IV' Inerrancy

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IV. Inerrancy

• Fr. Damien Dougherty
• ST 511 Fall 2004

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An Effect of Inspiration

• A. Inerrancy flows from the question of
  inspiration it is an effect of inspiration.

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B. The Question of InerrancyErrors in the Bible

• 1.   The conception of the world given in
  Genesis the flood account of Noah and the number
  of the pairs of animals (Gen. 7).
• 2.   Historical errors such as in Judith where
  Nebuchadnezzar is King of the Assyrians in
  Daniel he is King of the Neo-Babylonians.
•  3. II Maccabees being replete with myth,
  folklore, legend.
• 4.   Matt. 27,9-10   a free quotation not  from
  Jeremiah, but from Zechariah 11,12-13.

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The Golden Rule of St. Augustine

• And if in these books I meet anything which seems
  contrary to the truth, I shall not hesitate to
  conclude either that the text is faulty, or that
  the translator has not expressed the meaning of
  the passage, or that I myself do not understand.

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Constitution of Divine Revelation of Vatican II
(Dei Verbum)

• 1. We must first take into consideration the
  literary starting-point, genre.
• 2. Parts must be seen in the context of the
  whole.
• 3. Inerrancy of the Bible must be seen in the
  context of its relationship to salvific
  truth but this understanding must be
  qualitative, i.e., all statements of the Bible
  are free from error to the extent that they
  convey the truth that God put in the sacred
  writing intended for the sake of our salvation.