Saturday, February 22, 2020

Inerrancy and evidentialism

It's not uncommon for competing theological traditions to evolve and become increasingly divergent over time. For instance, there are now options in "evangelical" freewill theism that used to be considered liberal or out-of-bounds in the past, viz. purgatory, annihilationism, open theism, evolution, universalism, inclusivism, homosexuality. 

We may be seeing the same development in apologetics. There's an emerging pattern where, as evidentialism and prepositionalism continue to evolve and diverge, presuppositionalism is defined in part by commitment to inerrancy while evidentialism and classical apologetics are now defined in part by a noncommittal position on inerrancy. To some degree this seems to reflect a generational shift from old-guard evidentialism/classical theism. 

I wonder how characteristic this will become moving forward. Will presuppositionalists be the only defenders of inerrancy as a matter of principle, while the rival schools regard that as expendable or a drag factor we're better off without?


I am struck by the casual way in which traditional evangelical commitment to inerrancy is being sidelined, as though revelation and inspiration are unimportant to the nature of the Christian faith.

3 comments:

  1. Perhaps the sidelining of inerrancy is being done to pave the way for things like 'the Passion Translation'. Besides, if "right for you but not for me" remains a tenent then you can no longer have inerrancy anymore than you can one True God. Lord save me, literally, from political correctness.

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  2. Steve, This guy’s been popping up on twitter railing against presups.

    I’m interested for your comments especially on the firsts, if you have time:

    https://christianintellectual.com/revelation-and-responsibility/

    https://christianintellectual.com/general-revelation/

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    Replies
    1. I've interacted with Cody in the past. He's anti-intellectual. Refuses to go in-depth on philosophical issues.

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