New Testament

====American mainline and liberal Protestantism====
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[[Mainline (Protestant)|Mainline]] American [[Protestant]] denominations, including the [[United Methodist Church]], [[Presbyterian Church USA]], [[Episcopal Church in the United States of America|The Episcopal Church]], and [[Evangelical Lutheran Church in America]], do not teach the doctrine of inerrancy as set forth in the Chicago Statement. All of these churches have more ancient doctrinal statements asserting the authority of scripture, but may interpret these statements in such a way as to allow for a very broad range of teaching—from evangelicalism to skepticism. It is not an impediment to ordination in these denominations to teach that the scriptures contain errors, or that the authors follow a more or less unenlightened ethics that, however appropriate it may have seemed in the authors' time, moderns would be very wrong to follow blindly.

For example, [[ordination of women]] is universally accepted in the mainline churches, [[abortion]] is condemned as a grievous social tragedy but not always a personal [[sin]] or a crime against an unborn person, and [[homosexuality]] is sometimes recognized as a genetic propensity or morally neutral preference that should be neither encouraged nor condemned. In North America, the most contentious of these issues among these churches at the present time is how far the ordination of gay men and lesbians should be accepted.

Officials of the Presbyterian Church USA report: "We acknowledge the role of scriptural authority in the Presbyterian Church, but Presbyterians generally do not believe in biblical inerrancy. Presbyterians do not insist that every detail of chronology or sequence or prescientific description in scripture be true in literal form. Our confessions do teach biblical infallibility. Infallibility affirms the entire truthfulness of scripture without depending on every exact detail."<ref>{{cite news |last=Chismar |first=Janet |date=20 June 2001 |title=Homosexual Ordination Vote Widens Gap Between Presbyterian Factions |url=https://www.christianheadlines.com/articles/homosexual-ordination-vote-widens-gap-between-presbyterian-factions-526076.html |work=Religion Today |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210524162339/https://www.christianheadlines.com/articles/homosexual-ordination-vote-widens-gap-between-presbyterian-factions-526076.html |archive-date=24 May 2021 |via=www.christianheadlines.com}}</ref>

Those who hold a more liberal view of the Bible as a human witness to the glory of God, the work of fallible humans who wrote from a limited experience unusual only for the insight they have gained through their inspired struggle to know God in the midst of a troubled world. Therefore, they tend not to accept such doctrines as inerrancy. These churches also tend to retain the social activism of their evangelical forebears of the 19th century, placing particular emphasis on those teachings of scripture that teach compassion for the poor and concern for [[social justice]].

The message of personal [[salvation]] is, generally speaking, of the good that comes to oneself and the world through following the New Testament's [[ethic of reciprocity|Golden Rule]] admonition to love others without hypocrisy or prejudice. Toward these ends, the "spirit" of the New Testament, more than the letter, is infallible and authoritative.

There are some movements that believe the Bible contains the teachings of Jesus but who reject the churches that were formed following its publication. These people believe all individuals can communicate directly with God and therefore do not need guidance or doctrines from a church. These people are known as [[Christian anarchism|Christian anarchists]].