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Culture
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Why No One Cares About Your Degree Anymore (And What to Do About It)

Social media and AI have reshaped the landscape of expertise, making traditional credentials less influential. The real challenge isn’t that people are always wrong—it’s that...

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Bibliology
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As If You Haven’t Had Enough: The Analogia Scripturae and Apostolic Understanding

Did the apostles fully understand everything they wrote, or did divine inspiration outpace their comprehension? This post explores *analogia scripturae*—Scripture interpreting...

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Bibliology
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Did the Gospel Writers Fully Understand Everything They Wrote?—Maybe We Should Abandon Authorial Intent Hermeneutics

Did the Gospel writers fully understand everything they wrote? This post explores analogia scripturae, authorial intent, and whether Scripture unfolds its meaning over...

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Church History
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Who is NOT Who in Church History: John of Cornwall

Lesser-Known Figures in the History of Christianity John of Cornwall (c. 1176) – Theologian, Scholar, and Defender of Christ’s Humanity If you’ve never heard of John of...

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Christian Life
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The War Inside: The Tension Between Legalism and License

The Battle for the Middle It is so easy to become a legalist. Even when you come out of such, you can slip back into it in so many ways. The craving for structure, the comfort...

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Credo House Ministries
Christian Life
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“I’ll Praise You in This Storm”: Finding God Through Pain and Recovery

I wanted to write sooner—to update you, to process—but fear (and writer’s block) held me back. Fear of vulnerability. Fear of being honest about what the recovery process has...

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Discipleship
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We Are All Only Armchair Theologians

Even the greatest theologians—giants like Augustine, Aquinas, and Calvin—only knew a sliver of the truth. Compared to God’s infinite wisdom, our knowledge is infinitesimal....

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Protestantism
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Partim-Partim vs Material Sufficiency or ‘Why You May Not Be Able to Corner Your Catholic Friend’

Have You Ever Talked Theology with a Roman Catholic? As a Protestant, you might have found yourself frustrated in such conversations. When you ask a Catholic where a...

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Apologetics
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Why Christianity Had Everything Stacked Against It—And Still Survived

Christianity is unlike any other religion, rooted in public, historical events witnessed by many, making its claims uniquely verifiable.

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Theology Unplugged

Theology Unplugged
Theology Unplugged

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

87. Through Theology in a Year: Evidencing Inspiration
byC. Michael Patton

How can we be certain that the Bible is inspired? What evidence supports the Christian claim that the Scriptures are uniquely the Word of God? In this episode of Theology Unplugged, Michael begins examining the cumulative case for biblical inspiration, including Scripture’s self-attestation, its uniqueness, its historicity, its prophetic character, the testimony of Christ, its life-changing power, and the testimony of the Holy Spirit.

Michael begins with Scripture’s testimony concerning itself. The Bible repeatedly claims to speak the words of God, but self-attestation cannot stand alone as the entire argument. Simply saying that the Bible is inspired because the Bible says it is inspired would appear circular. Nevertheless, self-attestation is a necessary part of the evidence. If Scripture truly is the Word of God, there can be no higher authority by which its divine inspiration may be authenticated. As Hebrews says of God, because He had no one greater by whom to swear, He swore by Himself.

The episode also considers the remarkable uniqueness of the Bible: a collection of 66 books, written by more than 40 authors from very different backgrounds, in three languages, on three continents, over approximately 1,500 years. Despite these differences, the books form a unified theological and redemptive story unlike any other collection of literature.

Michael then turns to the historicity of Scripture and explains the importance of examining both internal and external evidence. Christianity does not ask people to accept its historical claims merely because the Bible is inspired. Rather, the historical claims themselves—most importantly, the resurrection of Jesus Christ—must be investigated. If the resurrection occurred as a historical event, Christianity is true whether or not someone has already accepted a complete doctrine of biblical inspiration.

Finally, Michael begins considering the internal evidence for Scripture’s historical reliability, especially its striking honesty. The biblical writers consistently record the sins, doubts, embarrassments, and failures of their own heroes. David murders, Peter denies Christ, the apostles abandon Him, Abraham and Sarah doubt, Jonah runs, Noah becomes drunk, and Israel repeatedly rebels. These are not the kinds of carefully polished stories normally produced to glorify a nation, its leaders, or its founders. Scripture also preserves apparently incidental details that are difficult to explain as deliberate legendary embellishments.

This episode begins a larger cumulative argument. No single evidence by itself establishes everything Christians believe about inspiration, but together these evidences provide substantial reasons for believing that the Scriptures are what they claim to be: the written Word of God.

Get involved:
Michael’s public blog: https://credohouse.org
Courses and Manuscript Reproductions from Michael and other scholars: https://credocourses.com
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Support Michael and receive exclusive podcasts, courses, and much more: https://patreon.com/cmichaelpatton

87. Through Theology in a Year: Evidencing Inspiration
87. Through Theology in a Year: Evidencing Inspiration
2026-07-15
C. Michael Patton
Will the True Church Please Stand Up?
2026-06-24
C. Michael Patton
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  • Will the True Church Please Stand Up? 2026-06-24
    What happens when we become convinced that our church, our tradition, or our denomination is the official gatekeeper of the kingdom of God? In this episode of Theology Unplugged, Michael explores a surprising pattern that runs throughout the Gospels. Again and again, the disciples appoint themselves as the guardians of God's kingdom. They try to […]
  • 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 […]

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