Archive for category: Textual Issues

Since Good Friday is approaching, it is inevitable that many pastors are preparing to preach on the saying of Jesus on the cross: “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.” I would like to challenge these pastors to examine the textual evidence for this saying, as well as the theological implications of this saying. Luke

https://youtu.be/OP5YTe_I-9g

For everyone who has been asking where to get the graphic that David Ould gave me while I was in Australia, and that I have used in my presentations on the reliability of the NT, you can find it here. It is too big for me to post here. 🙂

Codex Bezae Cantabrigiensis is now on line (just like Sinaiticus). Of course, Bezae is the Living Bible Paraphrase of the ancient church, so, it’s truly odd. In any case, if you would like to see the earliest extant example of the Pericope Adulterae (John 7:53-8:11) in the manuscript tradition, click here, and go to page 236. Look for the line

This discussion keeps coming up, so, I am thankful I was given permission to post a brief written “disputatio” between myself and Douglas Wilson on the topic of the “Ecclesiastical Text.” Though we were limited to very brief statements (115 words) I think even this little discussion illustrated the problems with the Ecclesiastical Text theory. It sounds great, but there

(Though I confess…the comfy chair thing is not something I would ever want to be forced into!)

Rod Decker expresses his thoughts on the ESV possibly rendering doulos to “bondservant” instead of the current rendered “slave.”

It has been a little over three years since Dan Wallace and Bart Ehrman debated on the subject of the text of the New Testament in New Orleans. I was very thankful to have his exchange with Bart to listen to in preparation for my own debate with Ehrman. A second debate has now been scheduled for October 1, 2011.

In the video embedded below, Dr. White provides some important information on the question of the reliability of the New Testament, particularly in view of the manuscript variations. -TurretinFan

Dan Wallace posted on a marginal note on inserting the Comma in 1 John 5:7, here. He mentioned that at the time (this was posted in July, but since I’m in the UK, my mind skipped the year, and transposed the 7 and the 2, so I originally thought this was posted two days ago—for those who do not know,

On December 3, 2010 Dr. Sid Dyer, professor of Greek and NT and Greenville Seminary delivered his Inaugural address. The title of the lecture was “A Simple Solution to the Complex Exegetical Problems in James 4:5.” This lecture simply will not interest some of you, but I know there are others who revel in these issues. Click here to listen.

Stephen Neill recalls: It may be interesting to give an illustration of the practical use to which can occasionally be put. Many years ago, when I was teaching in a high school in India, I had given my class some work to do in their own time, and had told them that they were not

Dr. Benjamin Shaw is professor of Hebrew and Old Testament at Greenville Presbyterian Theological Seminary. He answers the question “Why a conference on scripture in the 21st Century” and also gives a brief word on his particular session “Englishing the Bible” For further information and to register for the conference, go to the conference Website. Back on December 30, 2009

Starting with a flawed foundation dooms a building, and starting with improper instruction in the Christian faith can often have disastrous consequences. Thankfully, the Spirit overcomes our ignorance and our traditions, all to His glory, but we should surely be very concerned that we give new believers a solid foundation upon which to develop a heart of wisdom to God’s

Everyday we are introduced to new applications of technology in many scholarly fields. But I cannot become blasé about the recent technological innovations in text critical studies. The most well-known innovation is the Codex Sinaiticus project. Just last year one had to travel to four different libraries around the world just to view different parts of the manuscript. Now you

Dan Wallace has provided a useful service in commenting on a number of the odd, off-the-wall statements that have appeared in the press recently, particularly in reference to Codex Sinaiticus. You can read his comments here. All Christians should be reminded that they need to “hear” the media’s comments on anything relating to the faith, and in particular on the

   It was Saturday evening–I think. I was running on reserve batteries, having done the Shamsi Ali debate, spoken earlier that day across Long Island, and was now way out on the Eastern part of the island. A small group gathered at the church to hear my presentation on the reliability of the New Testament. I will admit, I was a

Introduction The issue of the tenacity of the text is one of the important points that was raised by Dr. White in his debate with Dr. Ehrman recently (the debate can be obtained here). One of the illustrations of the tenacity of the text is the illustration of a jigsaw puzzle set that includes 1,010 pieces although only 1,000 are

Those who have followed this blog for a while know that I have often repeated the same things in reference to Bart Ehrman’s last two books. Imbalance, deep prejudice, utter ignoring of all relevant believing responses to the issues he raises (which he himself admits are nothing new to begin with). But I’m just a blogger from Phoenix, right? Well,

   The FedEx man just delivered our first order of the debate DVDs. I am very thankful for the hard work put into making this available. My opening presentation has been very well incorporated into the video of my speech. Very easily readable. I think you all will enjoy it! Get copies for any student heading off to school! Give one

   There was a fascinating, albeit brief, exchange on the Textual Criticism Yahoogroup this week between Bart Ehrman and Dan Wallace. Those who have listened to the debate with Dr. Ehrman in Florida will remember this portion: I understand the arguments of people like James and Dan Wallace, but sometimes, you know, they don’t make sense to me, even though I

   Some kind fellow believers provided a transcript of the Ehrman debate, which we are making available here. We hope this is of assistance to folks. Keep in mind that we hope to begin shipping DVDs of the Ehrman debate on 4/3! You can pre-order your DVD here! And, just a note: I have not been able to get any information

   I got this idea, oh…a few minutes after the Ehrman debate was over? Thanks to Carla and Micah for their help. Get yours here! Be the first geek to have pictures of all the second century NT manuscripts on your shirt! Talk about dominating at Bible Trivia next time! And what pastor wouldn’t want to see one of the members

   I would like to briefly reflect, hopefully for the last time on this particular topic, on Dr. Tommy Wasserman’s most recent comments on the ETC blog in reference to his original entry regarding the “busiest 15 years in the history of textual criticism” claim by Bart Ehrman. Sadly, instead of the topic being focused upon the real issue I was

1) Do not attempt to offer a possible reason for why someone would completely misread your purpose and statement. You will be accused of “mocking” people if you do. Of course, if you do not do that, you will be accused of being mean anyway. So, lesson learned: you can’t win. Specifically, I am sitting here in shock this morning

   Last week when a caller to The Dividing Line asked about resources on textual critical studies, I noted the plethora of information to be found at the Evangelical Textual Criticism blog. One of the contributors to this blog is Dr. Tommy Wasserman from Lunds Universitet in Sweden. I was surprised, and very disappointed, to read Dr. Wasserman’s comments today on

Bart Ehrman has announced that a new edition of Text of the New Testament in Contemporary Research is being put together. I found the reason he noted to be telling. He wrote, What was then the state of the question has now become a bit dated. A lot has happened in fifteen years! Arguably more than in any comparable fifteen

The Ehrman debate will be a gold mine of quotes and topics for some time to come. Sadly, the really important portions of the debate have not been the focus of the initial flurry of commentary in the blogosphere, but that is to be expected. Instead, in this video I not only provide the first glimpse of the actual debate