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Randal Rauser

Home of progressively evangelical, generously orthodox, rigorously analytic, revolutionary Christian thinking (that's what I'm aiming for anyway)

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inspiration

Inspiration and Inerrancy: An Interview

September 29, 2022 by Randal

A new interview where I discuss the concepts of biblical inspiration and inerrancy on the “What Your Pastor Didn’t Tell You” YouTube channel: ?

Filed Under: The Tentative Apologist Tagged With: Bible, inerrancy, inspiration, interview

How an Inerrant Bible Can Have Errors

November 17, 2021 by Randal

In this video, I explain how God can inerrantly include human theological errors within a plenarily inspired biblical text. For further discussion see my book Jesus Loves Canaanites: ?

Filed Under: The Tentative Apologist Tagged With: biblical inspiration, inerrancy, inspiration

If the Bible includes immoral laws, how can it be inspired?

November 6, 2020 by Randal

My new book Conversations with My Inner Atheist features an extended conversation ranging over 25 chapters with my inner voice of questioning and doubt, My Inner Atheist (Mia). I have included chapter 6 below: “If the Bible includes immoral laws, how can it be inspired?” If you enjoy the chapter, consider buying the book. Mia: […]

Filed Under: The Tentative Apologist Tagged With: Bible, bibliology, hermeneutics, inspiration

Problems with the Bible that Aren’t Problems at All

February 14, 2020 by Randal

The other day, I posted the following tweet: Atheists who dismiss the Bible as “iron age fables” should invest a month studying a single book of the Bible by reading a range of biblical commentaries, monographs, and articles on that book. They will come to appreciate that much more is going on than they realized, […]

Filed Under: The Tentative Apologist Tagged With: apologetics, Bible, inspiration, revelation

A Logically Valid But Unsound Argument for Biblical Inerrancy

February 3, 2020 by Randal

Here is my attempt to articulate a logical argument in support of inerrancy. By “inerrancy”, I refer here to the view that the affirmations of all human authors are true. I should stress that this is not a view I hold and I have little sympathy with this argument. But be that as it may, […]

Filed Under: The Tentative Apologist Tagged With: Bible, inerrancy, inspiration

My Monday Morning Rant Against Evangelicals Who Undermine the Bible

January 20, 2020 by Randal

This morning, a tweet from Fuz Rana got under my skin. I should begin by saying that he seems like a nice chap and Reasons to Believe is less bad than Answers in Genesis. However, being nice and less-bad cannot save one from the fundamental error of treating the Bible as a confirmatory textbook for […]

Filed Under: The Tentative Apologist Tagged With: bibliology, evangelicalism, fundamentalism, Fuz Rana, hermeneutics, inspiration

When conservative Christians confuse their interpretation of the Bible with the Bible

October 27, 2019 by Randal

Yesterday, I tweeted the following observation: Many Christian conservatives profess to defend the inerrancy of Scripture when, in fact, they are defending the inerrancy of their interpretation of Scripture. In order to appreciate the reasoning of the conservative Christian, we should begin by unpacking the assumption that there is a commonsense way to interpret a […]

Filed Under: The Tentative Apologist Tagged With: fundamentalism, hermeneutics, inerrancy, inspiration

Why belief in divine inspiration commits the reader to wrestling with Scripture

June 14, 2019 by Randal

We begin with a tweet from Brian Zahnd: “Biblical inerrancy” is an empty signifier. Why? Because an inerrant text still has to be interpreted. Then you run into the problem of pervasive interpretive pluralism (to borrow a phrase from Christian Smith). Plenty of people agree on inerrancy and disagree on everything else!” Next, we have a […]

Filed Under: The Tentative Apologist Tagged With: biblical inspiration, hermeneutics, inerrancy, inspiration

Does inerrancy apply to the human authors of the Bible?

November 21, 2018 by Randal

This morning I posted a tweet on inerrancy which prompted a reply from the philosopher Paul Franks. I thought it was an interesting Twitter exchange and worth repeating here. After compiling our tweets, I’m a bit surprised at how long it is too. I have not bothered to flag or correct the typos that appear in […]

Filed Under: The Tentative Apologist Tagged With: Bible, hermeneutics, inerrancy, inspiration, Paul Franks, revelation, theology

Is the Exodus as important to Christian belief as Jesus’ resurrection?

March 25, 2018 by Randal

When I was growing up, I learned to read biblical narratives as historically reliable accounts of past events. Whether the issue was the death and resurrection of Jesus, the curious maritime journey of Jonah, the Exodus from Egypt, Samson’s killing a thousand men with the jawbone of an ass, or Adam and Eve talking to […]

Filed Under: The Tentative Apologist Tagged With: Bible, bibliology, inerrancy, inspiration, revelation

If this is God’s Word, why isn’t it easier to understand?

August 5, 2017 by Randal

That’s the question. You can read my latest article at confusedaboutgrace.com here.

Filed Under: The Tentative Apologist Tagged With: Bible, hermeneutics, inspiration

The Bible as God’s Anthology

April 8, 2017 by Randal

My views on the Bible really began to change when I went to university to pursue a double major in English and religious studies. At that time I began to learn about hermeneutics including the importance of interpreting distinct literary genres, heeding historical context, and attending to the many distinct approaches to textual interpretation. Along […]

Filed Under: The Tentative Apologist Tagged With: Bible, hermeneutics, inspiration, Norton Anthology of American Literature, revelation

How do you defend the Bible to those who dismiss it as the product of savage minds?

September 14, 2016 by Randal

The other day I received an emailed question from a reader which focused on the problem of genocide in the Bible. The reader asked: “If someone brought up these biblical narratives [of genocide], as Dawkins and the like have, as a means of discrediting the Christian faith and the biblical text how would you respond?” Note […]

Filed Under: The Tentative Apologist Tagged With: Bible, inspiration, revelation, Richard Dawkins

Should Protestants accept the Deuterocanon?

September 13, 2016 by Randal

In response to my article “Should additions to the biblical texts be treated as canon?” Simon K posed the following question: “Did Protestants do the right thing by rejecting the deuterocanon? Should that decision be reconsidered? You are discussing here whether people should accept textual variants as inspired; but which books should be accepted in […]

Filed Under: The Tentative Apologist Tagged With: Apocrypha, Bible, bibliology, canon, Deuterocanon, inspiration

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