The Reliability of the Gospels
The early church unanimously... the biblical Gospels and unanimously... the Missing Gospels. Why specifically?
Accepted; Rejected; The writers weren't eyewitnesses or related to the eyewitnesses
1 Peter 3:15
Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect.
What specific tool is used to affirm the New Testament's historical claims?
Archaeology
What is the technical name for the original documents of the New Testament?
Autographs
Who said, "Essential Christian beliefs are not affected by variants in the copies of the New Testament"?
Bart Erhman
How does the presence of Gnosticism in the Gospel of Thomas help us date the Gospel of Thomas?
Must have appeared during the 2nd century when Gnosticism first developed
About how many Greek copies of the New Testament do we have today?
Over 5,000 Greek copies
What is the name of the earliest copy of the New Testament? It contains portions of which Gospel? How much time separates this copy from its original?
P52; John; Decades
What were the earliest manuscripts of the New Testament made of? Why is this a problem?
Papyrus; The originals have broken down over time
The Gospel of Thomas consists of only 114 supposed... of Jesus. Why is this a problem?
Quotes/Sayings; Cannot be credited as true because there are no historical time stamps
What is the technical name for the differences in wording among the copies of the New Testament?
Variants
What archaeological evidence do we have for James, Pontius Pilate, Caiaphas, and Herod the Great?
We have their bone boxes, coffins, and the Pilate Stone
What major Jewish tragedy helps us date the biblical Gospels? How does this tragedy help us date the biblical Gospels?
When the temple fell; Predicted by Jesus but had not yet happened when the Gospels were written
We should avoid two extreme attitudes about the text of the New Testament: one is... and another is...
Extreme skepticism; Absolute certainty
What does pseudepigrapha mean?
False writings
What are the Missing Gospels?
Gospels that appeared following the death of Jesus and the 4 Gospels
What language was the New Testament written in?
Greek
Every copy of the New Testament contains...
Mistakes/Variants
Roughly how many variants does Bart Ehrman say exist among the copies of the New Testament?
Hundreds of thousands
How do we know that Thomas, the disciple of Jesus, didn't actually write the Gospel of Thomas?
It was written after his time
Matthew and John were eyewitnesses. Mark and Luke were not. From whom did Mark and Luke get their eyewitness material?
Mark got his material from Peter; Luke got his from Paul
What does Gnosticism say?
Material things are evil and spiritual is good
Who are the two first century, non-Christian historians who mention Jesus' life, death, and resurrection?
Tacitus and Josephus
What book was earlier, more numerous, and more accurate copies than any other ancient document in the history of the world?
The Bible's New Testament
According to Bart Ehrman, what are the oldest and best sources for learning about the life of Jesus?
The New Testament Gospels
What is textual criticism?
The process of recovering the original text of the New Testament
