This book was not written for biblical scholars or for seminary-trained pastors.
Instead, it was written for “in the Pew” church members who have inquisitive minds and who have a desire to understand the Bible in a responsible way. It was also written for college students and seminarians who are neophytes as far as biblical studies are concerned. The discussion should help them find their way through the interpretive “mine field” which surrounds the Bible in some quarters today.
The purpose of the book is to grapple with the question: is the biblical inerrancy theory plausible? Does inerrancy make sense? It focuses on the “popular” or “folk” version of inerrancy. The popular version of inerrancy has been around for approximately a century. It was hammered out on the eastern seaboard by Princeton theologians and got to the heart of the folk-version of inerrancy. One inerrantist spokesman said “The Bible is void of errors, contradictions, or problematic passages. Every statement found therein is valid and is believable to modern man.”
Readers may inquire: why go to the trouble of asking if inerrancy makes sense? Broaching questions can clarify our thinking and can deliver us from half-truths. Questions have a capacity to liberate from false views which are used to manipulate the naive, the uninformed, the credulous. The posing of questions can lead to right understanding. A medieval theologian remarked “The first key to wisdom is constant and frequent questions. By doubting we are led to question and by questioning we arrive at the truth.”
“Clayton Sullivan has achieved his major purpose in demonstrating that the claim of biblical inerrancy does not make sense. In fact, he devastates the claim by exhibiting hundred of texts which either have problems within themselves or cannot be harmonized with other texts. Sullivan speaks for those who find it impossible to parrot the dogmatic words of the inerrantists.”
Frank Stagg
Emeritus Professor
Southern Baptist Theological Seminary
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“Theologically, inerrancy is a twentieth century heresy. Politically, inerrancy is an axe used by radical fundamentalists to bludgeon other sincere believers. Practically, inerrancy is little more than a mistaken notion of how to attribute high praise to God’s word, the Bible. Sullivan’s book is for Christian laity who read, study and love the Bible. He reminds us that in light of the center of our faith--Jesus of Nazareth -- ‘inerrancy’ is neither central to nor necessary for those who seek to follow Jesus.”
Walter B. Shurden
Professor and Chair
Department of Christianity,
Mercer University
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