Why the Doctrine of Inerrancy Contradicts the Gospels

Visit https://www.bartehrman.com/courses/ to shop from Bart Ehrman’s online courses and get a special discount by using code: MJPODCAST on all courses. Episode Outline: 0:00 Is the Bible really inerrant, or is that a much later Christian idea? 1:14 Bart and Megan on being wrong, admitting mistakes, and Bart’s trip to Greece 4:16 What Christians usually mean when they say the Bible is “inspired” 5:34 The key verse: 2 Timothy 3:16 and what “God-breathed” actually means 7:37 What “inerrancy” means, and how it differs from broader ideas of inspiration 9:34 Why inerrancy is a modern doctrine rather than a timeless Christian belief 11:51 Do you need an inerrant Bible—or any Bible at all—to be a Christian? 13:56 Free webinar promo: Did Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John Actually Write Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John? 15:35 How many Christians believe in inspiration without believing in inerrancy 17:41 Church fathers like Origen who openly recognized contradictions in Scripture 19:37 Other early Christian methods for handling biblical difficulties 21:57 Did biblical authors themselves think they were writing inerrant Scripture? 23:25 What the Gospels suggest about their own authority and whether they claim inspiration 24:05 Bart’s key argument: Matthew and Luke change Mark, which means they did not treat him as inerrant 26:48 Example 1: Jairus’s daughter in Mark versus Matthew 28:52 How some modern defenders try to preserve inerrancy despite contradictions 31:22 Example 2: John changes the day of Jesus’ death for theological reasons 34:00 Does Christianity even need an inspired Bible? 35:33 What the Bible is still doing for believers, fundamentalists, and modern culture 38:01 Weekly Update: New Insights into the New Testament is returning, now focused on Paul 40:59 Listener Q&A: Mark’s circulation, Adam as Son of God, original sin, and the meaning of aionios 49:42 Final summary: inerrancy is a late doctrine, not a biblical one, and the Gospels themselves undermine it Episode Description Many modern Christians view the Bible as the inspired, inerrant word of God. Is that what its own authors thought? Did the author of Matthew, for example, think the Gospel of Mark was infallible? If so, why did he change it? In this episode we look at the views of the Gospel writers about the inerrancy of other Gospels -- even those also found in the New Testament. Also watch these episodes: Did Jesus Have to Suffer? Trying to Make Sense of a Troubling View    • Did Jesus Have to Suffer? Trying to Make S...   What Happened to Jesus' Body? Was He Buried on the Day of His Crucifixion?    • What Happened to Jesus' Body?  Was He Buri...   Is the "Good Book" Really So Good?    • Is the "Good Book" Really So Good?   Megan asks Bart: When someone speaks about the “inspiration” of the bible, what do they mean? Are there any verses of the Bible that indicate it is inspired? What, exactly, do we mean when we talk about inerrancy? Are there ways to think about inspiration apart from inerrancy? Does someone have to believe in inerrancy in order to be a Christian? How to believe in inspiration without inerrancy? Were there church fathers who thought there could be mistakes in the Bible? What kinds of methods of interpretations developed to explain difficulties in the biblical texts? Is there any way to know whether the biblical authors themselves believed in the inerrancy of their own works? Let’s talk about the Gospel writers. How would we go about deciding if they themselves thought the Gospels were inerrant? Do we have negative evidence about this? Do you have any examples of these changes? Are there other ways these stories get explained? More examples of gospel writers changing accounts? Do we even need an inspired Bible for Christianity? What then is the point of the Bible? #BiblicalInerrancy #BibleInspiration #BiblicalScholarship #NewTestament #Gospels #TextualCriticism #EarlyChristianity #BartEhrman