Some religions believe that the Bible was inspired or received in singular events. Many historians who have analysed the Hebrew Bible and New Testament believe they were written over a long period of time. In addition, various religions assign varying degrees of inerrancy to these Scriptures. Because of this, inconsistencies alleged to be found within the Bible take on an importance in ecumenical and apologetic discussions. Those believing in Scriptural inerrancy sometimes refer to these issues as "difficulties", which some regard as deliberately set there by God, others seek explanations for, and yet others regard as surmountable.
Various explanations are provided for these issues. Advocates of Biblical inerrancy hold that they are not, in fact inconsistencies and that the claims of Bible inconsistencies are often the result of insufficient exegesis since Bible scholarship is multidisciplinary endeavor (language, cultural differences, historiography, etc). For example, scholars who advocate Biblical inerrancy say the text must be interpreted in its true context, and some look for ways to reconcile different texts that allow the Bible to read without contradictions. Alternatively, scholars who analyse stories, myths, and ancient documents interpret many of the apparent inconsistencies as intentional storytelling devices to teach lessons by example.
The Catholic Christian view (especially since the Second Vatican Council), hold that the inerrancy of the Bible is limited to the things that God intended to reveal. The highlighted issues are then deemed not to belong to this group of teachings, or are examples of figurative language and/or allegory. The Jewish view is that such issues may be reconciled by reference to other Biblical verses, or oral teachings. On the other hand, others often see these alleged inconsistencies as evidence the Bible is a human written book of no special divine origin.
