Chicago Declaration

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The Chicago Declarations are three fundamental declarations by conservative evangelical theologians, primarily from the USA, on the nature, understanding and application of the Bible .

The three Chicago declarations

For - 1978 evangelical theologians included - primarily from the United States International Council on Biblical inerrancy ( International Council on Biblical Inerrancy short ICBI, 1978-1986,) together. The Swiss theologian Samuel R. Külling took part from the German-speaking area . In three essays, the ICBI formulated an understanding of faith that comes close to the fundamentalist way of reasoning, but distinguishes itself from extremely fundamentalist standpoints. A total of three Chicago Declarations were formulated at three central meetings. The first declaration named the nature of scripture and its inspiration (1st Chicago Declaration on Biblical Inerrancy, 1978). The other two declarations deal with the question of hermeneutics (Chicago Declaration on Biblical Hermeneutics, 1982) and the application of this scriptural principle in everyday life (Chicago Declaration on Biblical Application, 1986).

Chicago Declaration on the Inerrancy of the Bible

“Since the scriptures were given completely and verbatim by God, they are without error or mistake in everything they teach. This applies no less to what it says about God's actions in creation, about the events of world history and about their own, God-created literary origins, than for their testimony of God's saving grace in the lives of individuals. ”(Preface) First Chicago Declaration (CE) consists in the main part of 19 articles of "Confess and Reject".

Contents of the 19 articles

Essentially, it is the formulation of the conviction that the Bible, as the Word of God, is free of errors (Article XI) and contains no contradictions (Article XIV). This is a consequence used by fundamentalists and conservative evangelicals from the Reformation scriptural principle , according to which only the Bible is authoritative for all questions of faith (Article XV, cf. Articles I and II), and from the Christian conviction that the Bible is from God “Inspires” (Article VI, cf. Articles XV and XVI). This rejects notions such as that the Bible contains the infallible word of God, but not all parts are infallible (Article III), or that inerrancy is limited to religious statements (Article XII). Likewise, any handling of the Bible text ( source criticism is given as an example) is rejected that leads to the teachings of the Bible "being relativized, considered unhistorical or rejected" (Article XVIII). Because of the inerrancy of the Bible, nothing that contradicts the Bible can be from God (Article XVII).

However, it is also admitted in the CE that there are “phenomena” in the Bible that contradict modern ideas. However, these did not question the inerrancy as it is described in the CE (Article XIII). The same applies to the limitation of human language (Article IV).

Extremely fundamentalist positions are also rejected on other points: Although inspiration is not a rationally explainable, inner-worldly event (Article VII), it also does not consist in the fact that the authors of the Bible were only writing tools whose personality had no influence on the text have (Article VIII). The Bible has a history of revelation (Article V), and its writers are not omniscient (Article IX), nor is a particular translation of the Bible directly inspired (Article X). According to CE, the commitment to the inerrancy of the Bible is important, but not necessary for salvation (Article XIX).

criticism

Criticism of the Chicago Declaration is mostly part of the criticism of fundamentalism . Often reference is made to the results of historical-critical research , according to which the Bible definitely contains errors. Some of these errors are classified by the CE as inaccuracies but not as errors (Article XIII). Other errors are disputed by the proponents of CE by questioning the results of historical-critical research or those of other sciences (the best-known example of this is the discussion about creation or evolution ).

Another point of criticism concerns the position of the Bible, which in the opinion of some theologians is made "paper God", which calls into question the uniqueness of Jesus Christ . Proponents of the CE do not consider this reproach to be relevant, since the authority of the Bible is derived from God and Jesus also recognized the Holy Scriptures (or the part existing at that time, the Hebrew Bible ) as an authority.

Fundamentalist currents and conservative evangelicals, on the other hand, hold to the inerrancy of the Bible, which some, but not all, define by the Chicago Declaration. This fundamentalist direction is represented, for example, by some Bible schools and some evangelically oriented theological training institutions such as the Free Theological University in Giessen. In addition to the Brethren movement, there are some free churches of both a pietist and a Baptist and charismatic direction, as well as the pietists in the Protestant regional churches who are organized in communal leagues .

literature

Per
  • Thomas Schirrmacher (Ed.): Faithfulness to the Bible on the offensive. The Three Chicago Declarations of Biblical Inerrancy, Hermeneutics, and Application. Biblia et Symbiotica 2nd publisher for culture and science, Bonn 1993, ISBN 3-926105-07-0 .
  • Stephan Holthaus , Karl-Heinz Vanheiden (ed.): The infallibility and inerrancy of the Bible. Edition of the Bible Covenant. Bibelbund-Verlag, Hammerbrücke 2002, ISBN 3-935707-07-X .
  • James M. Boice, Samuel R. Külling (Ed.): The infallibility of the Bible. 2nd Edition. Immanuel-Verlag, Riehen 1995, ISBN 3952013889 .
  • Helge Stadelmann (ed.): Love for the word. The confession of biblical inerrancy as an expression of an understanding of the Scriptures true to the Bible. Publishing house for theology and religious studies, Nuremberg 2002, ISBN 3933372712 .
Contra
  • Stefan Alkier: The Bible did not fall from heaven. Six biblical arguments against Christian fundamentalism. In: Stefan Alkier, Hermann Deuser, Gesche Linde (Eds.): Religious Fundamentalism. Analysis and Reviews. Francke, Tübingen / Basel 2005, pp. 191-224, ISBN 3-7720-8099-5 .
  • Ingo Broer: The understanding of Scripture among Christian fundamentalists. In: Sigrid Baringhorst, Ingo Broer (Ed.): Grenzgang (r). Contributions to politics, culture and religion. Festschrift for Gerhard Hufnagel for his 65th birthday. Universitätsverlag, Siegen 2004, pp. 387-421. ISBN 3-936533-14-8 .
  • Heinzpeter Hempelmann : Shared love. How Evangelicals Determine the Authority of the Bible - An Answer to Thomas Schirrmacher. Verlag der Liebenzeller Mission, Bad Liebenzell 2001, ISBN 3921113431 .
  • Heinzpeter Hempelmann: Not on the writing, but under it. Principles of a hermeneutics of humility. Verlag der Liebenzeller Mission, Lahr 2000, ISBN 3-880027226 .

Web links

Per
Contra

Individual evidence

  1. ^ International Summit Conference of evangelical leaders, held at the Hyatt Regency O'Hare in Chicago in the fall of 1978 .: THE CHICAGO STATEMENT ON BIBLICAL INERRANCY . ( churchcouncil.org [PDF]).