TY - CHAP

T1 - Introducing Misusing Scripture

T2 - What are Evangelicals Doing with the Bible?

AU - Rezetko, Robert Carl

AU - Elliott, Mark

AU - Atkinson, Ken

PY - 2023

Y1 - 2023

N2 - Detailed introduction (73 pages, 32,000 words) to Misusing Scripture: What Are Evangelicals Doing with the Bible? (2023a above). The editors’ introduction to Misusing Scripture discusses the book’s background and rationale, explains its objective, and identifies and defines key issues. Important terms including “evangelical,” “scholarship,” “faith-based scholarship,” “inerrancy,” and “scriptural fundamentalism” are carefully described in order to effectively evaluate evangelical biblical scholarship, the book’s topic. How does it work, is it legitimate, is it possible, are “evangelical” and “academic” an oxymoron? The bulk of the introduction is a detailed description and sustained critique of evangelical biblical scholarship that reviews and expands on evaluations by other non-evangelical scholars and occasionally by evangelicals also. It is argued that while evangelicals can make valid contributions to biblical scholarship in some cases, very often their scholarship is compromised by their apologetic approach to the Bible and their questionable presuppositions and methods. The problems identified extend to how evangelicals have misused “biblical” archaeology to bolster their distinctive beliefs about the Bible, and also to how they have used their disputed interpretations of the Bible to impact issues in the public square. The introduction concludes by summarizing the individual contributions which address evangelical biblical scholarship in relation to inerrancy and textual criticism, archaeology and history, and the Bible in its ancient and contemporary contexts.

AB - Detailed introduction (73 pages, 32,000 words) to Misusing Scripture: What Are Evangelicals Doing with the Bible? (2023a above). The editors’ introduction to Misusing Scripture discusses the book’s background and rationale, explains its objective, and identifies and defines key issues. Important terms including “evangelical,” “scholarship,” “faith-based scholarship,” “inerrancy,” and “scriptural fundamentalism” are carefully described in order to effectively evaluate evangelical biblical scholarship, the book’s topic. How does it work, is it legitimate, is it possible, are “evangelical” and “academic” an oxymoron? The bulk of the introduction is a detailed description and sustained critique of evangelical biblical scholarship that reviews and expands on evaluations by other non-evangelical scholars and occasionally by evangelicals also. It is argued that while evangelicals can make valid contributions to biblical scholarship in some cases, very often their scholarship is compromised by their apologetic approach to the Bible and their questionable presuppositions and methods. The problems identified extend to how evangelicals have misused “biblical” archaeology to bolster their distinctive beliefs about the Bible, and also to how they have used their disputed interpretations of the Bible to impact issues in the public square. The introduction concludes by summarizing the individual contributions which address evangelical biblical scholarship in relation to inerrancy and textual criticism, archaeology and history, and the Bible in its ancient and contemporary contexts.

U2 - 10.4324/9781003126416-2

DO - 10.4324/9781003126416-2

M3 - Book chapter

SN - 9780367648138

T3 - Routledge New Critical Thinking in Religion, Theology and Biblical Studies

BT - Misusing Scripture

A2 - Elliott, Mark

A2 - Atkinson, Ken

A2 - Rezetko, Robert

PB - Routledge

CY - London

ER -