What Do Manuscripts Tell Us about the Origins of the New Testament? A Preview of the Tarwater Lectures
One of my favorite things about books is not just reading them but holding them. Especially old books. I love the feel of a book in my hand that many people have read before me. There’s that musty bookish smell when you flip through the pages. There’s the worn out covers and notes in the margins.
When you read a book like this you feel like you are walking a well-worn path that many others have trod before.
And it is precisely this sort of experience that is absent with the arrival of modern e-book technology. Whether we are reading on a Kindle reader or off our tablets (or smartphones), … Continue reading...
A Curious Example of Early Christian Devotion to Scripture
I have argued in numerous places–articles, blog posts, books–that Scripture played a central role in the life of early Christians. They not only read and preached from these books, but they copied and distributed them in great numbers.
An additional (and rather curious) example of the role of Scripture in early Christianity was the phenomenon of the miniature codex. From the time of the third century, and especially in the fourth and fifth centuries, Christians began to create these little “pocket Bibles” that contained portions of Scripture and sometimes even held multiple scriptural books (e.g., see my analysis of P.Ant. 12).
The early Christians probably used the miniature … Continue reading...
Looking for More Than Blog Posts? Here are Some Recent Academic Articles on the Origins of the NT Canon
For those reading this blog, I trust you’ve benefited from the variety of posts that deal with issues related to the origins of the NT canon. I have written those posts with a wide audience in mind, hoping they are helpful for just about anybody who wants to learn more.
At the same time, I know some of you may be interested to know of some more academic articles I have written over the last few years that deal with the NT canon, or NT manuscripts, on a more technical level. Those kinds of articles, because they are not “blog” articles, tend to get lost in the shuffle. And even … Continue reading...
Five “Fake News” Stories That People Believe about Early Christianity
There’s been a lot of chatter about “fake news” in recent months. Some stories, even though they have no basis in fact, are told so often, and with such conviction, that large numbers of people end up believing them anyway.
And some of these fake news stories even dupe legitimate political figures who repeat the story without realizing it is false. And, of course, once a mainstream political figure repeats a story then it becomes even more entrenched in the national psyche.
While some of these fake news stories are rather harmless, others have become quite dangerous. Most famous perhaps is the “Pizza Gate” incident in 2016 where … Continue reading...
What Is So Important about the Second Century? A Preview of My New Book
Due out this Summer (hopefully by July) is my latest book: Christianity at the Crossroads: How the Second Century Shaped the Future of the Church (London: SPCK/IVP Academic, 2017).
For some, the rationale for a book on the second century is quite obvious. But others may wonder, “What is so important about the second century anyway?”
So, just a few quick thoughts on why I wrote this book:… Continue reading...