12W4

The Chicago Statement on Biblical Inerrancy (Word document with just the articles here) is the 1978 conservative Christian understanding of Biblical inerrancy (or infallibility):

Holy Scripture, as the inspired Word of God witnessing authoritatively to Jesus Christ, may properly be called infallible and inerrant. These negative terms have a special value, for they explicitly safeguard crucial positive truths.

lnfallible signifies the quality of neither misleading nor being misled and so safeguards in categorical terms the truth that Holy Scripture is a sure, safe, and reliable rule and guide in all matters.

Similarly, inerrant signifies the quality of being free from all falsehood or mistake and so safeguards the truth that Holy Scripture is entirely true and trustworthy in all its assertions.

We thought about the statement and its pros and cons with respect to understanding the Bible. If you decide to write about this for your essay I suggest you look at the whole shebang as there is some explanation of the ideas on the page too…

In 1983 the same people wrote the Chicago Statement on Biblical Hermeneutics which will also be helpful for your essay.