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HOW DESTRUCTIVE OF TRADITIONAL CHRISTIAN BELIEFS IS HISTORICAL CRITICISM OF THE BIBLE TODAY CONCEDED TO BE?

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  07 September 2011

George A. Wells
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Extract

Many theologians accept that it is not plausible to dismiss what is called the ‘higher criticism’ altogether, but try to limit its efficacy. This article discusses a number of their ways of doing so.

Type
Research Article
Information
Think , Volume 10 , Issue 29 , Autumn 2011 , pp. 91 - 109
Copyright
Copyright © The Royal Institute of Philosophy 2011

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References

Notes

1 Martin, D.B.Pedagogy of the Bible (Louisville and London: Westminster John Knox Press, 2008), 28, 30, 109Google Scholar

2 Ibid, 31ff

3 Hewitt, D. ‘Getting Into the Creative Act’. Times Literary Supplement, 27 March, 1969Google Scholar

4 op. cit., 44

5 Oakley, M.The Collage of God (London: Darton, Longman and Todd, 2001), 42–44Google Scholar

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7 Ratzinger, J.Jesus of Nazereth. From the Baptism in the Jordan to the Transfiguration (London: Bloomsbury, 2007), xixGoogle Scholar

8 op. cit., 40, 53

9 Ibid, 91

10 Ibid, 40

11 Ehrman, B.D.God's Problem. How the Bible Fails to Answer Our Most Important Question – Why We Suffer (New York: Harper Collins, 2008), 15Google Scholar

12 Ehrman, B.D.Jesus Interrupted. Revealing Hidden Contradictions in the Bible (And Why We Don't Know About Them) (New York: Harper Collins, 2009), 270–72Google Scholar. He gives, as the reason ‘why we don't know about them’: ‘Seminarians who learn the historical-critical method in their Bible classes appear to forget all about it when it becomes time for them to be pastors’ (12).

13 Lüdemann, G.The Resurrection of Jesus (London: SCM, 1994), pp. 181fGoogle Scholar. Lüdemann, G. and Özen., A.What Really Happened to Jesus? (London: SCM, 1995), 135Google Scholar

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16 John, J. ‘The Content of the Catholic Faith’. In Living the Mystery, ed. John, J. (London: Darton, Longman and Todd, 1994, 49–75), 58Google Scholar

17 Ibid, 66

18 Ibid, 53

19 Beattie, Tina. The New Atheists. The Twilight of Reason and the War on Religion (London: Darton, Longman and Todd, 2007), p. 5Google Scholar. These are words she quotes approvingly from a review of one of Richard Dawkins' books.

20 Ibid, 12f

21 Ibid, 71

22 Ibid, 14

23 Ibid, 12

24 Ibid, 71

25 Ibid, loc. cit.

26 Ibid, 12

27 Platinga, A.Warranted Christian Belief (Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press, 2000), 172, 175, 386CrossRefGoogle Scholar

28 Ibid, 180, 206

29 Ibid, 410

30 Wells, G.A.Can We Trust the New Testament? (Chicago and Las Salle, Illinois: Open Court, 2004), 72fGoogle Scholar

31 Armstrong, Karin. The Case For God. What Religion Really Means (London: The Bodley Head, 2009), 3Google Scholar

32 Ibid, 305

33 Ibid, 6, 240f

34 Ibid, 85

35 Ibid, 290

36 Ibid, 97

37 Ibid, 89

38 Kee, H.C.The Beginnings of Christianity (New York and London: Clark International, 2005), 103fGoogle Scholar

39 Smith, H.P.Essays in Biblical Interpretation (London: Allen and Unwin, 1921), 11–12Google Scholar

40 Friedman, R.E.Who Wrote the Bible? (New York: Harper One, 1997), 88, 242Google Scholar

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42 op. cit., 279

43 Ibid, 209, 311

44 Englefield, R.Critique of Pure Verbiage (La Salle, Illinois: Open Court, 1990), 39–41Google Scholar

45 op. cit., 1, 352

46 Ibid, 4f., 275

47 Ibid, 307

48 Ibid, 4

49 Hick, J.Who or What is God? And Other Investigations (London: SCM, 2008), 76Google Scholar

50 Ibid, 69, 71, 76, 85

51 Ibid, 95

52 Ibid, 66f

53 Davie, Grace. Religion in Modern Europe (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2002), 180Google Scholar

54 Billings, A.God and Community Cohesion, Help or Hindrance? (London: SPCK, 2009), 32Google Scholar

55 op. cit., 14, 16–18

56 Ibid, 29, 57

57 Berlinerblau, J.The Secular Bible (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2005), 52CrossRefGoogle Scholar