Strict and Limited Inerrancy - Essay Example

Strict and Limited InerrancyIt is often said that the Bible holds a specific feature such as inerrancy. However, it is particularly important to make a difference between strict and limited inerrancy. Thus, the former notion “affirms that every sentence in the Bible is viewed as a true proposition, including those relating to science and history” (Lovejoy 185). When one develops this idea, one will be able to come to the following inclusion: if a piece of knowledge is not found in the text of the Bible, then it probably never existed.

It is quite understandable that such an approach may experience troubles when the science provides factual evidence of something that was never mentioned in the Bible, like dinosaurs. That is why the believers tend to utilize the concept of limited inerrancy which “asserts aboriginal textual errors in historical or scientific matters” (Geisler 184). This means that the above mentioned concept acknowledges that there might be some factual mistakes in the text; however, by no means they are able to undermine the significance of the Bible in general.

All this leads to the question of genres that might be found in the Holy Scriptures. The scholars argue that “the genres of the Bible range from poetry to narrative prose, to lists of laws and genealogies, to sermons and letters” (Carmody 16). As a result, it may not be logical to view this book as a unified text, but rather a collection of texts, each of which has its peculiar purpose. What is more important is that didactic element in all them surely prevails.Works CitedCarmody, Timothy R.

Reading the Bible: A Study Guide. New York, NY: Paulist, 2004. Print.Geisler, Norman L. Inerrancy. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Pub. House, 1980. Print.Lovejoy, Grant I. Biblical Hermeneutics: A Comprehensive Introduction to Interpreting Scripture. 2nd ed. Nashville, TN: Broadman & Holman, 2002. Print.