Were Early Christian Scribes Untrained Amateurs?
In the ongoing debates about the reliability of early Christian manuscripts, and whether they have been transmitted with fidelity, it is often claimed that early Christian scribes were amateurs, unprofessional, and some probably couldn’t even read.
In Michael Satlow’s book, How the Bible Became Holy (Yale, 2014), this same sort of argument appears. Satlow’s book argues that both the OT and NT canons were late bloomers, and that they bore no real authority until the third or fourth century CE. And part of the evidence for this claim comes from Satlow’s assessment of the NT manuscripts. He states:
…The copies of early Christian manuscripts from around the second century CE
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What about the ‘Lost’ Books of the Bible?
In modern studies of the NT canon, there is a lot of discussion (maybe even obsession!) with so-called ‘lost’ books of the Bible. So, we have recent book titles like Lost Scriptures, Forgotten Scriptures, and The Lost Bible.
In fact, scholar Philip Jenkins even wrote a whole book documenting (and critiquing) the academic community’s fascination with this theme: Hidden Gospels: How the Search for Jesus Lost Its Way.
So what do we with these other books of the New Testament? A few quick thoughts.
First, most of these books weren’t really ‘lost.’ The early church fathers were very much aware of these other books. Indeed, they … Continue reading...
Book Notice: Can We Trust the Gospels?
I recently received an advanced reader copy of the new book by Peter J. Williams, Can We Trust the Gospels? (Crossway, 2018). Peter is the Principal of Tyndale House, a study center (mainly focused on biblical studies) out of Cambridge, England.
Although similar books have been written in the past (curiously Mark Roberts wrote a 2007 volume for Crossway with the exact same title!), this new volume has some excellent features:
– It does not presuppose prior knowledge of the Gospels, even having a chapter entitled, “What are the Four Gospels?” Thus, it would be great to give to a new Christian or a non-Christian.
– There’s an intriguing … Continue reading...
Is There a First-Century Fragment of Mark’s Gospel? Apparently Not
Over the last several years, there has been much discussion in the blogosphere (and beyond) about the possibility that a fragment of Mark’s Gospel had been discovered which could reliably be dated to the first century.
Most notably, the fragment was alluded to by Dan Wallace in his 2012 debate with Bart Ehrman (though no details were offered due to Wallace having signed a non-disclosure agreement). But it has also been mentioned by Scott Carroll, Craig Evans, and Josh McDowell. There was an even article about the fragment in Forbes.
Needless to say, many scholars were skeptical about the possibility of a first-century Mark for a … Continue reading...
Book Notice: The New Archaeology Study Bible Edited by @RTSCharlotte’s John Currid
Congratulation to John Currid, the Carl W. McMurray Professor of Old Testament here at RTS Charlotte, for the recently released ESV Archaeology Study Bible. John was the editor of the project which was a monumental piece of work.
The volume includes contributions from a number of archaeologists. David Chapman was the NT editor for the project.
This new project fits with Dr. Currid’s other works in archaeology, including ESV Bible Atlas, Against the Gods, Doing Archaeology in the Land of the Bible, and Ancient Egypt and the Old Testament.
Dr. Currid has regularly led trips to Israel, is currently an adjunct faculty member … Continue reading...