Why am I writing this post? Because I care about more than baseball, that's why! This afternoon I came across a transcript of a debate between William Lane Craig (Talbot School of Theology) and Bart Ehrman (University of North Carolina Chapel Hill). I have written previously about Bart Ehrman.
Ehrman is a former fundamentalist who lost his faith and became an agnostic. Comedy Central's Stephen Colbert, of the Colbert Report interviewed Ehrman, and told him what an agnostic in reality was, but I'll let you google that for your own discovery, if you wich. The tragic thing is that Ehrman is the Chair of Religious Studies at UNC.
The debate was held at Holy Cross University in March of 2006 on the Historical Evidence for the Resurrection of Jesus. You can download the transcript of the debate in PDF. I found it interesting that the moderator of the debate mentioned that his all-time-favorite debate was between a man (whom many of us know and love), Alexander Campbell and a Roman Catholic Bishop, James Purcell, held in Cincinnati in 1837. That debate lasted for 6 days, and each participant was very wordy. If you should care to read the transcript of the Campbell-Purcell debate, you can read it all (360 pages of it, with the exception of page 348, which is a tad bit blurry) by clicking here.
I do care about more than baseball. But I am excited about watching the Cubs in the post-season. Eamus Catuli!
Showing posts sorted by date for query Ehrman. Sort by relevance Show all posts
Showing posts sorted by date for query Ehrman. Sort by relevance Show all posts
Wednesday, October 03, 2007
Monday, September 10, 2007
Timothy Paul Jones on Bart Ehrman
Last year I gave a quick read to Bart Ehrman's Misquoting Jesus: The Story Behind Who Changed the Bible and Why. Ehrman looked to Princeton's Bruce Metzger as a mentor. I have no illusions about Metzger having been conservative theologically (he passed away last year), but his mentee, Ehrman, did not get his radical position from Metzger. Ehrman pretends that his book contains earth-and-faith-shattering new information. It does not. His book proffers nothing new. It is all stuff I had in a freshman course in New Testament Evidences 36 years ago. J. Harold Greenlee's Introduction to New Testament Textual Criticism (orginally published by Eerdmans and now available again by Hendrickson) addresses every issue Ehrman puts forth. Ehrman plays with the evidence, and skews it to match his desire for God's Word not to be true.
Reading Ehrman made me angry. There are conservative, Bible believing scholars, with academic pedigrees at least as prestigious as Ehrman's. Ehrman does not mention them only to dismiss them, but rather ignores them completely! That is poor scholarship, Dr. Ehrman. He writes with a chip on his shoulder, as if nobody with half a brain would believe that the books in our Bibles are in reality canonical, and therefore, God's very word. Such academic snobbery is unbecoming. The fact that the masses may read his books and believe his thesis is disheartening.
Timothy Paul Jones, a Baptist minister from Tulsa, OK, has answered the call. Jones, with a doctorate in church history, had previously co-authored a book debunking Dan Brown's thesis in The Da Vinci Code, The Da Vinci Codebreaker: An Easy-to-Use Fact Checker for Truth Seekers. Jones' new book, Misquoting Truth: A Guide to the Fallacies of Bart Ehrman's "Misquoting Jesus", is a breath of fresh air.
Jones is much kinder than I, but addresses the issues head on. Once again, Ehrman presents nothing new, other than an interpretation of the facts that is in keeping with his starting presupposition of unbelief. Ehrman's earlier faith was shaken by variants found in manuscripts of the New Testament. Some variants can be explained as unintentional errors made by scribes; others are intentional changes, that some well-or-not-so-well-meaning scribe may have made. Ehrman purports that some of the intentional changes are highly significant, stating that "in some instances, the very meaning of the text is at stake." (Misquoting Jesus, p. 208). Jones' entire book is a corrective to Ehrman's exaggerations, but in the case of intentional changes in manuscripts being significant, he offers an entire chapter titled "Truth About 'Significant Changes' in the New Testament". On p. 55 Jones he writes:
"It is at this point that Ehrman finds changes that are supposedly so significant that they affect entire books of the Bible. And, it is at this point that I must respectfully disagree with Ehrman. Here's what I find as I look at the textual evidence: In every case in which two or more options remain possible, every possible option simply reinforces truths that are already clearly present in the writings of that particular author and in the New Testament as a whole; there is no point at which any of the possible options would require readers to rethink an essential belief about Jesus or to doubt the historical integrity of the New Testament."
Thank you, Dr. Jones. We are more certain about the reliability of the New Testament manuscripts, than we are about any manuscripts that tell us anything about the ancient world. F. F. Bruce long ago addressed the problem of the many textual variants, that are a direct result of having so many more manuscripts of the New Testament than any other ancient document of that era: "if the great number of MSS increases the number of scribal errors, it increases proportionately the means of correcting such errors, so that the margin of doubt left in the process of recovering the exact original wording is not so large as might be fear; it is in truth remarkably small. The variant readings about which any doubt remains among textual critics of the New Testament affect no material question of historic fact or of Christian faith and practice." (F. F. Bruce [1943] The New Testament Documents: Are They Reliable?, pp. 19-20)
I heartily recommend Jones' book. It is easily read (it might take a little more than 2 hours to read), has copious footnotes, and is written kindly. A campus minister at the University of North Carolina (where Ehrman teaches New Testament) wrote:
Reading Ehrman made me angry. There are conservative, Bible believing scholars, with academic pedigrees at least as prestigious as Ehrman's. Ehrman does not mention them only to dismiss them, but rather ignores them completely! That is poor scholarship, Dr. Ehrman. He writes with a chip on his shoulder, as if nobody with half a brain would believe that the books in our Bibles are in reality canonical, and therefore, God's very word. Such academic snobbery is unbecoming. The fact that the masses may read his books and believe his thesis is disheartening.
Timothy Paul Jones, a Baptist minister from Tulsa, OK, has answered the call. Jones, with a doctorate in church history, had previously co-authored a book debunking Dan Brown's thesis in The Da Vinci Code, The Da Vinci Codebreaker: An Easy-to-Use Fact Checker for Truth Seekers. Jones' new book, Misquoting Truth: A Guide to the Fallacies of Bart Ehrman's "Misquoting Jesus", is a breath of fresh air.
Jones is much kinder than I, but addresses the issues head on. Once again, Ehrman presents nothing new, other than an interpretation of the facts that is in keeping with his starting presupposition of unbelief. Ehrman's earlier faith was shaken by variants found in manuscripts of the New Testament. Some variants can be explained as unintentional errors made by scribes; others are intentional changes, that some well-or-not-so-well-meaning scribe may have made. Ehrman purports that some of the intentional changes are highly significant, stating that "in some instances, the very meaning of the text is at stake." (Misquoting Jesus, p. 208). Jones' entire book is a corrective to Ehrman's exaggerations, but in the case of intentional changes in manuscripts being significant, he offers an entire chapter titled "Truth About 'Significant Changes' in the New Testament". On p. 55 Jones he writes:
"It is at this point that Ehrman finds changes that are supposedly so significant that they affect entire books of the Bible. And, it is at this point that I must respectfully disagree with Ehrman. Here's what I find as I look at the textual evidence: In every case in which two or more options remain possible, every possible option simply reinforces truths that are already clearly present in the writings of that particular author and in the New Testament as a whole; there is no point at which any of the possible options would require readers to rethink an essential belief about Jesus or to doubt the historical integrity of the New Testament."
Thank you, Dr. Jones. We are more certain about the reliability of the New Testament manuscripts, than we are about any manuscripts that tell us anything about the ancient world. F. F. Bruce long ago addressed the problem of the many textual variants, that are a direct result of having so many more manuscripts of the New Testament than any other ancient document of that era: "if the great number of MSS increases the number of scribal errors, it increases proportionately the means of correcting such errors, so that the margin of doubt left in the process of recovering the exact original wording is not so large as might be fear; it is in truth remarkably small. The variant readings about which any doubt remains among textual critics of the New Testament affect no material question of historic fact or of Christian faith and practice." (F. F. Bruce [1943] The New Testament Documents: Are They Reliable?, pp. 19-20)
I heartily recommend Jones' book. It is easily read (it might take a little more than 2 hours to read), has copious footnotes, and is written kindly. A campus minister at the University of North Carolina (where Ehrman teaches New Testament) wrote:
Into this milieu comes Timothy Paul Jone's voice of sanity: Misquoting Truth: A Guide to the Fallacies of Bart Ehrman's Misquoting Jesus published by InterVarsity Press. Jones tackles the tough issues that Ehrman rightly raises. But where Ehrman tends to sensationalize and severely over-state the problems, Jones gently and graciously corrects.I agree 100%. εἰρήνη ἐν ἀνθρώποις εὐδοκίας
Thursday, February 15, 2007
Bruce Metzger Dies
Bruce Metzger, who was perhaps the most widely renowned textual critic of the New Testament, passed away yesterday at the age of 93. Here is the AP obituary:
Metzger would be most widely recognized by OCC students (especially students of Greek) for his book The Text of the New Testament, Oxford University Press, 1968, and for his Lexical Aids for Students of New Testament Greek, and his A Textual Commentary on the Greek New Testament.
I have written earlier about Metzger's disciple, Bart Ehrman, who walked away from a conservative view of Scripture, I would think much to the dismay of Dr. Metzger himself. Ehrman's book, Misquoting Jesus claims to be earth-shattering, and new, but does not really present anything really new. I studied the essential characteristics of New Testament Textual Criticism as a freshman in college thirty six years ago. Our text was by J. Harold Greenlee, Introduction to New Testament Textual Criticism. When I began reading Ehrman's book several months ago, I was distressed by what I interpreted as theological arrogance. It seems to me that he totally ignores conservative evangelical scholars with academic pedigrees at least as prestigious as his, as though they and their arguments don't even exist! I will likely finish Ehrman's book, but am distressed that many might read it, and conclude that there is no basis on which to put faith in the Biblical text, when there is much reason to do so. Ben Witherington, Daniel Wallace, and others have written reviews of Ehrman's book, and have done a much better job than I could do. I offer links to their reviews.
On a happier note, I found a a quiz on another site. It is called the Ultimate Bible Quiz. If you know much about the Bible, you ought to be able to score 100%!
PRINCETON, New Jersey: Bruce Manning Metzger, professor emeritus at Princeton Theological Seminary and an authority on Greek manuscripts of the Bible, has died. He was 93.
Metzger died Tuesday of natural causes, according to The Mather-Hodge Funeral Home in Princeton.
At the time of his death, he was the George L. Collord Professor Emeritus of New Testament Language and Literature at Princeton Theological Seminary.
Metzger earned a bachelor's degree from Lebanon Valley College in 1935, a bachelor of theology degree from Princeton Seminary in 1938 and a doctorate in classics from Princeton University in 1942. He became an ordained minister with the Presbyterian Church in 1939.
Metzger began his teaching career at Princeton Theological Seminary in 1938, where he stayed in the New Testament department for 46 years. During his time at the seminary, Metzger developed 25 courses on the English and Greek texts of books in the New Testament.
In 1986, Metzger was elected to the American Philosophical Society in the class devoted to the Humanities. In 1994, he was awarded the F.C. Burkitt Medal by the British Academy for his contributions to biblical studies.Metzger would be most widely recognized by OCC students (especially students of Greek) for his book The Text of the New Testament, Oxford University Press, 1968, and for his Lexical Aids for Students of New Testament Greek, and his A Textual Commentary on the Greek New Testament.
I have written earlier about Metzger's disciple, Bart Ehrman, who walked away from a conservative view of Scripture, I would think much to the dismay of Dr. Metzger himself. Ehrman's book, Misquoting Jesus claims to be earth-shattering, and new, but does not really present anything really new. I studied the essential characteristics of New Testament Textual Criticism as a freshman in college thirty six years ago. Our text was by J. Harold Greenlee, Introduction to New Testament Textual Criticism. When I began reading Ehrman's book several months ago, I was distressed by what I interpreted as theological arrogance. It seems to me that he totally ignores conservative evangelical scholars with academic pedigrees at least as prestigious as his, as though they and their arguments don't even exist! I will likely finish Ehrman's book, but am distressed that many might read it, and conclude that there is no basis on which to put faith in the Biblical text, when there is much reason to do so. Ben Witherington, Daniel Wallace, and others have written reviews of Ehrman's book, and have done a much better job than I could do. I offer links to their reviews.
On a happier note, I found a a quiz on another site. It is called the Ultimate Bible Quiz. If you know much about the Bible, you ought to be able to score 100%!
You know the Bible 100%!
Wow! You are awesome! You are a true Biblical scholar, not just a hearer but a personal reader! The books, the characters, the events, the verses - you know it all! You are fantastic!
Ultimate Bible Quiz
Create MySpace Quizzes
Tuesday, October 03, 2006
Goat Roasts, Johnny B., and Bart Ehrman
Goats Roasted at DeWelt's. I worked all day long on Saturday remapping network folders on machines in my computer lab, preparing for a software upgrade during the coming days. While I was mapping directories, Rose was at the DeWelt's property observing the killing (not ceremonial, I'll have you) of three goats. Our church is very intentional about showing kindness to international students. African students, especially, enjoy goat roasts. The committee from our church (with which Rose works very closely) dealing with international students, planned the goat roast with the help of some African students at OCC. Last year, they had done their own event, and had about 45 people show up. This year, the idea was to invite more internationals, and have more people. The goats were killed and the meat was dressed on Saturday. On Sunday, the principal roasters showed up in the early afternoon to prepare the festivities. We thought there would be about 70 people there. There were about 180 in attendance, and probably about 90 vehicles! A fun time was had by all!
Johnny B. (Dusty) Baker. In the off season between 2002 and 2003, the Chicago Cubs hired Dusty Baker (a proven winner) to be the manager. I was thrilled. Baker had seemed to put a winner on the field consistently. As Cub fans know, a consistent winner is a rare thing on the North side of Chicago. Dusty came pretty close in 2003, as the Cubs were 5 outs from the World Series. The Cubs collapse was no more Baker's fault than it was Bartman's (neither one of them were responsible for giving up 8 runs). 2004 was a disappointment, but the last two years, the Cubs have been such a disappointment, that I was wanting the axe to fall, and for Dusty to be relieved of his managerial duties. He was not fired, but yesterday that announcement was made that his contract, which was completed, would not be renewed. The day before that Andy McPhail resigned as chief executive office of the Cubs. Joe Girardi, former Cub, was fired today after one year as manager of the Florida Marlins. He is supposedly on the short list of potential Baker replacements. I would like to see what Girardi could do as the Cubs manager.
Bart Ehrman. I just picked up a copy of Bart D. Ehrman's book, Misquoting Jesus (2005). I read the introduction over lunch. Ehrman relates his journey from an Episcopalian background in Lawrence, KS, to his conversion at the age of 15 by a graduate of Moody Bible Institute. He went to MBI in Chicago, getting a 3-year diploma, finished his Bachelor's degree at Wheaton College, then went off to Princeton to study textual criticism under Bruce Metzger. All students of textual criticism know that there are textual variants in the manuscripts of the New Testament. When I was a freshman in college, we used J. Harold Greenlee's book Introduction to New Testament Textual Criticism (Eerdmans, 1964). Greenlee addresses the issue of variants, listing kinds of changes, both unintentional and intentional (pp. 63-68). That is nothing earth-shattering. Ehrman's book, however, promises something that it cannot give. The sub-title of the book is The Story Behind Who Changed the Bible and Why. I don't think this book will alter my position. Perhaps I will write a bit more about it, after giving it a read. Daniel Wallace has an abbreviated review of the book here.
I'm out of random thoughts right now. I guess I'll turn my attention to English grammar.
Peace to you all,
DGF
Johnny B. (Dusty) Baker. In the off season between 2002 and 2003, the Chicago Cubs hired Dusty Baker (a proven winner) to be the manager. I was thrilled. Baker had seemed to put a winner on the field consistently. As Cub fans know, a consistent winner is a rare thing on the North side of Chicago. Dusty came pretty close in 2003, as the Cubs were 5 outs from the World Series. The Cubs collapse was no more Baker's fault than it was Bartman's (neither one of them were responsible for giving up 8 runs). 2004 was a disappointment, but the last two years, the Cubs have been such a disappointment, that I was wanting the axe to fall, and for Dusty to be relieved of his managerial duties. He was not fired, but yesterday that announcement was made that his contract, which was completed, would not be renewed. The day before that Andy McPhail resigned as chief executive office of the Cubs. Joe Girardi, former Cub, was fired today after one year as manager of the Florida Marlins. He is supposedly on the short list of potential Baker replacements. I would like to see what Girardi could do as the Cubs manager.
Bart Ehrman. I just picked up a copy of Bart D. Ehrman's book, Misquoting Jesus (2005). I read the introduction over lunch. Ehrman relates his journey from an Episcopalian background in Lawrence, KS, to his conversion at the age of 15 by a graduate of Moody Bible Institute. He went to MBI in Chicago, getting a 3-year diploma, finished his Bachelor's degree at Wheaton College, then went off to Princeton to study textual criticism under Bruce Metzger. All students of textual criticism know that there are textual variants in the manuscripts of the New Testament. When I was a freshman in college, we used J. Harold Greenlee's book Introduction to New Testament Textual Criticism (Eerdmans, 1964). Greenlee addresses the issue of variants, listing kinds of changes, both unintentional and intentional (pp. 63-68). That is nothing earth-shattering. Ehrman's book, however, promises something that it cannot give. The sub-title of the book is The Story Behind Who Changed the Bible and Why. I don't think this book will alter my position. Perhaps I will write a bit more about it, after giving it a read. Daniel Wallace has an abbreviated review of the book here.
I'm out of random thoughts right now. I guess I'll turn my attention to English grammar.
Peace to you all,
DGF
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