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Dan Wallace - Contra Mundane
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51% Protestant

Blast from the past. This post was written by Daniel Wallace back in 2007. On the flight back from Athens last week, I sat in front of a gregarious Irish gentleman. He was a...

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Clinton Roberts
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Shocked and Appalled? Why?

  Pardon me for not being “stunned” by the latest political “bombshell.” Or should I say, “for not pretending to be stunned”? To put it another way, pardon me for not...

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Creation/Evolution
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Forget About Evolution and Inerrancy (For a Moment)

The “Weight” of Evolution “What about evolution?” This was her question. It was a question that before this day I was prepared to answer. I had read...

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Culture
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The God Who is [Still] There

It is fairly common knowledge to anyone who knows me that along with CS Lewis, Francis Schaeffer had a huge impact on my thinking in my early twenties. When asked why I work...

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Calvinism
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12 Myths About Calvinism

1. Calvinism is not a system of theology that denies God’s universal love. While there are some Calvinists who do deny God’s universal love for all men, this is certainly not...

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Credo House Ministries
Anthropology
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Honestly, Do Any Lives Matter?

  Months ago in a Democratic primary debate, a national audience heard this urgently profound question put to the candidates, “Do black lives matter or do all lives...

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Apologetics
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Why Arminianism Won’t Preach (And Calvinism Won’t Sell)

Thesis: Calvinists have  a corner on theologically-themed conferences. Arminians have apologetically-themed conferences. Calvinists Dominate Theology Think about the major...

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Calvinism
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Christianity Falling Down

One of the first things that I have to teach my students this: The Christian faith is not a house of cards. Most assuredly, there are foundational issues of the faith that, if...

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Depression
18Comments

Waiting to Die

Over the last year, I have been hospitalized with a condition called rhabdomyolysis nine times. Each time, my kidney’s shut down. A few of these times the doctors said I...

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Theology Unplugged

Theology Unplugged
Theology Unplugged

Get your weekly dose of one of the longest-running theology podcasts there is.

86. Through Theology in a Year: Biblical Docetism
byC. Michael Patton

In this episode, Michael introduces a new term for an old interpretive problem: Biblical Docetism. Borrowing from the ancient Christological heresy of Docetism—which denied the true humanity of Christ while affirming His deity—Michael argues that many Christians approach the Bible in a remarkably similar way. They affirm the divine origin of Scripture but neglect its genuinely human character, treating the Bible as though it simply dropped from heaven rather than being written through real authors in real historical contexts.

Michael explores how this tendency manifests itself in everyday Bible study. Whether it is randomly opening the Bible to see what God has to say, assuming every verse applies directly to us, searching for hidden meanings and secret codes, neglecting the personalities of the biblical writers, or ignoring literary genre and historical context, these approaches often bypass the human element of Scripture altogether. The result is a view of the Bible that functions more like a magical object than a divine-human book.

Along the way, Michael examines a variety of common hermeneutical mistakes that arise from this perspective, including over-literalization, misunderstanding progressive revelation, treating chapter and verse divisions as inspired, and assuming that everything recorded in Scripture is therefore endorsed by Scripture. He argues that many of these errors stem from the same underlying problem: an inability to appreciate the role of the human authors in the process of inspiration.

Ultimately, Michael contends that a faithful doctrine of Scripture must mirror a faithful doctrine of Christ. Just as Christ is fully God and fully man, Scripture is both divine and human. To neglect either dimension is to distort the nature of God’s revelation. Understanding this balance not only protects us from interpretive errors but also helps us hear more clearly what God intended to communicate through the human authors He inspired.

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Michael’s public blog: https://credohouse.org
Courses and Manuscript Reproductions from Michael and other scholars: https://credocourses.com
Join us as we go through the great Fathers of the Faith in a year: https://throughthechurchfathers.com
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86. Through Theology in a Year: Biblical Docetism
86. Through Theology in a Year: Biblical Docetism
2026-06-16
C. Michael Patton
85. Through Theology in a Year: Can Scripture Mean More Than Its Author Intended?
2026-06-11
C. Michael Patton
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  • 86. Through Theology in a Year: Biblical Docetism 2026-06-16
    In this episode, Michael introduces a new term for an old interpretive problem: Biblical Docetism. Borrowing from the ancient Christological heresy of Docetism—which denied the true humanity of Christ while affirming His deity—Michael argues that many Christians approach the Bible in a remarkably similar way. They affirm the divine origin of Scripture but neglect its […]
  • 85. Through Theology in a Year: Can Scripture Mean More Than Its Author Intended? 2026-06-11
    In this episode, Michael explores one of the most fascinating questions in biblical interpretation: Can Scripture mean more than its human author intended? If God is the ultimate Author of Scripture, is it possible for Him to communicate truths that transcend the conscious awareness of the biblical writers while remaining faithful to their intended meaning? […]

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