Millard Erickson, Ph.D.: Christian Theology, Ch.10: Dependability of God...

Dependability of God’s Word: Inerrancy—Dr. Erickson gives various conceptions of inerrancy with his usual long-jawing and over-talking his points. There is the Biblical view of divine inspiration and infallible authority or the non-Biblical views (Bible is a witness to revelation but not propositional revelation, blah, blah). Augustine: “I have learned to yield this respect and honor only to the canonical books of Scripture: of these alone do I most firmly believe that the authors were completely free from error. And if in these writings I am perplexed by anything which appears to me opposed to truth, I do not hesitate to suppose that either the manuscript is faulty, or the translator has not caught the meaning of what was said, or I myself have failed to understand it” (Augustine, Letter 82.3). Erickson shows no awareness of Dr. Cranmer’s Confutation of Unwritten Verities or Prof. Whittaker’s Disputations on Holy Scripture. He tells us that if this doctrine is abandoned, the other doctrines are later adjusted and, in some cases, dropped. DPV: Piskie sermons as social activism, social work, or therapy.