One question I’ve heard from a number of friends, Christian and non-Christian alike, is “how can we trust that the Bible is accurate?” In fact just a few weeks ago an atheist friend at work said, “We can’t rely on the words in the Bible. The Church has manipulated them down through time and what we have is nothing like the original.”
So I’ve been thinking about this for a while. But then yesterday, a friend who is exploring the Catholic Church sent me a question on the same topic. Since it seems to be such a common concern, I thought I’d post the response I gave him. First the issue:
Brandon,
One lingering hangup I have is the reliability of the gospels. People such as Bart Ehrman argue that the gospels are not reliable and are riddled with evidence of tampering and outright changing of the facts. I have heard F.F. Bruce, The New Testament Documents: Are They Reliable? is a good resource. Have you read it? Other suggestions? I saw you have some links to Josh McDowell on your website. Thanks!
First of all, suffice it to say that we have more textual and historical evidence validating the New Testament than any other historical document. If we trust Homer, Cicero, Plato, Aristotle, and other classical writings, we should have no problem with the Bible’s veracity.
Second, I haven’t read Bruce’s book but I’ve heard it similarly praised. Another good one dealing primarily with the Gospels is Craig Blomberg’s The Historical Reliability of the Gospels.
However, one of the first things I would do, even before reading any books, is watch this debate between Ehrman and William Lane Craig. Craig is an Evangelical apologist and one of the best debaters out there–even Richard Dawkins is scared of him. In this debate he blows away many of Ehrman’s arguments.
After reading that transcript you may want to check out my own post on the topic over at The Thin Veil. It’s less scholarly, but still may help.
Then, in addition to the two books above, I would check out these three books:
– Misquoting Truth (Timothy Jones) – Written as a specific rebuttal to Ehrman’s claims.
– Handbook of Catholic Apologetics (Peter Kreeft) – Kreeft has a great chapter on the reliability of the New Testament documents.
– The Case for Christ (Lee Strobel) – Includes some good background on the reliability of the New Testament, particularly the Gospels.
I also recommend checking out The Ehrman Project website. The site features a collection of short videos by some of the best Biblical scholars in the world, each rebutting one of Ehrman’s arguments.
Finally, for comedic relief, watch this interview between Ehrman and Stephen Colbert. Colbert picks apart Ehrman’s arguments with tongue-in-cheek hilarity, but many of his points are spot on.
What else would you recommend?