Christian theology

==Prolegomena: Scripture as a primary basis of Christian theology==

===Biblical revelation===
[[File:Gentile da Fabriano 052.jpg|thumb|upright| [[Thomas Aquinas]] from ''[[Valle Romita Polyptych]]'' by [[Gentile da Fabriano]]]]
[[Revelation#Christianity|Revelation]] is the revealing or disclosing, or making something obvious through active or passive communication with God, and can originate directly from [[God in Christianity|God]] or through an agent, such as an [[Angel#Christianity|angel]].<ref>{{Cite book |last=Dr |first=STEVE ESOMBA |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=gaDFBgAAQBAJ&pg=PA148 |title=THE BOOK OF LIFE, KNOWLEDGE AND CONFIDENCE |date=6 June 2012 |publisher=Lulu.com |isbn=978-1-4717-3463-2 |language=en}}</ref> A person recognised as having experienced such contact is often called{{by whom|date=September 2020}} a [[prophet]]. Christianity generally considers the [[Bible]] as divinely or [[Supernatural revelation|supernaturally revealed]] or inspired. Such revelation does not always require the presence of God or an angel. For instance, in the concept which [[Catholic]]s call [[interior locution]], supernatural revelation can include just an [[inner voice]] heard by the recipient.

[[Thomas Aquinas]] (1225-1274) first described two types of revelation in Christianity: [[general revelation]] and [[special revelation]].{{citation needed|date=September 2020}}

* General revelation occurs through observation of the [[Universe|created order]]. Such observations can logically lead to important conclusions, such as the existence of God and some of God's attributes. General revelation is also an element of [[Christian apologetics]].{{citation needed|date=September 2020}}
* Certain specifics, such as the [[Trinity]] and the [[Incarnation]], as revealed in the teachings of the Scriptures, can not otherwise be deduced except by special revelation.

===Biblical inspiration===
{{Main|Biblical inspiration}}
[[File:The Evangelist Matthew Inspired by an Angel.jpg|thumb|left|upright| [[Rembrandt]]'s ''The Evangelist Matthew Inspired by an Angel'', 1661]]
The [[Bible]] contains many passages in which the authors claim divine inspiration for their message or report the effects of such inspiration on others. Besides the direct accounts of written [[revelation]] (such as [[Moses]] receiving the [[Ten Commandments]] inscribed on tablets of stone), the [[Prophet]]s of the [[Old Testament]] frequently claimed that their message was of divine origin by prefacing the revelation using the following phrase: "Thus says the LORD" (for example, [http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=IKings+12:22-24;IChronicles+17:3-4;Jeremiah+35:13;Ezekiel+2:4;Zechariah+7:9 1 Kgs 12:22–24;1 Chr 17:3–4; Jer 35:13; Ezek 2:4; Zech 7:9]; etc.). The [[Second Epistle of Peter]] claims that "no prophecy of Scripture ... was ever produced by the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit"<ref>[http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=2Peter+1:20-21 2 Pet 1:20–21] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210411011340/http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=2Peter+1:20-21 |date=11 April 2021 }}.</ref> The Second Epistle of Peter also implies that Paul's writings are inspired ([http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=2Peter+3:16 2 Pet 3:16]).

Many{{quantify|date=September 2020}} Christians cite a verse in Paul's letter to Timothy, 2 Timothy 3:16–17, as evidence that "all scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable ..." Here St. Paul is referring to the Old Testament, since the scriptures have been known by Timothy from "infancy" (verse 15). Others offer an alternative reading for the passage; for example, theologian [[C. H. Dodd]] suggests that it "is probably to be rendered" as: "Every inspired scripture is also useful..."<ref name="dodd p25">{{cite book | last = Dodd | first = Charles Harold | author-link = C. H. Dodd | title = The Authority of the Bible | publisher = Collins | year = 1978 | location= London | isbn= 0-00-625195-1 |page=25}}</ref> A similar translation appears in the [[New English Bible]], in the [[Revised English Bible]], and (as a footnoted alternative) in the [[New Revised Standard Version]]. The Latin [[Vulgate]] can be so read.<ref>The [[Douay–Rheims Bible]], relying on the Vulgate, has "All scripture, inspired of God, is profitable to teach ...". See the comment in the [[New Jerusalem Bible]] study edition - footnote 'e', page 1967, Darton Longman Todd, 1985. {{ISBN|0-232-52077-1}}, but with the caution "less probably".</ref> Yet others defend the "traditional" interpretation; [[Daniel B. Wallace]] calls the alternative "probably not the best translation."<ref>
{{cite book
| author= Daniel B. Wallace
| author-link1 = Daniel B. Wallace
| title= Greek Grammar Beyond the Basics: An Exegetical Syntax of the New Testament
| location= Grand Rapids, Michigan|publisher= Zondervan|year= 1996
| isbn= 0-310-21895-0|pages= 313–314
| quote = Many scholars feel that the translation should be: 'Every inspired scripture is also profitable.' This is probably not the best translation, however, for the following reasons: (1) Contextually [...] (2) Grammatically [...]
}}
</ref>

Some modern English versions of the Bible renders ''theopneustos'' with "God-breathed" ([[NIV]]) or "breathed out by God" ([[English Standard Version|ESV]]), avoiding the word ''inspiration'', which has the Latin root ''inspīrāre'' - "to blow or breathe into".<ref>{{oed | inspire }}</ref>

===Biblical authority===
[[Christianity]] generally regards the [[Biblical canon|agreed collections of books]] known as the [[Bible]] as authoritative and as written by human authors under the inspiration of the [[Holy Spirit]]. Some Christians believe that the Bible is [[Biblical inerrancy|inerrant]] (totally without error and free from contradiction, including the historical and scientific parts)<ref name="inerrancy">{{Cite book|last= Geisler & Nix |publisher= [[Moody Press]], Chicago |year= 1986 |title= A General Introduction to the Bible | isbn= 0-8024-2916-5}}</ref> or [[Biblical infallibility|infallible]] (inerrant on issues of faith and practice but not necessarily on matters of history or science).<ref name="infallible">{{Cite journal|last= Coleman|journal= Theology Today | volume = 31 | issue = 4|pages= 295–303|year= 1975|title= Biblical Inerrancy: Are We Going Anywhere?|doi= 10.1177/004057367503100404|s2cid= 170389190 }}
</ref>{{request quotation|date=September 2020}}<ref>Catechism of the Catholic Church, [https://www.vatican.va/archive/catechism/p1s1c2a3.htm#II ''Inspiration and Truth of Sacred Scripture'' (§105–108)] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100909213651/https://www.vatican.va/archive/catechism/p1s1c2a3.htm#II |date=9 September 2010 }}</ref><ref>
[[Heinrich Bullinger]]'s [[Second Helvetic Confession]] (1566), [https://web.archive.org/web/20060203091510/http://www.creeds.net/reformed/helvetic/c01.htm ''Of the Holy Scripture Being the True Word of God''] - "We believe and confess the canonical Scriptures of the holy prophets and apostles of both Testaments to be the true Word of God, and to have sufficient authority of themselves, not of men. [...] And in this Holy Scripture, the universal Church of Christ has the most complete exposition of all that pertains to a saving faith, and also to the framing of a life acceptable to God [...]."
</ref><ref>[[Chicago Statement on Biblical Inerrancy]] (1978), [https://library.dts.edu/Pages/TL/Special/ICBI_1.pdf Online text] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220117191615/https://library.dts.edu/Pages/TL/Special/ICBI_1.pdf |date=17 January 2022 }}: "Article XI <br> We affirm that Scripture, having been given by divine inspiration, is infallible, so that, far from misleading us, it is true and reliable in all the matters it addresses."</ref><ref>Catechism of the Catholic Church: {{Cite web |url=https://www.vatican.va/archive/catechism/p1s1c2a3.htm |title=Catechism of the Catholic Church - Sacred Scripture |access-date=15 March 2020 |archive-date=9 June 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100609220852/https://www.vatican.va/archive/catechism/p1s1c2a3.htm |url-status=bot: unknown }} - "107 The inspired books teach the truth. 'Since therefore all that the inspired authors or sacred writers affirm should be regarded as affirmed by the Holy Spirit, we must acknowledge that the books of Scripture firmly, faithfully, and without error teach that truth which God, for the sake of our salvation, wished to see confided to the Sacred Scriptures.'"</ref>

Some Christians infer that the Bible cannot both refer to itself as being divinely inspired and also be errant or fallible. For if the Bible were divinely inspired, then the source of inspiration being divine, would not be subject to fallibility or error in that which is produced. For them, the doctrines of the divine inspiration, infallibility, and inerrancy, are inseparably tied together. The idea of biblical [[integrity]] is a further concept of infallibility, by suggesting that current biblical text is complete and without error, and that the integrity of biblical text has never been corrupted or degraded.<ref name="inerrancy"/> Historians{{which|date=September 2020}} note, or claim, that the doctrine of the Bible's infallibility was adopted{{when|date=September 2020}} hundreds of years after the books of the Bible were written.<ref>
Compare:
{{cite journal
| title                 = Bible Infallibility - 'Evangelical' Defenders of the Faith
| url                   = https://books.google.com/books?id=GngeAQAAMAAJ
| journal               = The Westminster Review
| publisher             = Leonard Scott Publication
| date      = January 1861
| volume                = 75
| page                  = 49
| access-date           = 6 September 2020
| quote                 = [...] the doctrine of the infallibility of the Bible, a doctrine which, according to Mr. Ayre and his school, the apostles held and Christ sanctioned; which from the earliest times the Church has adopted, and which the plenary as well as the verbal inspirationists still maintain.
}}
</ref>

===Biblical canon===
{{Main| Biblical canon|Christian biblical canons|Development of the Christian biblical canon
|Development of the New Testament canon}}
{{Further| Development of the Hebrew Bible canon|Development of the Old Testament canon}}

The content of the [[Protestant Bible|Protestant Old Testament]] is the same as the [[Development of the Hebrew Bible canon|Hebrew Bible canon]], with changes in the division and order of books, but the [[Catholic Bible|Catholic Old Testament]] contains additional texts, known as the [[deuterocanonical books]]. Protestants recognize 39 books in their Old Testament canon, while Roman Catholic and [[Eastern Christianity|Eastern Christians]] recognize 46 books as canonical.{{citation needed|date=September 2020}} Both Catholics and Protestants use the same 27-book New Testament canon.

Early Christians used the [[Septuagint]], a [[Koine]] Greek translation of the Hebrew scriptures. Christianity subsequently endorsed various additional writings that would become the New Testament. In the 4th century a series of [[synod]]s, most notably the [[Synod of Hippo]] in AD 393, produced a list of texts equal to the 46-book canon of the Old Testament that Catholics use today (and the 27-book canon of the New Testament that all use). A definitive list did not come from any [[First seven ecumenical councils|early ecumenical council]].<ref>[http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/03274a.htm Catholic Encyclopedia: Canon of the New Testament] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190118034449/http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/03274a.htm |date=18 January 2019 }}: "The idea of a complete and clear-cut canon of the New Testament existing from the beginning, that is from Apostolic times, has no foundation in history."</ref> Around 400, [[Jerome]] produced the [[Vulgate]], a definitive Latin edition of the Bible, the contents of which, at the insistence of the [[Pope|Bishop of Rome]], accorded with the decisions of the earlier synods. This process effectively set the New Testament canon, although examples exist of other canonical lists in use after this time.{{citation needed|date=September 2020}}

During the 16th-century [[Protestant Reformation]] certain reformers proposed different canonical lists of the Old Testament. The texts which appear in the Septuagint but not in the Jewish canon fell out of favor, and eventually disappeared from Protestant canons. Catholic Bibles classify these texts as deuterocanonical books, whereas Protestant contexts label them as the [[biblical apocrypha|Apocrypha]].