Bible Secrets Revealed?: A Response to the New History Channel Series (Part 3)
This is the third installment of a new series reviewing the History Channel series entitled Bible Secrets Revealed (for others, see here and here). The newest episode is entitled, “The Forbidden Scriptures,” as is definitely one of the most provocative so far. It is designed to argue that certain books were “banned” or “forbidden” from the New Testament.
This episode makes numerous claims about the development of the New Testament that, once again, prove not to be the whole story. Many such claims were made, but I will only mention a few of the key ones here.
1. Was the canon just a power-play? This episode repeats the standard … Continue reading...
A Response to David Parker’s Review of The Early Text of the New Testament
In late 2012, Oxford University Press released our co-edited volume, The Early Text of the New Testament (ETNT), a collection of essays from 22 leading scholars in the world of textual criticism. It is gratifying to have David Parker’s review of ETNT (JTS 64 [2013]: 642-645) so relatively soon after publication, yet disappointing that most of the criticisms in his short review seem to have mistaken both the aims and the scope of the book. Here we would like to offer a brief response to some of his comments.
Parker’s criticism can be divided into three main categories: (a) the scope of the project, (b) the nature … Continue reading...
Bible Secrets Revealed?: A Response to the New History Channel Series (Part 2)
This is the second installment of my new blog series which responds to each new episode of the History Channel series, Bible Secrets Revealed (the previous installment can be found here). The latest episode is entitled, “The Promised Land.”
On a positive note, let me say from the beginning that the accuracy and balance of this latest episode is a substantive improvement over the debut episode. There are even interviews with scholars who disagreed with one another, rather than all sharing the same view.
That said, there are still a number of places where the documentary makes some claims that are problematic. Let me just mention a view.
1. … Continue reading...
Bible Secrets Revealed? A Response to the New History Channel Series (Part 1)
This past week, the History Channel premiered a new series on the Bible entitled, Bible Secrets Revealed. The first full episode was called Lost in Translation, and can be viewed here.
Now, let me say that I really do enjoy documentaries on the Bible. They are usually done with very high quality, contain interviews of some of the world’s top scholars, and often raising intriguing and important questions. But, there are also dangers. Such documentaries run the risk of being overly sensationalistic, one-sided, and ultimately misleading.
Unfortunately, this new documentary from the History Channel tends to falter at precisely these points. While there are many positives–great production … Continue reading...
Did Justin Martyr Know the Gospel of John?
There has been a long-standing scholarly discussion about how far back we can trace the roots of the fourfold gospel. We certainly see it in Irenaeus, who is quite plain about his view, “It is not possible that the gospels can be either more or fewer than the number they are. For, since there are four zones of the world in which we live and four principle winds… [and] the cherubim, too, were four-faced” (Haer. 3.11.8).
But, can we trace the fourfold gospel back even further? Justin Martyr, an early Christian apologist writing c.150-160, is a key player in this debate. He clearly knows the Synoptic Gospels—Matthew, Mark … Continue reading...