What is the history of the doctrine of inerrancy?

For much of Christian history, the view of the inspiration and authority of the Bible outlined above held firm, and it was almost unheard of for Christians to criticize and reject the content of Scripture as erroneous. The position of the greatest of the Western church fathers, Augustine of Hippo, is instructive here. In his "Reply to Faustus the Manichaean" (XI.5), St. Augustine wrote: "If we are perplexed by an apparent contradiction in Scripture, it is not allowable to say, The author of this book is mistaken; but either the manuscript is faulty, or the translation is wrong, or you have not understood."

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The belief that the scriptures are without error or fault in all its teaching can be traced to the early Christians, and further.

1 Thessalonians 2:13 For this reason we also thank God without ceasing, because when you received the word of God which you heard from us, you welcomed it not as the word of men, but as it is in truth, the word of God, which also effectively works in you who believe.

They would have believed the gospels and epistles as the testimony of the apostles, and thus, not as the word of men, but the truth and the word of God

John signed off his gospel with:

John 21:24 This is the disciple who testifies of these things, and wrote these things; and we know that his testimony is true.

Paul testified that:

2 Timothy 3:16 All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness

Jesus himself said of the Old Testament:

John 5:39 these are they which testify of Me.

The Old Testament are the testimony of prophets. Jesus frequently quoted the scriptures against the Pharisees, leaving them speechless. When tempted in the wilderness, Jesus spoke not His own words, but quoted scripture; Satan in return tried to tempt Jesus using scripture. Clearly, these Old Testament writings had great authority because they were the word of God.

The Pharisees never displayed doubt in the veracity of the scriptures, even if they did not have the Spirit to understand the meaning. They sought to prove that Jesus was not the Messiah by trying to catch Him in preaching against the scriptures. When Jesus justified His actions according to the word, they were speechless.

Isaiah wrote:

Isaiah 8:20 To the law and to the testimony! If they do not speak according to this word, it is because there is no light in them.

The doctrine of inerrancy, a salient feature of Christian Fundamentalism, was "a creation not of the 16th century Reformation but of 19th century Princeton University theologians attempting to preserve traditional belief in divine origins."¹ As you can see, there is evidence for supporting the notion that the doctrine of inerrancy is a relatively new doctrine.

Infallibility refers to "the divine assistance given by Christ to the Church to teach specific doctrines without error." ²

Whereas, Indefectibility refers to "the divine assistance given to the Church to remain fundamentally faithful to the teachings of Christ, or 'there can be no wholesale departure from the teaching of Christ' even though various leaders and/or various populations in the Church may sometimes go astray. Thus, 'indefectibility' refers to the generic divine assistance that the church will remain basically faithful to the teachings of Christ over the long run, while 'infallibility' refers to the specific divine assistance for the church to teach particular fundamental doctrines without basic error." ²

Biblical inspiration results in inerrancy, ^2,3 which the Catechism of the Catholic Church describes as "the attribute of the books of Scripture whereby they faithfully and without error teach that truth which God, for the sake of our salvation, wished to have confided through the Sacred Scripture." ²

As you can see, there is support suggesting that the doctrine of inerrancy was originally a Catholic doctrine.

References

1. DOYLE, R. (2003). Sizing Up Evangelicals. Scientific American, 288(3), 37.

2. FORD, J. T. (2013). INFALLIBILITY--TERMINOLOGY, TEXTUAL ANALYSIS, AND THEOLOGICAL INTERPRETATION: A RESPONSE TO MARK POWELL. Theological Studies, 74(1), 119-128.

3. Gigot, F. (1907). The Bible. In The Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton Company. Retrieved April 26, 2014 from New Advent: http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/02543a.htm