By Good and Necessary Consequence

"Carlos Bovell's book is important not just because it analyses the assumptions underlying the attraction of inerrancy but because it captures the serious spiritual consequences that are at stake. He has given us a fresh and illuminating perspective on the intellectual roots of foundationalism as applied to doctrines of the Bible. If Scripture is to be truly heard, and if the faith is to be handed on in a healthy fashion in the future, then Bovell's proposals must be taken with the utmost seriousness."

--William J. Abraham

Southern Methodist University



"Since the seventeenth century, many Protestants have insisted that Christian beliefs and practices must either be contained in or derived from Scripture. By Good and Necessary Consequence sheds new light on the historical and cultural developments that led Protestants to adopt this position. Even more importantly, it shows that, for ordinary believers who embrace it, biblicist foundationalism can be theologically and spiritually disastrous. This is a smart and evocative work that deserves a very careful reading."

--Jason E. Vickers

United Theological Seminary



"Bovell shows, with scholarly rigour and persuasion, that the roots of biblicist foundationalism lie in seventeenth-century skepticism. He thereby challenges fundamentalist claims that biblicist modes of thought go back to the origins of Christianity . . . His challenge is hard-hitting, going as far as to suggest that some people may need to get out of Christianity in order to be able to return to it with new understanding."

--Harriet Harris

University of Oxford