Inerrancy and Worldview : Answering Modern Challenges to the Bible

by Poythress, Vern Sheridan

• ISBN13: 9781433523878
• ISBN10: 1433523876
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2012-05-31
• Publisher: Good News Pub

Summary

Though the Bible presents a personal and relational God, popular modern worldviews portray an impersonal divine force in a purely material world. Readers influenced by this competing worldview hold assumptions about fundamental issues-like the nature of humanity, evil, and the purpose of life-that present profound obstacles to understanding the Bible. In Inerrancy and Worldview, Dr. Vern Poythress offers the first worldview-based defense of scriptural inerrancy, showing how worldview differences create or aggravate most perceived difficulties with the Bible. His positive case for biblical inerrancy implicitly critiques the worldview of theologians like Enns, Sparks, Allert, and McGowan. Poythress, who has researched and published in a variety of fields- including science, linguistics, and sociology-deals skillfully with the challenges presented in each of these disciplines. By directly addressing key examples in each field, Poythress shows that many difficulties can be resolved simply by exposing the influence of modern materialism. Inerrancy and Worldview'spositive response to current attempts to abandon or redefine inerrancy will enable Christians to respond well to modern challenges by employing a worldview that allows the Bible to speak on its own terms.

Author Biography

Vern Sheridan Poythress is professor of New Testament interpretation at Westminster Theological Seminary in Philadelphia. He has six earned degrees, including a PhD from Harvard University and a ThD from the University of Stellen-bosch, South Africa. Poythress is the author of eleven books on aspects of biblical interpretation and on science.

Table of Contents

Preface	p. 13
Introduction	p. 15
Two Common Religious Difficulties
How Can Only One Religion Be Right?	p. 19
Are Moral Rules a Straitjacket?	p. 23
Challenges From Science and Materialism
Worldviews and Materialism	p. 27
Modern Science	p. 34
Challenges from History
The Historical-Critical Tradition	p. 45
Responding to Historical Criticism	p. 51
The Change from History to Structure	p. 56
Challenges About Language
Challenges from Linguistics and Philosophy of Language	p. 61
Words and Meanings concerning Many "Gods"	p. 71
Growth in Understanding	p. 79
Contexts for Language	p. 85
The Idea of Closed Language	p. 91
Breaking Out of Closure in Language	p. 95
Analysis of Biblical Narratives	p. 102
Challenges From Sociology and Anthropology
Challenges from Sociology	p. 107
The Idea of Closure of Culture	p. 114
Breaking Out of Closure in Culture	p. 118
Marxism and Feminism	p. 121
Challenges from Psychology
Challenges concerning Cognition	p. 129
Interaction of Minds	p. 134
Thinking about the Inspiration of the Bible	p. 140
Challenges from Examples
Ordinary Life and Science	p. 147
Understanding an Alleged "Contradiction"	p. 153
Law in Cultural Context	p. 158
Proverbs in Cultural Context	p. 168
The Glory of Christ	p. 173
Challenges from Our Attitudes
Do We Need Help?	p. 181
Corruption in the Mind	p. 187
Counterfeiting the Truth	p. 195
Truth	p. 199
The Bible	p. 205
The Danger of Pride	p. 212
Challenges From Corrupt Spirituality
Religious Gullibility	p. 219
The Nature of Ultimate Commitments	p. 226
Why Are We So Gullible?	p. 231
Conclusion
Scripture and Worldviews	p. 237
Appendix: Human Authors of the Bible	p. 245
Bibliography	p. 253
General Index	p. 259
Scripture Index	p. 266
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