The Chicago Statement on Biblical Inerrancy was formulated in October of 1978 by approximately 300 evangelical scholars at a conference sponsored by the International Council on Biblical Inerrancy, held in Chicago. The statement was designed to defend the position of Biblical inerrancy against a perceived trend toward liberal conceptions of Scripture. The undersigners came from a variety of evangelical Christian denominations, and include James Boice, Carl F. H. Henry, Kenneth Kantzer, J. I. Packer, Francis Schaeffer, and R. C. Sproul. 1978 (MCMLXXVIII) was a common year starting on Sunday (the link is to a full 1978 calendar). ... Chicago (officially named the City of Chicago) is the third largest city in the United States (after New York City and Los Angeles), with an official population of 2,896,016, as of the 2000 census. ... Biblical inerrancy is the belief that the Bible is without error. ... Many religions and spiritual movements hold certain written texts (or series of spoken legends not traditionally written down) to be sacred. ... The word evangelicalism usually refers to a tendency in diverse branches of conservative Christianity, typified by an emphasis on evangelism, a personal experience of conversion, biblically-oriented faith, and a belief in the relevance of Christian faith to cultural issues. ... A Christian is a follower of Jesus Christ. ... A denomination, in the Christian sense of the word, is an identifiable religious body under a common name, structure, and/or doctrine. ... James Montgomery Boice Dr. James Montgomery Boice (July 7, 1938 - June 15, 2000) was a Reformed theologian and pastor of Tenth Presbyterian Church in Philadelphia from 1968 until his death. ... Carl F. H. Henry (January 22, 1913 - December 7, 2003) was an evangelical Christian theologian, who founded the magazine Christianity Today as a scholarly voice for evangelical Christianity and as a challenge to the liberal Christian Century. ... Kenneth Kantzer (March 29, 1917 – June 20, 2002) was a Christian theologian most known for his roles as Dean of Trinity Evangelical Divinity School and Editor of Christianity Today. ... J. I. Packer James Innell Packer (born July 22, 1926 in Gloucester, England) is a British-born Canadian Christian theologian in the Reformational Anglican tradition. ... Francis Schaeffer Francis A Schaeffer (1912–1984), an American Christian theologian, philosopher, and Presbyterian pastor, is most famous for his writings and his establishment of the lAbri community in Switzerland. ... R.C. Sproul Dr. Robert Charles Sproul (born 1939 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania) is an American, Calvinist theologian, and pastor. ...

Leading inerrantists regard the Chicago Statement as a very thorough statement of what they mean by "inerrancy". The statement elaborates on various details in Articles formed as couplets of "WE AFFIRM … and WE DENY …". Also, inerrancy applies only to the original manuscripts (which no longer exist, but can be inferred on the basis of extant copies), not to the copies or translations themselves. Further, inerrancy does not mean blind literalism, but allows for figurative, poetic and phenomenological language, as long as it is accurate.

The Statement does not define the precise set of biblical books to be considered "Scripture".

See also

• Codex Sinaiticus
• Biblical inerrancy
• Chicago Statement on Biblical inerrancy - 19 articles listed with exposition

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Chicago Statement on Biblical Inerrancy