Inerrant the Wind: The Evangelical Crisis in Biblical Authority

Inerrant the Wind: The Evangelical Crisis in Biblical Authority
ISBN-10
1615922199
ISBN-13
9781615922192
Category
Religion
Language
English
Publisher
Prometheus Books
Author
Robert M. Price

Description

A strikingly perceptive and well informed insight into Evangelical divisions over inerrancy, and constructive suggestions for a way forward-from a friendly critic.-Michael Green, Veteran Christian apologist and author of Man Alive!, Runaway World, Evangelism in the Early Church, Second Peter Reconsidered, I Believe in the Holy Spirit and many moreTo the many voices reminding us that 'Evangelicalism' is a highly unstable coalition comes another, from outside the camp. The charm of Bob Price's work is that everyone gets skewered for their inconsistencies and evasions, the non-inerrantists as much (or more) than the inerrantists. Price demonstrates convincingly that there is about as much diversity within so-called 'Evangelicalism' as within Christianity as a whole. In short, as Darryl G. Hart has already argued, 'Evangelicalism' does not exist!-J. Ramsey Michaels, Professor Emeritus, Missouri State UniversityAs a frequent evangelical debating partner with Robert Price, I have to take my hat off to him on this truly remarkable book. I know of no other work related to the history and development of evangelical views of the Bible that is as comprehensive and as critically insightful as this one. All who are interested in the history and nature of evangelicalsm will find much to savor here. And all who share my own concern to defend a strong concept of biblical inspiration-whether it be 'inerrancy,' 'conceptual inspiration,' or something else-will find a wealth of insightful challenges that need to be addressed.-Dr. Gregory A. Boyd, Senior Pastor, Woodland Hills Church, Maplewood, MN; Author of The Jesus Legend (with Paul Eddy), The Myth of a Christian Nation, and Letters From a SkepticConservative Protestantism in America has always wrestled with doctrinal controversies over issues ranging from predestination to the mode of baptism, from charismatic gifts to biblical prophecy. But probably none has threatened the American evangelical movement as much as the recent battle for the Bible. The dispute centers on the doctrine of biblical inerrancy-the belief that the Bible is correct in any statement it makes, whether on nature or history, on doctrine or morals.In this painstakingly researched and penetrating analysis of the controversy, biblical scholar Robert M. Price helps us understand the present evangelical ferment by focusing on a recent period of intense theological conflict in which fundamentalists accused their slightly more mainstream brethren, the evangelicals, of abandoning the doctrine of biblical inerrancy.Price provides a historical survey of the fundamentalist-modernist controversy of the early twentieth century and argues that this history began repeating itself in the 1970s. Many evangelicals in fact abandoned rigid inerrancy beliefs and began to assimilate to various alternative approaches such as neo-orthodoxy, demythologizing, and Catholicism. Price analyzes the works, big and small, of evangelical theologians and their fundamentalist critics and distills a set of five distinct noninerrancy approaches evolved by liberal evangelicals amid the debate.Inerrant the Wind is utterly unique, not only in its comprehensive grasp of the ocean of relevant literature, but also in its cogent taxonomy of evangelical positions for and against inerrancy. Scholars and students on all sides of the debate will want to consult this valuable contribution to an important ongoing debate in the evangelical community.Robert M. Price, Ph.D. (Selma, NC), professor of scriptural studies at the Johnnie Colemon Theological Seminary, is the editor (with Jeffery Jay Lowder) of The Empty Tomb: Jesus Beyond the Grave and the Journal of Higher Criticism. He is also the author of Top Secret: The Truth Behind Today's Pop Mysticisms; The Paperback Apocalypse: How the Christian Church Was Left Behind; The Reason-Driven Life: What Am I Here on Earth For?; The Incredible Shrinking Son of Man; and Deconstructing Jesus; among other works.

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