John D. Woodbridge
Recommendation: 5/5
Description of author: Dr. Woodbridge is professor of Church History at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School.
Comments: This well researched volume (of the 230 pages of text, about 75 pages are dedicated to fine print end notes) is a response to Jack Rogers and Donald McKim’s The Authority and Interpretation of the Bible: An Historical Approach (1979). Rogers and McKim sought to demonstrate that the historical stance of the church (particularly the Reformed tradition) has always been infallibility of Scripture in regard to things relating to faith and practice as opposed to complete inerrancy. Complete inerrancy, according to them, is a relatively recent invention (a product of the Enlightenment). In his response, Dr. Woodbridge clearly demonstrates that complete inerrancy is by no means a new concept. It was the apparent position of Augustine, Luther, Calvin and many of the Puritans. This is a must read for anyone seriously interested in the inerrancy debate.