Comments on: Sunday Study: Inerrancy and Biblical Authority

By: Ed Babinski

Ed Babinski — Mon, 06 Jun 2011 20:53:38 +0000

Your post on inerrancy from back in Jan. 2010 reminded me of how far Evangelicals have come in the direction of what their forebears in the mid-1800s to the first half of the 1900s once feared, i.e., “modernism.” You’re willing to concede more ground and “modernistic” questions than your Evangelical forebears were willing to concede. Neither can you introduce the early church fathers as “modernistic” to save face concerning your concession of more ground. Augustine didn’t believe Adam and Eve were mythical. In fact he stated in numerous places that they existed and that human civilization itself began with them and was only thousands of years old, contra the claims of Egyptian civilization that claimed to go back further than Adam and Eve. Augustine would have none of that. And though Augustine wasn’t exactly sure where hell was located in his early works, suggesting to place on earth, he did admit in his final works that he should have plainly stated that hell was beneath the earth. Pretty literalistic/fundamentalistic stuff. I’m pretty sure he was a fundie on the Flood question as well. On the firmament Augustine spoke of it as firm in some passages but not firm in some others. But keep in mind that Augustine was writing nearly a thousand years after Genesis was composed and he shows little knowledge of ANE thinking about the cosmos or the milieu of Genesis. He was raised in Greek civilization, imbibing Greek philosophical ideas, and accepted as a matter of course that the earth was a sphere, taught by Greeks not by ancient Hebrews, and that view spread fast after 600 BCE. So Augustine was writing about 900 years after Greek civilization began spreading the word about the earth being a sphere. Had Augustine been raised in the ANE along with say, Isaiah, or even been living among the folks who wrote The Book of Enoch a couple centuries before Christ, then Augustine would probably have taken for granted the flatness of the earth. So you can’t claim early fathers like Augustine as heralding today’s Evangelical shift toward modernism. Lastly, the Hebrew cosmos does not merely consist of the flat earth view. It consists in the view that everything bad and good that happens to one’s nation is due to divine displeasure or pleasure. That’s why they built temples, they all built temples back then, to secure their nation, and their national identity. There were gods of nations, gods of cities, and people believed they would be safe and blessed if they paid them enough attention. That kind of “cosmological understanding” is being questioned far more today than ever before. But the idea of a flat earth with the divine looking down from above (and not light-years away) made that belief all the more potent, the smoke of sacrifices rising directly to God’s nostrils. His eye directly above us. Hebrew temples like the rest, faced toward the rising son, with chambers of different levels of holiness and rites of passage through the chambers. Like the ancients the Hebrews also practiced circumcision. And they believed that the sun and moon were placed in the sky by God to measure off the time between holy festivals. (the words “seasons” in Genesis 1 is the same word used in the Pentateuch for times of holy festivals per Mark Smith in The Priestly Vision of Genesis 1. I should add that an ancient Egyptian text that predates the time of “king david/solomon,” has the Egyptian king Thutmose being told directly by his god how to build his temple. Later, in the time of king David/Solomon there’s a story in the Hebrew Bible about how the Hebrew king was directed by Yahweh how he wanted his temple built.

By: Jeremy

Jeremy — Thu, 22 Jul 2010 00:39:56 +0000

I would like to suggest that the example Matt uses earlier of the mustard seed being described as the “smallest of all seeds ” as being factually incorrect is in fact itself incorrect. Using a more literal translation like the NASB or referring to the Greek you will find that the phrase is “smallest of all your seeds” or similar. The point is that the mustard seed was in fact the smallest seed used in the agriculture/horticulture of those to whom the parable was adressed. Sometimes it is just too easy to suppose something is wrong when taken out of context, and as Matt often points out that context includes genre, purpose, time, in this case it includes Hebrew agriculture circa 30AD.
This means I am inclined to agree with Bethyada [ while taking into account genre, purpose, phenomological language etc], I would still be suprised to find actual factual errors that cannot be explained with a little more context or study or understanding. i really appreciate Matt’s info on the nature of Biography circa 1AD, as that simple understanding removes an awfull lot suposed “problems”.

By: Innerancy and The Originals: A Response to John FH « Theology Geek NZ

Innerancy and The Originals: A Response to John FH « Theology Geek NZ — Sat, 03 Apr 2010 20:02:29 +0000

[...] FH of Ancient Hebrew Poetry has written a thoughtful hazing of some of my posts on inerrancy, Inerrancy and Biblical Authority and Two Forms of Inerrancy. The points he raised are issues worth taking [...]

By: Ancient Biography

Ancient Biography — Tue, 16 Mar 2010 17:24:07 +0000

[...] AncientBiography.org Ancient-Biography.org Featured links Not available… Related blogs Sunday study: inerrancy and biblical authority Latest paranormal , event auctions « 2012truth : mysteries and … Sunday study: two forms of [...]

By: Featuring MandM « Theology Geek NZ

Featuring MandM « Theology Geek NZ — Wed, 03 Mar 2010 02:54:17 +0000

[...] pieces on biblical inerrancy, Inerrancy and Biblical Authority and Two Forms of Inerrancy, were featured in the Christian Carnival CCCXV at Ancient Hebrew Poetry. [...]

By: Sunday Study: Two Forms of Inerrancy « Theology Geek NZ

Sunday Study: Two Forms of Inerrancy « Theology Geek NZ — Wed, 03 Mar 2010 02:47:18 +0000

[...] discussion arising in response to my recent post Inerrancy and Biblical Authority both on this blog and on some of the blogs that linked to it, got me thinking a bit more about this [...]

By: Christian Blog Carnival CCCXI « Theology Geek NZ

Christian Blog Carnival CCCXI « Theology Geek NZ — Wed, 03 Mar 2010 02:32:02 +0000

[...] post, Inerrancy and Biblical Authority, was [...]

By: Ancient Hebrew Poetry

Ancient Hebrew Poetry — Sun, 21 Feb 2010 22:50:06 +0000

Christian Carnival CCCXV…

Matt Flanagan of MandM is thinking about inerrancy (here and here). Matt writes exceptionally well. He makes one good point after another….

By: Sarah Wilson

Sarah Wilson — Fri, 05 Feb 2010 01:04:18 +0000

Hi! Saw your blog and thought you might be interested in a brand-new prepublication from Logos Bible Software: http://www.logos.com/products/prepub/details/5989

By: The Pitfalls of Literalism | The Church of Jesus Christ

The Pitfalls of Literalism | The Church of Jesus Christ — Tue, 02 Feb 2010 17:01:50 +0000

[...] You might also check out this post. [...]