Review of “The Early Text of the New Testament”
This past year, Charles Hill and I edited a volume for Oxford University Press entitled, The Early Text of the New Testament. This is a compilation of essays from scholars around the world exploring the state of the NT text at its earliest (accessible) stages. Although the book was released in the UK in June, it was not available in the US until around Sept 1st. So, there has been no time for any reviews to be published.
However, my friend Tommy Wasserman has pointed out that there has been an online review over at Rick Brannon’s website, ricoblog. Thanks to Rick for this very positive review! Here … Continue reading...
The Gospel of Jesus’s Wife—Authentic or Not?
Yesterday, during the break for my Gospels class (and ironically just prior to my lectures on apocryphal gospels), I received the big news about the discovery of a new apocryphal gospel fragment. This fragment—aptly named The Gospel of Jesus’s Wife—contains a story where Jesus refers to “My wife” and is dated to the fourth century. No doubt this will reignite the firestorm felt during the release of The Da Vinci Code many years ago, and the major media outlets will be asking again about whether Jesus was married.
Since yesterday’s announcement, I have been inundated with emails and phone calls asking for my assessment of this new fragment. So, I … Continue reading...
My Interview on the NT Canon with Apologetics 315
A couple of weeks ago I did an interview with Brian Auten over at Apologetics 315 ministries. We discussed early Christianity, canon formation, apocryphal gospels, heresy and orthodoxy, and a number of other important matters related to the origins of the New Testament. Much of the discussion centered on my recent book, Canon Revisited: Establishing the Origins and Authority of the New Testament Books.
You can check out the interview here.… Continue reading...
Apocryphal Gospels and the Mainstream Media
One thing that I have observed over the years is that major media outlets love apocryphal gospels. Whenever the person of Jesus is discussed–usually at Easter and Christmas–there is always a discussion about how the real story of Jesus has been suppressed and can only now be found in these lost gospels. Sweeping claims are then made about how there was no agreement on much of anything in the first four centuries of the faith and that other stories of Jesus circulated by the thousands. Only after Constantine came along does the church decide which books to accept (and then subsequently denies all other books admission to the club).
When … Continue reading...
The Complete Series: 10 Misconceptions About the NT Canon
For the last 3-4 months I have been working through a blog series entitled “10 Misconceptions About the New Testament Canon.” This series exams some common beliefs out there in the academic (and lay-level) communities that prove to be problematic upon closer examination.
Although the series is not quite finished (two more to go), I have received several requests to have it all one place. So, here is the list. I will update this list as we go along. Also, there will be a link to this list under the “Blog Series” heading in the left margin of my website.
…Continue reading...