Mock: Authority of the Bible Flashcards
What view believes that the Bible is the inerrant word of God?
Literalism
What is a literalist belief of the Bible’s authority?
The Bible is mind-independent, it is objective.
Literalists deny any challenge that the Bible is anything but the exact word of God.
Example of a literalist
Ken Ham
Argues the Bible is all or nothing.
What does Augustine claim about the Bible?
There are no contradictions or falsehoods.
Believing otherwise would have ‘disastrous consequences’ as it would cause doubt on the whole thing.
What is a liberalist view of the Bible’s authority?
They accept that the writing of the Bible was a human process.
It is not the exact word of God, therefore leaving meaning up for individual interpretation.
According to the liberal subjective view of inspiration, what is the Bible a human record of?
The Bible is a human record of divine events.
What does the Bible reflect that means it requires re-interpretation in order to understand and make it relevant for modern day?
The historical & cultural contexts of its human authors.
What characteristic of Jesus do liberalism uses to back up their claim that we should re-interpret scripture?
Jesus’ perceived progressiveness.
“…invite the poor, the maimed, the lame, the blind…”
Luke 14:13
Example of a liberal
J. Hick
He argued we should view the Bible as a record of how ancient humans interpreted events.
Stories with symbolic meaning, rather than facts.
If we are to take the Bible literally, (literalism) what do we then conflict with and thus reject?
(main criticism)
Science
It tells us about evolution and that the earth is billions of years old - how can this be true if we take the Bible literally?
Arguably, what is the biggest problem with liberal views of inspiration?
It leads to a crisis of authority.
How can the Bible be granted authority if it derives from human minds?
