Journal: Global Journal of Classical Theology
Volume: GJCT 15:2 (Sep 2018)
Article: Do All MBI Professors Affirm Inerrancy? It Depends On Your Definition
Author: Julie Roys

Do All MBI Professors Affirm Inerrancy?
It Depends On Your Definition

Julie Roys

Julie Roys is a journalist, author, speaker, and veteran radio host. Her articles have appeared in WORLD Magazine, Christianity Today, Religion News Service, The Federalist, and The Christian Post. For six years, she hosted a national talk show on the Moody Radio Network called Up For Debate. And in September, she published her first book, Redeeming the Feminine Soul: God’s Surprising Vision of Womanhood.

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Abstract: Julie Roys’ opening question—“Do all the professors at the Moody Bible Institute (MBI) affirm biblical inerrancy?”—sets the mood for this insightful essay into the current state of affairs at MBI. She proceeds to discuss disturbing trends at Moody and concludes with the solution, in the words of MBI founder Dwight L. Moody, “The Word of God is as true today as it ever was.”

Do all the professors at the Moody Bible Institute (MBI) affirm biblical inerrancy?

This question has been hotly debated ever since I reported in January that one of several allegations against the previous administration was that it allowed professors who deny inerrancy to teach at the institute. Less than a week after that post, three of MBI’s top officers stepped down, though MBI leadership offered no specific reasons for the change other than the board decided it was “time for a new season of leadership.”

At the time, Moody VP and Dean of Distance Learning Bryan O’Neal told WORLD Magazine, “All of our faculty affirm inerrancy annually when they sign their annual contract. It’s explicit. … There is no drift.” Similarly, MBI said in a statement, “The Board, faculty, and leadership annually and without reservation agree to (MBI’s doctrinal statement) which is a condition of employment.”

Moody’s doctrinal statement on inerrancy, however, was written about 90 years ago – at a time when no one could have predicted how postmodernism would change the plain meaning of words, and the concept of truth itself. At that time, no one foresaw that some evangelical scholars, like Robert Gundry for example, would claim to be inerrantists, yet hold that the magi never visited Jesus, and that the gospel writer had simply “embroidered” the text.

In today’s postmodern environment, it is entirely possible for someone to sign a statement claiming that the Bible “is free from error” and yet simultaneously admit to what many would consider errors. So, the question facing the Moody Bible Institute (and many other Christian institutions like it) is not whether all its professors have signed a doctrinal statement on inerrancy, but what do they mean when they sign that state...