Steve Collins

“As an archaeologist who deals with material evidence along with ancient Near Eastern cultures and texts, and who is also an evangelical Christian, I often find the debate about biblical inerrancy puzzling, if not irritating. For me, the concept of inerrancy is tied to divine intent. It is clear to me that Scripture has come to us as God’s unique representation of reality, an aggregate of authentic ancient records and eyewitness accounts driven by divine selectivity toward the ultimate goal of bringing forth the final record of the New Covenant through Messiah, Jesus. Because it is self-evident that God does not superintend error, ‘doctrinal’ inerrancy is axiomatic. Further, on the pragmatic side of the issue, my 45+ years of examining biblical texts in the light of archaeology and history (and vice versa!) have given me unequivocal confidence in the Bible’s ‘inductive’ inerrancy; i.e., I have yet to identify anything in it that I would consider to be in error. In my mind, an errant Scripture is an affront to logic, science, and faith.”
― Steve Collins