1. I've often said that most Catholic apologists present an inauthentic version of Catholicism because most of them are evangelical converts to Catholicism. In general, they have a far more conservative view of Scripture, which is a carryover from their evangelical past. By contrast, here's an example of a Catholic apologist who's the real deal. This is what a standard Catholic college and seminary education will get you:
2. Evidently, Casey was only exposed to one side of the argument: mainstream Catholic Bible scholarship. Many of his examples could be resolved by consulting evangelical commentaries on the Bible, as well as standard monographs on the inerrancy and historicity of the Bible, viz. Craig Blomberg, The Historical Reliability of the New Testament (B&H Academic 2016); D. A. Carson, ed. The Enduring Authority of the Christian Scriptures (Eerdmans 2016); James Hoffmeier & Dennis MaGary, eds., Do Historical Matters Matter to Faith? (Crossway 2012); Kenneth Kitchen, On the Reliability of the Old Testament (Eerdmans 2003); Vern Poythress, Inerrancy and the Gospels (Crossway 2012); Andrew Steinmann, From Abraham to Paul: A Biblical Chronology (Concordia 2011).
3. Unfortunately, when he talks about "smoothing over stories and performing tremendous mental gymnastics," he shields his own position from correction by preemptively discrediting attempts to harmonize Scripture or defuse allegations of error. He's not open to that possibility. He's convinced himself that even making the effort is an exercise in special pleading.
4. A basic problem with his mind is that once you adopt that view of Scripture, you begin to see mistakes and contradictions everywhere. There's no longer any presumption that what the Bible say is true. No distinction is drawn between differences and contradictions. Critics of inerrancy sometimes allege that inerrancy fosters a house-of-cards mentality, yet the denial of inerrancy becomes a mania to compulsively presume error.
5. In addition, Casey's view of Scripture is a universal acid that dissolves historical theology. For the same reflexive skepticism can be extended with even greater ease and plausibility to the so-called development of doctrine.
Roman Catholicism is going to explode some time soon.
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