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== Terms and opinions ==
{{see also|Biblical inspiration|Biblical infallibility|Biblical literalism|Biblical authority|Criticism of the Bible|Internal consistency of the Bible|The Bible and history}}
The word ''inerrancy'' comes from the [[English language|English]] word ''inerrant'', from the Latin ''inerrantem'', (parsable as ''in-'' + ''errantem'' - the accusative singular present participle of ''errāre'' - "to err" or "wander"). The [[Oxford English Dictionary]] defines ''inerrant'' as "That does not err; free from error; unerring."<ref>{{oed | inerrant}}</ref> Another word often used to characterize the Bible is "infallible".{{
According to H. Chaim Schimmel, [[Judaism]] had never promulgated a belief in the literal word of the [[Hebrew Bible]], hence the co-existence of the [[Oral Torah]].<ref>Schimmel, H. Chaim, ''The Oral Law: The rabbinic contribution to Torah Shebe'al Peh'', 2nd, revised ed., Feldheim Publishers, Jerusalem, 1996, pp. 19–21</ref> Within [[Christianity]], some mainstream [[Evangelical]] and [[Protestant]] groups adhere to the inerrancy of the [[Biblical canon|canon]] of [[scripture]] as it reads today. However, the ''Encyclopædia Britannica'' says that "Evangelical scholars ... doubt that accepting the doctrine of biblical inerrancy is the best way to assert their belief in biblical authority".<ref>''Encyclopædia Britannica'', "Evangelicalism".</ref>
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The other side of this debate focused largely around the magazine ''[[Christianity Today]]'' and the book entitled ''The Battle for the Bible'' by Harold Lindsell.<ref>Lindsell, Harold. ''The Battle for the Bible. '' Zondervan, 1978. {{ISBN|978-0-310-27681-4}}</ref> The author{{who|date=February 2022}} asserted that losing the doctrine of the inerrancy of scripture was the thread that would unravel the church and [[Christian fundamentalism|Conservative Christians]] rallied behind this idea.
This was among the controversies during the [[Southern Baptist Convention conservative resurgence]]; the 2000 edition of the ''[[Baptist Faith and Message]]'' states that "all Scripture is totally true and trustworthy" while avoiding the use of the terms "inerrant" or "infallible".{{
=== Arguments in favour of inerrancy ===
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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>
<blockquote>20. [...] It is absolutely wrong and forbidden, either to narrow inspiration to certain parts only of Holy Scripture, or to admit that the sacred writer has erred. For the system of those who, in order to rid themselves of these difficulties, do not hesitate to concede that divine inspiration regards the things of faith and morals, and nothing beyond, [...] cannot be tolerated. For all the books which the Church receives as sacred and canonical, are written wholly and entirely, with all their parts, at the dictation of the Holy Ghost; and [...] that inspiration [...] is essentially incompatible with error. [...] This is the ancient and unchanging faith of the Church.</blockquote>
Fifty years later (1943), pope [[Pius XII]] in ''[[Divino afflante Spiritu]]''<ref>https://www.vatican.va/content/pius-xii/en/encyclicals/documents/hf_p-xii_enc_30091943_divino-afflante-spiritu.html</ref> agreed:
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=== The Teaching of Vatican II ===
The Second Vatican Council (
<blockquote>11. Since God himself by the inspiring Spirit is the Author of all Holy Scripture and, as it were, the writer of everything produced in it by the hagiograph's hand it follows that all and each of the parts of the sacred books, even the slightest parts, are inspired. Therefore everything stated by the hagiograph must be considered to have been stated by the Holy Spirit.</blockquote>
<blockquote>12. Because divine Inspiration extends to everything, the absolute immunity of all Holy Scripture from error follows directly and necessarily. For we are taught by the ancient and constant faith of the Church that it is utterly forbidden to grant that the sacred writer himself has erred, since divine Inspiration of itself as necessarily excludes and repels any error in any matter, religious or profane, as it is necessary to say that God, the supreme Truth, is never the Author of any error whatever.</blockquote>
After a week's debate, 62% of the assembled bishops voted to reject the draft. Five other drafts would follow in the course of the next 3 years, the fruit of negotiations among various groups at the Council resulting in language broad enough to attract votes from a wide spectrum of bishops. The last draft was approved by a vote of 2081 to 27, and on 18 November 1965 became the Dogmatic Constitution on Divine Revelation, known as ''[[Dei Verbum]]'' from its first Latin words.<ref>https://www.vatican.va/archive/hist_councils/ii_vatican_council/documents/vat-ii_const_19651118_dei-verbum_en.html</ref> The document's teaching on inerrancy is found in a single sentence:
<blockquote>11. [...] Since therefore all that the inspired authors or sacred writers affirm should be regarded as affirmed by the Holy Spirit, we must acknowledge that the books of Scripture firmly, faithfully, and without error teach that truth which God, for the sake of our salvation, wished to see confided to the Sacred Scriptures.</blockquote>
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The crux of the matter was the phrase “for the sake of our salvation”. It could be understood as limiting inerrancy to matters of salvation, but some insisted it had no effect on the traditional view that the Bible was completely inerrant.
Since Vatican II, there has been no official pronouncement on the meaning of this phrase. Article 107 of the [[Catechism of the Catholic Church]] (1992) simply quotes the sentence from ''Dei Verbum'' without any further explanation:<ref name="vatican.va">https://www.vatican.va/archive/ENG0015/__PP.HTM</ref>
<blockquote>107. The inspired books teach the truth. "Since therefore all that the inspired authors or sacred writers affirm should be regarded as affirmed by the Holy Spirit, we must acknowledge that the books of Scripture firmly, faithfully, and without error teach that truth which God, for the sake of our salvation, wished to see confided to the Sacred Scriptures." (DV 11)</blockquote>
Nor is any explanation to be found in pope [[Benedict XVI]]'s 2010 apostolic exhortation ''Verbum Domini'' summarizing the discussion at the [[Synod of Bishops]] on the Word of God in the Life and Mission of the Church held in Rome in 2008.<ref
<blockquote>19. [...] The Synod Fathers also stressed the link between the theme of inspiration and that of the truth of the Scriptures. A deeper study of the process of inspiration will doubtless lead to a greater understanding of the truth contained in the sacred books. As the Council’s teaching states in this regard, the inspired books teach the truth: “since, therefore, all that the inspired authors, or sacred writers, affirm should be regarded as affirmed by the Holy Spirit, we must acknowledge that the books of Scripture firmly, faithfully and without error, teach that truth which God, for the sake of our salvation, wished to see confided to the sacred Scriptures [...]”</blockquote>
The Church's current teaching on the inerrancy of the Bible is therefore to be found in this one sentence from ''Dei Verbum'', a sentence whose interpretation is contested.
=== After Vatican II ===
For the very first time, a doctrinal document of the highest authority contained a phrase which could be interpreted as teaching limited biblical inerrancy. It was up to the Church at large to interpret it.
Some theologians and apologists defend the view that total inerrancy is still the Church's teaching. For instance, articles defending this position can be found in the 2011 collection ''For the Sake of Our Salvation''.<ref>{{cite book|editor=Scott Hahn|title=For the sake of our Salvation|series=Letter and Spirit Journal #6|publisher=Emmaus Road|year=2011}}</ref>
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On a more popular level, at ''Catholic Answers'', a website and podcast with a strongly apologetical bent that calls itself “the world's largest database of answers about the beliefs and practices of the Catholic faith” there is no lack of articles defending the same position, with titles such as “Is Scripture Inerrant?”,<ref>https://www.catholic.com/magazine/print-edition/is-scripture-inerrant</ref> “The Accuracy of Scripture”,<ref>https://www.catholic.com/magazine/print-edition/the-accuracy-of-scripture</ref> “Is everything in the Bible True?”<ref>https://www.catholic.com/magazine/print-edition/is-everything-in-the-bible-true</ref> and “Is the Bible's Inerrancy Limited to Matters Pertaining to Salvation?”<ref>https://www.catholic.com/qa/is-the-bibles-inerrancy-limited-to-matters-pertaining-to-salvation</ref>
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]], "perhaps the foremost English-speaking Catholic Biblical scholar",<ref>http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/obituary-the-rev-raymond-e-brown-1172611.html</ref> wrote:<ref>{{cite book|author=Raymond Brown|title=The Virginal Conception and Bodily Resurrection of Jesus|publisher=Paulist Press|year=1973|
<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 are taken for granted in some Church documents. For instance:
* An official report (1999) on theological conversations between the [[US Conference of Catholic Bishops]] and the [[Southern Baptist Convention]], to be found on the website of the US Conference of Catholic Bishops:
<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 {{Bare URL PDF|date=March 2022}}</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>
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