the bible

• why the bible/scripture is important

  
  

  • through scripture that we know about Jesus: his words and life/ works.
  • The Bible is considered by some like protestants to be an infallible book.
  • Most of what the church teaches is based on scripture.
  • it connects the other two sources together so may be the most important simply because its necessary for the others
• problems with the bible


  
  

  • texts included in the NT: chosen by the church around 170 ce, some were omitted. were they right?
  • translation errors: the current version of NT is based on handwritten texts produced after jesus' death in greek, j and his disciples spoke galilean aramaic so the greek translation could have errors
  • types of text: allegory; humorous proverb; key doctrine w literal + authoritative; moral commands from jesus w moral authority; event accounts w historic authority; erotic poem. its difficult to see how things like erotic poetry are inspired + authoritative
• problems with the bible

  
  

  • the teachers' authority: the bible's teachings depend on the authority of the authors like jesus and paul, can we be sure they have authority the texts claim? furthermore, the earliest books in the NT were written around 20 years after jesus' death, so they arent fresh accounts either
  • contradictions: there are many contradictions for example there's two different accounts of creation in Genesis or old testament says "an eye for an eye" whereas new testament says "if anyone strikes you on the right cheek, turn to him the other also"
• different views on the bible

  the problems w the bible led to differing views

  • initial perfection: god gave the writers the words to write: jesus' teachings and original gospels were perfect, today we have a damaged record from human interference
  • reliance on the church: god inspired the writers but only the cc can correctly interpret it, because it includes errors + differing writers styles make it unclear. eg can distinguish history and allegory
  • human version: bibles a human interpretation of god expressed through jesus, so its fallible, its value lies the personal experience of god
• old testament


  • its basically jewish scripture the tanakh
  • five books which recount the creation story, deeds of its early inhabitants and jewish laws
  • it contains abraham and moses; the story of the israelites; israels monarchy; jewish poetry; philosophical writings; and prophetic writings ending with the promise that god would send his messenger Elijah to herald the "day of the lord"
  • its a collection of writings which reached its current form around 367 CE
• the new testament


  • the first four books are the four gospels- accounts of jesus' life and ministry
  • the rest contains the birth of the church; pauls and others letters; and the telling of the apocalypse
• scripture as the word of god- verbal inspiration


  • the view of divine authorship of every word in the bible, they should all be respected and followed as they all hold authority. the answers to life's problems can be found within. God wrote the bible basically.
  • this raises questions like: should the death penalty really be a punishment for a woman who commits adultery; can genesis be taken literally; if we disobey the bible are we directly disobeying god.
• scripture as the word of god- divine inspiration


  • the bible as a record of human interactions with/ experiences of god. so, although divinely inspired, biblical characters are understood through interpretation and faith.
  • questions raised: how do we know exactly what the instructions are and how can we know if we are disobeying; how do we know the exact meaning; moral behaviour laws like divorce and remarriage seem like actual laws, not to be interpreted only obeyed
• authority of the bible- conservatism/fundamentalism- evangelicals


  • evangelical protestantism: world wide movement within protestantism which holds that christians are saved by grace (gods free gift) through faith in the doctrine of atonement. theology by st paul who said after the original sin god and the world became reconciled after jesus' sacrificial death. evangelicals are committed to spreading the world and those converted are saved from sin, receiving salvation by being born again
• evangelicals- why they believe what they do

  • they believe in the authority of the bible because of passages within it like 2 timothy "all scripture is inspired by god" inspired coming from the greek meaning god breathed implying god wrote scripture
  • and 2 peter "no prophecy of scripture is a matter of interpretation... but men moved by the holy spirit" which could be interpreted to mean god literally dictated the books of the bible, making the text inerrant.
• evangelicals


  • the bible is literally true, including what conflicts modern science. religion is authoritative it dictates what science really is meaning stuff like genesis is historically and scientifically accurate.
  • they believe in verbal plenary inspiration- full inspiration suggesting god inspired all the scripture even the 𝓯𝓻𝓮𝓪𝓴𝔂 stuff, doesn't necessarily mean he approves only that its all true/ inerrant
  • god inspired the authors to produce his precise words but allowed them to express personality seen in the different writing styles which allow us to differentiate the authors
• evangelical protestant problems


  • conflicts directly with basically all science- evolution the age of the universe all of it has empirical evidence suggesting the bible is a yapper
  • means that all the bible is authoritative and god backs it, even the morally dubious and obscure passages
  • their reasoning is circular, the bible is authoritative because the bible contains text telling us its authoritative
• authority of the bible- conservatism/fundamentalism- catholicism


  • apostolic tradition is the tradition which stems from jesus' apostles, he commanded them to preach the gospel orally received from jesus and the holy spirit as well as in writing by the apostles
  • the apostolic tradition was continued in the apostolic succession, the apostles pointing bishops as successors who were givern teaching authority which established a continuous line of succession up until the modern day
• catholicism


  • its a living tradition, distinct from scripture but closely connected to it through the holy spirit which remains active in the church. their tradition is dynamic and new truths can be discovered in scripture which is divinely inspired but open to new interpretations which help address modern situations and needs
  • tradition and scripture both come from the same divine source so share the authority, scripture is the speech of god put down in writing through the inspiration of the holy spirit and tradition transmits the active word of god
• catholicism


  • the magisterium- bishops in communion with the pope who is the bishop of rome and direct successor of st peter. the body of catholic faith is inerrant in matters of believ because theres a sensus fidei (instinct of faith) which allows them to recognise authentic christian doctrine from the false
• catholicism


  • article 3 of the catechism looks at the nature of inspiration, sacred scripture is not human word, its the word of god written under the inspiration of the holy spirit. god chose human authors and inspired them, the bible was inerrant but over the course of time mistakes may have arisen through imperfect copying.
• catholicism


  • scripture also needs to be interpreted to understand the original meaning and help apply it to modern issues and it can only be interpreted when read as a unity/whole, within the living tradition of the church and under the analogy of faith (unchanging faith of the church which allows scripture to form a unity)
• neo-orthidox (modernist)


  • refers to the work of a number of theologians like barth <3, niebuhr and tilich
  • they reject the belief of biblical innerance because modern study of the bible suggest parts of it are untrue due to scientific and historic inaccuracies like genesis, as well as contradictions like eye for an eye vs turn the other cheek
  • barth held the bible's not the word of god but contains it, other religions are human attempts to reach god, christianity is god's attempt to reach humans
  • god reveals himself in jesus who is the word that becomes flesh for salvation to be worshipped
• neo-orthidox


  • we become aware we are sinners in need of forgiveness by reading the bible and feel god's presence in jesus
  • scripture is the vehicle through which god is experienced, when the text becomes personally meaningful, that meaning is what's authoritative
• liberalism- sgm


  • an umbrella term referring to those who reject the bible being literally the inspired word of god
  • eg The Social Gospel Movement: founded by protestant intellectuals to use christian ethical principles to adress social issues like poverty racism and war. the social action was more important about the minutia of doctrine, the bible is authoritative for recommending how we should live.
• liberalism- process theology


  • eg Process Theology: form of christianity hich tkes on the discrepancies of some claims in the bible and science. god isnt the creator he exists panentheistically with the physical universe so hes in it and the universe is in him; not omnipotent can only persuade matter; doesnt intervene in the world, there arent miracles and he doesnt answer prayer; the bible is entirely human and inspired only in the sense it can be uplifting
• problems with conservativism/fundamentalism


  • the authority snd inerrance of the bible cause problems: the contradictions innacuracies and claims that conflict with science can be inerrant bro theyre errors and the old testament condones some bad shit like genocide, polygamy lol and penalties for misdeeds like breaking sabbath seem barbaric and disproportional
  • circular reasoning again
• genesis summary

  1. creatio ex nihilo, the will and the word, god says it and it happens. problems include the sea->air->land creatures when evolution suggests sea->land-> air. day and night exist before celestial objects. it seems like it could be read and the heavens and formless earth existed before god started creating.
  2. god is a craftsman- dust into man, rib into woman. problems hes supposed to be omnipotent but needs rest, if theres other humans why do all children have original sin? why did god lie about the apple killing them?
• challenges to the authority of the bible- sir charles lyell and geology

  • before lyell, james usshe's catastrophism (world made all at once) calculated that the world was created 23rd of october 4004BC by using dates from the bible
  • lyell developed uniformitarianism to explain the earth formed gradually through natural processes like erosion which take millions of years.
  • a major challenges to literal readings of the bible as scientific evidence which dissolves biblical creation/genesis
  • after this came fossils which showed creatures not in the creation story
• responses to lyell


  • god put fossils in the earth at the time of creation as a test of faith for humans
  • the word day in genesis was meant to signify longer periods of time rather than literal 24 hour periods
• challenges to the authority of the bible- evolution

  • "darwin" observes natural variation within species and forms the hypothesis that the competition for limited food within the species or between species means some with advantious traits win (natural selection) and their offspring survive and breed. this leads to the species changing over time to become more suited to their own environments, sometimes becoming new species
  • this is another way to object to literal readings of biblical creation
• challenges to the authority of the bible- morality


  passages like deutronomy 21:18-21

  • deutronomy 21:18-21 "stone him with stones that he die"
  • exodus 21:7 "if a man sells his daughter as a servant, she is not to go free"
  • and exodus 35:2 "sabbath... whosoever doeth work therein shall be put to death"
  • these seem to be out of touch/incompatable with modern moral standards but if you take a verbally inspired approach to the bible than you have to obey it and stone your son to death and sell your daughter
• morality responses


  • uh yeah we should follow the bible's every command, if you double down the dubious morality isn't a problem lol
  • or it could be that jesus and the new testament are there to overturn the old bad rules though he literally says in Matthew 5:17 “Do not think that I have come to abolish Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them.”
• defence of the bible's authority

  • darwin concluded the author of genesis was a bad geologist, the biblical six days arent true. but some like Pope John Paul II wrote about evolution and reiterated the magisterium's point that the genesis wasnt intended to be a scientific explanation
  • could also be explained with the mustard seed idea, the bible uses the language people of it's time will understand
• defence of the bible's authority


  • the hebrew word for day yom can mean a long period of time, the biblical "days" could be idiom/figurative. augustine argued genesis isnt scientific, that god created the world in an instant but the effects unfolded over time. he planted "rational seeds" in nature developing into what we see today