R. L. Dabney’s 1871 Indictment of the Critical Canons
Dabney argued that nineteenth-century critics did not merely disagree over facts; they worked with rival codes whose rules could reverse one another and lacked a common umpire.
Open record →Category: Textual Criticism
Principles, methods, evidence, and criticism concerning the biblical text.
Of the Holy Scripture IV: Original Languages, Preservation, Interpretation, and Final Appeal
The final paragraphs of Westminster Confession 1 ask whether the inspired Hebrew and Greek Scriptures have been kept pure, whether they remain the church's authentic court of appeal,…
Open record →
Scripture Cannot Say Yea and Nay
The truthfulness and unity of Scripture are not an excuse to deny variant copies; they are a theological constraint on how the church identifies the canonical text.
Open record →
Calvin, Whitaker, and Turretin: Error, Obstinacy, and the Foundations of Faith
Calvin, Whitaker, and Turretin confirm that the church must distinguish lesser errors from formal heresy while still defending foundational truths.
Open record →
Trying to Destroy the Old Foundation
Variants, printed-edition differences, older manuscripts, and fallible ecclesiastical judgments deserve examination. None by itself disproves an authentic text kept pure in all ages, and none establishes the authority…
Open record →
Begotten, Not Made
Arius could call Christ begotten while treating that begetting as creaturely production. Nicaea’s ‘not made’ guarded the scriptural boundary between the natural Son and every work made through…
Open record →