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The existing article was essentially about the Protestant debate concerning biblical inerrancy. A new section was added about the Catholic debate. Tag: Disambiguation links added |
m A few minor corrections to the section on the modern Catholic discussion |
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=== Before Vatican II ===
For Catholics as for Protestants, the challenge to inerrancy became serious when the Bible began to come into conflict with science, first astronomy (heliocentrism), then geology (the age of the earth) and finally biology (the evolution of species). By the 19th century, some Catholic thinkers were suggesting the same solution as some Protestants: inerrancy in the Bible is restricted to matters of doctrine and morality. ([[Galileo]] had already said something similar in the early 17th century when, quoting Cardinal [[Caesar Baronius]], he had said: "The Bible teaches us how to go to heaven, not how the heavens go.")
The reaction came from pope [[Leo XIII]] in his 1893 encyclical ''Providentissimus Deus'':<ref>https://www.vatican.va/content/leo-xiii/en/encyclicals/documents/hf_l-xiii_enc_18111893_providentissimus-deus.html</ref>
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But the majority view among today's Catholic theologians and Scripture scholars is that ''Dei Verbum'' has indeed replaced total inerrancy with inerrancy limited to matters of salvation.
For instance, [[Raymond E. Brown]],
<blockquote>In the last hundred years we have moved from an understanding wherein inspiration guaranteed that the Bible was totally inerrant to an understanding wherein inerrancy is limited to the Bible's teaching of "that truth which God wanted put into the sacred writings for the sake of our salvation." In this long journey of thought the concept of inerrancy was not rejected but was seriously modified to fit the evidence of biblical criticism which showed that the Bible was not inerrant in questions of science, of history, and even of time-conditioned religious beliefs.</blockquote>
Similarly, Scripture scholar R. A. F. MacKenzie<ref>https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/roderick-andrew-francis-mackenzie</ref> in his commentary on ''Dei Verbum'':<ref>{{cite book|editor=Abbott|title=The Documents of Vatican II|year=1967|page=119 note 31}}</ref>
<blockquote>The Bible was not written in order to teach the natural sciences, nor to give information on merely political history. It treats of these (and all other subjects) only insofar as they are involved in matters concerning salvation. It is only in this respect that the veracity of God and the inerrancy of the inspired writers are engaged.</blockquote>
These views are shared by many Church officials and as a result
- An official report (1999) on theological conversations between the [[US Conference of Catholic Bishops]] and the [[Southern Baptist
- The ''instrumentum laboris'' (working paper) for the 2008 Synod of Bishops on the Word of God: <ref>https://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/synod/documents/rc_synod_doc_20080511_instrlabor-xii-assembly_en.html</ref>:▼
<blockquote>15. [...] The following can be said with certainty: [...] even though all parts of Sacred Scripture are inspired, inerrancy applies only [''stress added''] to ‘that truth which God wanted put into sacred writings for the sake of salvation’ (DV 11).</blockquote>▼
▲- An official report (1999) on theological conversations between the US Conference of Catholic Bishops and the Southern Baptist Conference, to be found on the website of the US Conference of Catholic Bishops: <ref>https://www.usccb.org/resources/Report-on-Sacred-Scripture.pdf</ref>
<blockquote>For Roman Catholics, inerrancy is understood as a consequence of biblical inspiration; it has to do more with the truth of the Bible as a whole than with any theory of verbal inerrancy. Vatican II says that "the books of Scripture must be acknowledged as teaching firmly, faithfully, and without error that truth which God wanted put into the sacred writings for the sake of our salvation" (Dei Verbum 11). What is important is the qualification of "that truth" with "for the sake of our salvation."</blockquote>
- A 2005 “teaching document” issued by the Bishops’ Conferences of England and Wales, and of Scotland, entitled ''The Gift of Scripture'' <ref>https://www.liturgyoffice.org.uk/Resources/Scripture/GoS.pdf</ref>
<blockquote>14. [...] The books thus declared canonical and inspired by the Spirit of God contain ‘the truth which God wished to be set down in the sacred writings for the sake of our salvation’ (Dei Verbum 11). It is important to note this teaching of the Second Vatican Council that the truth of Scripture is to be found in all that is written down ‘for the sake of our salvation’. We should not expect total accuracy from the Bible in other, secular matters. We should not expect to find in Scripture full scientific accuracy or complete historical precision.</blockquote>
▲- The ''instrumentum laboris'' (working paper) for the 2008 Synod of Bishops on the Word of God: <ref>https://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/synod/documents/rc_synod_doc_20080511_instrlabor-xii-assembly_en.html</ref><ref>The English translation on the Vatican website has been corrected to bring it in line with the official Latin text</ref>:
▲<blockquote>15.
Though ''Dei verbum'' does not state unequivocally that inerrancy on all matters in the Bible has been replaced by inerrancy limited to matters of salvation, it is now the dominant view in the Catholic Church today.
== See also ==
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