The Complete Series: Ten Basic Facts About the NT Canon that Every Christian Should Memorize
For the last month or so, I have been working through a new series on the NT canon designed to help Christians understand ten basic facts about its origins. This series is designed for a lay-level audience and hopefully could prove helpful in a conversation one might have with a skeptical friend.
Given that there are already four installments in this series, I thought would be helpful to have them listed all in one spot. Thus, I will list the current installments below, and plan to update this list as the series progresses. Also, note that the bottom left of my website has a link to all my blog series.… Continue reading...
Witherington Reviews “The Early Text of the New Testament”
My recent book (c0-edited with my friend Chuck Hill) is The Early Text of the New Testament (Oxford, 2012). That volume is a collection of essays designed to address the state of the NT text at the earliest observable stages. Unfortunately, one might have to mortgage their home to purchase it at $140 (ouch). Sorry, seminary students.
As a result of the high price, I am particularly grateful when someone takes the time to get a copy and review it. Ben Witherington has recently reviewed the book over at his website and I am appreciative of his kind remarks. Here are some excerpts:
…Technical monographs are important, not least because
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Ten Basic Facts about the NT Canon that Every Christian Should Memorize: #1: “The New Testament Books are the Earliest Christian Writings We Possess”
Note: This is the first installment of a new blog series announced here.
This new blog series is designed to help the lay believer learn some basic facts about the New Testament canon—the kind of facts that might be helpful in a conversation with a skeptic or inquisitive friend. The first of these facts is one that is so basic that it is often overlooked. It is simply that the New Testament books are the earliest Christian writings we possess.
One of the most formidable challenges in any discussion about the New Testament canon is explaining what makes these 27 books unique. Why these and not others? There are … Continue reading...
New Blog Series: Ten Basic Facts about the NT Canon Every Christian Should Memorize
Almost every couple of years it happens. Usually it occurs around Christmas or Easter. And it is typically associated with a massive media blitz. I am referring to sensational claims, made by either scholars or laymen, that something definitively “new” has been discovered about the historical Jesus.
Examples of such claims abound in just the last number of years. The so-called Gospel of Jesus’ Wife was “discovered” last year and purportedly taught Jesus had a wife. The Gospel of Judas was all the talk in 2006, as were told that the traditional Gospels may have not given the whole story. And, of course, we all remember the Da Vinci Code… Continue reading...
10 Misconceptions about the NT Canon: #9: “The Canonical Gospels Were Certainly Not Written by the Individuals Named in Their Titles”
Note: this is the ninth installment of a blog series announced here. The full series can be found here.
One of the most commonly made claims regarding the canonical gospels is that they were not written by the individuals named in their titles. Instead, we are told that these gospels were written later in the first century by anonymous individuals outside of Palestine who were not eyewitnesses of any of the events that they record. After all, the text of the gospels themselves offers no indication of their authorship. And the gospel titles, it is argued, were added at a later point—probably the middle of the second century—in … Continue reading...