Dr. Bart Ehrman's now infamous book, Misquoting Jesus, has caused many followers of Christ to doubt the accuracy of the New Testament documents.
It is my hope that these two resources will serve to confirm that the Christian's confidence in the Bible's accuracy rests on solid ground:
- Dr. Thomas Howe offers a lengthy, in-depth critique of Ehrman's popular book here.
- In this excellent four-part video, New Testament scholar Mike Licona discusses Ehrman's works. Brian, over at Apologetics 315, offers the audio here (47 minutes).
Courage and Godspeed
Chad
Comments
Personally, I found the best refutation of Ehrman's thesis to be in his own book. Namely, at least 90 percent of his book is filled with indisputable facts about the manuscript tradition. Thus, he gives practically no basis for which the historian should reject the manuscripts as anything but faithful to the "originals." The only one who has any sort of basis for which to reject the manuscripts as reliable is the postmodernist who insists that we can't know anything about the past at all. Unfortunately, this seems to be the direction that "modern scholarship" is going with regards to textual criticism.
No problem; I also think it's worth noting that most of the so-called "changes" or difficulties that Ehrman brings into light are not new. The church has simply done a very poor job educating the body of Christ about their existence and how to respond to them.
Dan Wallace does a great job explaining this in Lee Strobel's "The Case for the Real Jesus."
God Bless
Thanks for sharing this resource. I found it helpful. I especially enjoyed hearing Licona's comparison of eyewitness testimony during the times of the gospel to a war veteran recalling what happened 30 years ago (ie Vietnam). I also thought his comparison of someone recording history at that time is similar to a martial arts instructor being requried to pass along a certain formed they learned in the same fashion as they learned from their instructor.
Thanks again!
I'm grateful that you found it helpful! Appreciate you man!
Godspeed
I highly recommend Misquoting Jesus: A Guide to the Fallacies of Bart Ehrman's Misquoting Jesus by Timothy Paul Jones as a great resource to add to your list.
Blessings,
Steve S.
Great to hear from you and thanks! I have that book on my shelf and haven't gotten around to reading it.
I will add it to the list!
I'll be in touch.
Godspeed
Steve