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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!  Daily Dose of Greek is a website and ministry run by Rob Plummer. He is a New Testament professor at Southern Baptist Theology Seminary in Louisville, KY.
He states that this website has 3 objectives: learn Greek from scratch, a daily dose/study, and recommended resources. If you are a student of NTG and do no subscribe to him you should should consider it. One thing I'm really excited about are his lectures that coincide with Dave Black's wonderful introductory grammar ''Learn to Read New Testament Greek". You have seen me recommend over and over the great work by Bill Mounce "Basics of Biblical Greek". This grammar by Dave Black is also one I recommend without hesitation. His teaching style is fun and keeps you captive while not sacrificing depth. Even if you have gone through another first year grammar, or if you are just beginning, get a copy of Dave's book and follow along with Rob. You can find his lectures here.  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. It has been a long time since new content or updates were posted here. I want to let anyone reading know that I am well, and will be continuing the website and blog. We are not going anywhere. It remains my desire to be able to help encourage others in their pursuit of reading the New Testament in its mother language.
Where have I been? To put it simply; life happened. Being a husband and father, moving, work, etc, has taken all of my time. I feel now that I am at a place where I can continue with this project. Thank you to anyone who has followed and supported the page over the years. I truly am grateful and appreciate it. Please feel free to write with any questions, to share your studies, and always be sure to check our Facebook page for updates.  An excellent interview with Miles Van Pelt on the importance of the Original Lanuages and the importance of studying, learning, and maintaining them for ministry. Miles Van Pelt, Associate Professor of Old Testament and Academic Dean at Reformed Theological Seminary in Jackson, MS speaks about the importance of the original languages for biblical study. Miles has helped produce several popular books and resources for original language study including Basics of Biblical Hebrew and Vocabulary Guide to Biblical Hebrew. Dr. Van Pelt encourages pastors and scholars to a renewed sense of the importance and efficacy of biblical study in Greek and Hebrew. Michael Kruger has a very helpful website called Canon Fodder, that I would encourage anyone interested in the study of the New Testament to check out. In this article he discusses some of the benefits of learning and maintaining the languages after initial study. I encourage you to visit the link below and give it a read.
Why the Biblical Languages Matter - Even if You Forget Them If you are a Christian then you believe that all Scripture is inspired by God. You believe that He is behind every word, directing every word, and that He has preserved His word for us today. But have you ever thought about how God inspired the Bible? Have you thought about how the Holy Spirit guided the men to write down the precise words which God wanted them to write?
Should we just blindly accept the Scriptures? For some, the response to these questions would be, “I just believe the Bible and take God at His word” or something to that effect. Some people just accept everything, no questions asked. Some would say that my questions in the previous paragraph are overly critical and could breed skepticism. But is that true? Should we just simply accept things of such importance and magnitude without knowing why or how? I do not believe so. We believe and accept the gospel by faith, but as Christians we should seek to understand as much of it as possible, and know why we believe what we claim to believe. The same is true of the Scriptures. We don’t just tell people, “believe in the gospel”, we have to first explain to them what the gospel is and why they must believe in it. The same is also true of the Scriptures. It is not right to say, “The Bible is God’s word, period. Just believe it and don’t ask any questions”. As a student of New Testament Greek, I found this Psalm of David (Black) very relevant and timely. If you've spent any time studying this language then this will resonate within you. Two parts of this Psalm really hit home with me: the scourge of participles, and the comfort of appendices and charts. Greek 23 A Psalm of David (Black) My textbook is my guide, I am never in need. It makes me learn the conjugations. It leads me beside the declensions. It restores my confidence in grammar. It guides me along the paths of exegesis For its publisher's sake. Even though I face the scourge of participles I will fear no evil, For you are with me. Your appendices and charts, They comfort me. You prepare an answer for me in the presence of my teachers. You anoint my mind with wisdom. My soul bursts with pleasure. Surely my textbook will follow me All the days of my life, And I will remain a Greek student forever.  Who is your favorite New Testament writer? Some of us may have clear preferences, while others may be hard pressed to choose. Some, such as myself, like the simplicity and practicality of John. Others like the beautiful literary style of Luke. While others like the style of Paul.
Who is your favorite writer? Who are you most edified by reading? If you have one, what is your favorite NT book in Greek? Please share opinions, thoughts, reasons, etc, and let's make a discussion out of it. |