January 11, 2019

Theology 2 – Bibliology

1 hour 5 minutes

Before delving into specific biblical doctrines, we need to first think about what the bible is. In this lecture you’ll learn what the bible says about itself, some reasons to believe God inspired it, as well as the major types of biblical scholars and how they approach scripture. This episode, along with the last one, serves to round out the introduction to this course.

—— Notes ——

bibliology: one’s understanding about the bible

what is the bible?

a library of 66 books

written by 40 people

how should you interact with it?

claims that God inspired the bible

Matthew 1.22-23

Mark 12.36

Acts 1.16

Acts 3.18

Acts 4.25

Acts 28.25-26

Hebrews 3.7

Hebrews 10.15-17

2 Timothy 3.16

2 Peter 1.16-21

Revelation 1.1-2

reasons why I believe the bible is genuinely inspired

it claims it

predictive prophecy

unflattering honesty

medical insights

martyrdom

archeology

some more reasons

ear-marks of eye-witnesses

historicity of the resurrection of Jesus

changed my life

incredible preservation

survived some Israelite and Judean kings who disregarded it (Manasseh->Amon->Josiah)

survived 70 year exile in Babylonia

survived Antiochus Epiphanes who tried to destroy the Torah

survived destruction of Temple in a.d. 70

survived destruction of Jerusalem in a.d. 135

survived several Muslim empires

survived all the crusades

OT survived in high quality manuscripts (Aleppo, Leningrad, DSS, LXX)

Diocletian tried to destroy the NT

NT survived in over 5,000 Greek mss

531 language for whole bible, 1329 languages for NT

dichotomy today between bible-believing and bible-critical approaches to doctrine

refer to youtube video of my lecture on Losing Faith from 500

enlightenment gave rise to intense philosophical and biblical criticisms

most bible professors in most secular universities examine the bible from an atheist worldview

some Christians affirmed these criticisms but tried to save Christianity

Schleiermacher (1822): feeling of absolute dependence; entering into Christ’s perfect God consciousness

Albrecht Ritschl (1852): kingdom of God = community of brotherly love (focus on Jesus’ ethics not miracles)

Adolf Harnack (1886): fatherhood of God, brotherhood of man, worth of each soul, love rather than law

Walter Rauschenbusch (1917): social gospel movement—focus on humanitarian needs

other Christians dug in and fought the criticisms

John Locke (1695) published The Reasonableness of Christianity

William Paley (1802) early proponent of intelligent design

Charles Hodge (1874) defended infallibility and attacked Darwinism

Fundamentalist Movement (1910)

In 19th and 20th centuries the liberals and conservatives fight it out

major denominations split (Methodists, Baptists, Presbyterians, Lutherans)

as universities go liberal and biblical conservatives leave and start new schools

1806 Harvard splits to form Andover Theological Seminary

1908 Lyman Stewart started BIOLA; he’s the man who funded the 1910 “The Fundamentals”

1929 Princeton splits to form Westminster Theological Seminary

1976 Liberty University Founded a

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By Sean P Finnegan

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