” and get to the point, go immediately to the last paragraph.
1.) The inerrancy defense is now too “liberal”...
2.) The inerrancy defense turns the Bible into a dead textbook of facts.
Read the whole article here
I consider the “inerrancy” of Scripture discussion tacky. It brings up “old debates” like dirty laundry that have little applicability to the issues we confront in today’s culture. It is tired, overworked and well-worn conversation. Yet it continues to raise ire … among us evangelicals ... even the emerging churches. Regarding the first of the Big Five theological issues facing emerging churches, THE AUTHORITY OF & INTERPRETATION OF SCRIPTURE AND COMMUNITY, I believe we all are in need of better ways to speak about the authority of Scripture, its nature as a deposit of truth and the way Scripture functions within the hermeneutic of the Community of Christ. I don’t believe "inerrancy" is the key issue here but it nevertheless seems to remain the defining backdrop for how we evangelicals must go forward. So I propose the following comments in relation to “inerrancy” in order to further clarify where the issues lie for we who are looking for ways to go forward at the end of modernity. For those who want to skip the comments on “inerrancy” and get to the point, go immediately to the last paragraph.
1.) The inerrancy defense is now too “liberal”...
2.) The inerrancy defense turns the Bible into a dead textbook of facts.
Read the whole article here
posted by mark at
1:26 PM
2 Comments:
An interesting piece. Nothing too different from what I've been reading elsewhere. I did think one line,
This way is unassailable in these postmodern times...
was funny. Not only has it been assailed, it is still quite assailable, and will be assailed again and again. I'm sure he didn't mean it to come across the way it sounded.
And no doubt Mr. Fitch's opinion will remain unchanged, as will mine.
By
Savage Baptist, at 5:55 PM
Dan,
Do you have a substantive critique of Fitch's article? I hear a number of people who dismiss Fitch's kind of critique out of hand, but without saying why. Maybe you'd oblige me?
By
Paul, at 9:59 PM
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