Christian theology

===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>