Poythress - Inerrancy and Worldview: Answering Modern Challenges to the Bible

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 Worldviews positive 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. - Publisher.;Groundbreaking, worldview-based defense of scriptural inerrancy offers a positive case for the Bibles trustworthiness while implicitly critiquing modern materialist worldviews.;Part one : Two common religious difficulties. How can only one religion be right? -- Are moral rules a straitjacket? -- Part two : Challenges from science and materialism. Worldviews and materialism -- Modern science -- Part three : Challenges from history. The historical-critical tradition -- Responding to historical criticism -- The change from history to structure -- Part four : Challenges about language. Challenges from linguistics and philosophy of language -- Words and meanings concerning many gods -- Growth in understanding -- Contexts for language -- The idea of closed language -- Breaking out of closure in language -- Analysis of Biblical narratives -- Part five : Challenges from sociology and anthropology. Challenges from sociology -- The idea of closure of culture -- Breaking out of closure in culture -- Marxism and feminism -- Part six : Challenges from psychology. Challenges concerning cognition -- Interaction of minds -- Thinking about the inspiration of the Bible -- Part seven : Challenges from examples. Ordinary life and science -- Understanding an alleged contradiction -- Law in cultural context -- Proverbs in cultural context -- The glory of Christ -- Part eight : Challenges from our attitudes. Do we need help? -- Corruption in the mind -- Counterfeiting the truth -- Truth -- The Bible -- The danger of pride -- Part nine : Challenges from corrupt spirituality. Religious gullibility -- The nature of ultimate commitments -- Why are we so gullible? -- Scripture and worldviews -- Appendix : Human authors of the Bible.