The Bible

• Questions to ask about the authority of the Bible


  There are many different writings in the Bible, can we assume that they all have the same authority?

  How do you overcome contradictions in the Bible?

  How do you deal with potential errors in translation?

  How can we be sure the Church didn't exclude other important Gospels?
• Different viewpoints on the Bible

  The word came from God, passed through Jesus and is correct in the Gospels, however it is not perfect because of human interference

  Only the Catholic Church can interpret teaching, there are still errors despite the writers being inspired God-inspired

  The Bible is the human interpretation of the way God expressed himself through Jesus. The work of humans mean that there are errors
• The authority of the Bible

  Revelation is God's disclosure of himself to humanity. Most Christians believe that the human authors of the Bible were inspired by God.
• The authority of the Bible


  There are many different literary types in the Bible, so are they all authoritative? For example, are teachings, riddles, stories and myths all inspired by God? Is everything in the Bible to be taken as authortative? Christians believe that places where the Bible deals with matters of belief morality it is authoritative, however, erotic poems, proverbs and myths are not
• The Bible as inspired by God but written by human beings 


  Catholic view - God's holy spirit is the main author of scripture who worked through humans - we can see this in the Gospels and the fact that each book in the Bible has its own characteristics and language.
• The Bible as inspired by God but written by human beings 


  Barth's Neo-orthodoxy view - Barth didn't see the Bible as being inspired, however, when scripture provides a personal encounter with Jesus that is when it becomes inspired. There are mistakes in the Bible