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If you have followed this website for any length of time you know that one of our passions is Textual Criticism, and how it builds trust in God's Word. Many of us know Daniel Wallace for his work in Greek grammar studies. What we may not know is his passionate and profound work in Textual Criticism, which you can find here.
In the following two part lecture, given at Biola University in 2011, he presents the question ''Is What We Have Now What They Wrote Then?". Are our Bibles today what the original writers wrote then, or have the become corrupted through years of copying and omissions?
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The topic of the Canon and Textual Criticism are two fascinating and important topics of biblical study. They are, however, far too often neglected, and in many cases unheard of by many common church goers.
Many of us blindly believe that the bible is the Word of God, but on what basis? How do we know that the 66 books in our bibles belong there? How do we know these are the ones God wanted us to have? The study of the Canon shows us how exactly these books which are in our bibles came to belong there. For a detailed study on the Canon I highly recommend reading the masterpiece from F.F. Bruce: The Canon of Scripture. Below Dr. Bill Mounce gives a passionate and convincing lecture on these two great fields. Enjoy!  The study of the Canon is one of my favorite topics and areas of interest. I have been greatly blessed by it, and if nothing else, it has strengthened my faith in God and His Word. Thankfully, we have been blessed with the excellent and highly recommended work of F.F. Bruce, The Canon of Scripture, which is in my opinion, the reference standard on the subject.
Michael Kruger has written a book that all students of Scripture and the Canon should take a serious look at. He takes a different approach than Bruce, and while it does not seek to correct Bruce's work, as necessary as it was, rather it complements it. I will leave you with the publishers description, as it does a great job of what lies ahead: ''Given the popular-level conversations on phenomena like the Gospel of Thomas and Bart Ehrman's Misquoting Jesus, as well as the current gap in evangelical scholarship on the origins of the New Testament, Michael Kruger's Canon Revisited meets a significant need for an up-to-date work on canon by addressing recent developments in the field. He presents an academically rigorous yet accessible study of the New Testament canon that looks deeper than the traditional surveys of councils and creeds, mining the text itself for direction in understanding what the original authors and audiences believed the canon to be. Canon Revisited provides an evangelical introduction to the New Testament canon that can be used in seminary and college classrooms, and read by pastors and educated lay leaders alike. In contrast to the prior volumes on canon, this volume distinguishes itself by placing a substantial focus on the theology of canon as the context within which the historical evidence is evaluated and assessed. Rather than simply discussing the history of canon-rehashing the Patristic data yet again-Kruger develops a strong theological framework for affirming and authenticating the canon as authoritative. In effect, this work successfully unites both the theology and the historical development of the canon, ultimately serving as a practical defense for the authority of the New Testament books.'' This book can be purchased here. |