The Study of Holy Scriptures (First Edition)

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Notes

About the Author: Charles Augustus Briggs (Presbyterian, USA, 1893)

The case of Charles Augustus Briggs is typical of the struggles between the modern biblical criticism and traditional views on biblical inerrancy In November 1890 Briggs was appointed to the Edward Robinson Chair of Biblical Theology at Union Theological Seminar His inaugural address on 20 Jan 1891 led the Presbytery of New York to charge that three areas of the talk ran counter to the Confession of Faith: in equating the Bible with the Church and Reason; in its rejection of inerrancy; and in proposing a biblical and church doctrine of progressive sanctification after death
In October Briggs was tried for heresy related to the second and third of these points, and was acquitted-The prosecution appealed and the case was remanded to the New York Presbytery, which also acquitted him- The prosecution then appealed to the General Assembly, where Briggs was convicted by a vote of 383 to 116 and suspended-The Assembly also disavowed all responsibility for the faculty of Union Theological Seminary and declined to receive further reports from the seminary until satisfactory relations were re-established-

Briggs was received into the priesthood of the US Episcopal Church in 1899 and continued to teach at UTS, focusing particularly on Christian unity, Briggs died in 1913