04.00. INSPIRATION OF THE BIBLE
INSPIRATION OF THE BIBLE A Discussion of the Origin, the Authenticity and the Sanctity of the Oracles of God BY B.H. CARROLL, D.D., LL.D.
Founder, and First President of Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary COMPILED AND EDITED By J. B. CRANFILL, M. D., LL.D.
INTRODUCTION BY GEORGE W. TRUETT, D.D., and L. R. SCARBOROUGH, D.D. To CHARLES C. CARROLL, only surviving son of B.H. Carroll, and himselfa ripe scholar and great preacher, this volume is lovingly dedicated by THE EDITOR
PUBLISHER’S NOTE
Most informed Christians know that many teachers, writers, and other leaders of many major denominations raise serious questions about the infallibility of the Bible. Some claim to believe that the Bible is “authoritative in dealing with the faith and practice of the Christian religion,” but not in many other matters such as in science, history, and the recording of many events such as miracles of the Bible. They believe the Bible contains errors.
Some of those who deny Biblical inerrancy erroneously claim that the idea is new to our day. They boldly, even though falsely, claim that Christian scholars and leaders of yesteryear did not believe in verbal inspiration, nor in an infallible Bible.
Frankly, their claims force me to do one of several things: First, I doubt they have read church history, for it gives abundant evidence that practically every Christian, until recent decades, believed in an infallible Bible. This fact was declared by Dr. Kirsop Lake, a professor at the University of Chicago, who wrote in THE RELIGION OF YESTERDAY AND TOMORROW, published by Houghton, Boston, 1926, page 61:
“It is a mistake often made by educated persons who happen to have but little knowledge of historical theology, to suppose that fundamentalism is a new and strange form of thought. It is nothing of the kind; it is the partial and uneducated survival of a theology which was once universally held by all Christians. How many were there, for instance, in Christian churches in the eighteenth century who doubted the infallible inspiration of all Scripture? A few, perhaps, but very few.
No, the fundamentalist may be wrong; I think that he is. But it is we who have departed from the tradition, not he, and I am sorry for the fate of anyone who tries to argue with a fundamentalist on the basis of authority. The Bible and the corpus theologicum of the Church is on the fundamentalist side.”’ In the second place, any person declaring that belief in an infallible Bible is a new idea” either proves his ignorance of church history or his lack of education and/or integrity.
No educated person would deny that Dr. B.H. Carroll, the founder and first President of Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary of Ft. Worth, Texas, was great scholar who had great knowledge of what the Bible teaches about itself, and of what Bible-believing Christians believe about Biblical infallibility. The book you hold in your hand gives positive evidence that Dr. B.H. Carroll believed in verbal inspiration and in an infallible Bible! The book contains Scriptural arguments about Biblical inerrancy which NO CAREFUL READER can reject. When this book, published over 50 years ago but now out of print, came to my attention, I immediately felt that it should be reprinted for wide distribution among all who want to know the truth about God’s HOLY WORD. Although Dr. Carroll was a brilliant scholar, he presents the truth in such a plain manner until the most unlearned can understand it! The book is sent forth with a fervent prayer that it may help multitudes of Baptists, and other Christians, NOT TO BE MISLED by the heresy of liberalism that is poisoning millions in the major denominations of our day. We encourage readers to help us distribute the book to every possible Christian! Satan is doing a good job of destroying the faith of multitudes by getting so-called “scholars,” professors, writers, and religious leaders, to PUT QUESTION MARKS regarding the infallibility and trustworthiness of the Bible.
E.J. Daniels Christ for the World, Publishers P.O. Box 3428 Orlando, FL 32802