20 March 2012
Daniel B. Wallace
The CSNTM staff has been working very hard to select some of the very best books for studying the New Testament. The initial listing is now posted at our brand new “New Testament Resources Store” under the resources tab. These books belong to fifteen categories, which cover the basics. These include Textual Criticism (of course!), Historical and Literary Backgrounds, Hermeneutics, NT Greek, Commentaries, and many more. We have not listed any junk here. All these books are worth owning, though some are advanced treatments and may not be suitable for you. If you have doubts about the appropriateness of certain books for your own library, just email us, and one of us will get back to you.
We are making it very easy for you to purchase these books. When you visit the NT Resources Store, click on a category and find the book that interest you. This will take you to a description page and offer a button to make a purchase at the Amazon store. You get the same terrific prices as you normally would at Amazon (they will know who you are if you’re a returning customer), including the free shipping for Amazon Prime members. And your purchase helps CSNTM as well since Amazon gives the Center a portion of all sales through our website. The more books you buy, the more expeditions we can go on to photograph manuscripts. We’ve already been told that some folks plan to use the CSNTM gateway to Amazon from now on for everything they buy there.
CSNTM is grateful for your support.
Happy hunting!
On October 1, 2011 Dr. Bart D. Ehrman and CSNTM's Executive Director, Dr. Daniel B. Wallace, debated the reliability of the text of the New Testament at Southern Methodist University. This was the largest debate over the text of the New Testament in history. A professional film crew recorded the debate, which is now available to you. In this exciting dialogue you have the opportunity to listen to two leading scholars talk about this issue from opposing viewpoints. Can we trust the text of the New Testament? You decide.
The DVD is priced at only $15.50 plus shipping and handling. It is available in both U.S. (NTSC) and international (PAL) versions.
Purchase U.S. DVDs or international DVDs
The DVD is copyrighted by CSNTM; please do not replicate or distribute it.
10 February 2012
Daniel B. Wallace
On 1 February 2012, I debated Bart Ehrman at UNC Chapel Hill on whether we have the wording of the original New Testament today. This was our third such debate, and it was before a crowd of more than 1000 people. I mentioned that seven New Testament papyri had recently been discovered—six of them probably from the second century and one of them probably from the first. These fragments will be published in about a year.
These manuscripts now increase our holdings as follows: we have as many as eighteen New Testament manuscripts (all fragmentary, more or less) from the second century and one from the first. Altogether, about 33% of all New Testament verses are found in these manuscripts. But the most interesting thing is the first-century fragment.
It was dated by one of the world’s leading paleographers. He said he was ‘certain’ that it was from the first century. If this is true, it would be the oldest fragment of the New Testament known to exist. Up until now, no one has discovered any first-century manuscripts of the New Testament. The oldest manuscript of the New Testament has been P52, a small fragment from John’s Gospel, dated to the first half of the second century. It was discovered in 1934.
Not only this, but the first-century fragment is from Mark’s Gospel. Before the discovery of this fragment, the oldest manuscript that had Mark in it was P45, from the early third century (c. 200–250 CE). This new fragment would predate that by 100 to 150 years.
How do these manuscripts change what we believe the original New Testament to say? We will have to wait until they are published next year, but for now we can most likely say this: As with all the previously published New Testament papyri (127 of them, published in the last 116 years), not a single new reading has commended itself as authentic. Instead, the papyri function to confirm what New Testament scholars have already thought was the original wording or, in some cases, to confirm an alternate reading—but one that is already found in the manuscripts. As an illustration: Suppose a papyrus had the word “the Lord” in one verse while all other manuscripts had the word “Jesus.” New Testament scholars would not adopt, and have not adopted, such a reading as authentic, precisely because we have such abundant evidence for the original wording in other manuscripts. But if an early papyrus had in another place “Simon” instead of “Peter,” and “Simon” was also found in other early and reliable manuscripts, it might persuade scholars that “Simon” is the authentic reading. In other words, the papyri have confirmed various readings as authentic in the past 116 years, but have not introduced new authentic readings. The original New Testament text is found somewhere in the manuscripts that have been known for quite some time.
These new papyri will no doubt continue that trend. But, if this Mark fragment is confirmed as from the first century, what a thrill it will be to have a manuscript that is dated within the lifetime of many of the original followers of Jesus! Not only this, but this manuscript would have been written before the New Testament was completed.
Purchase U.S. DVDs of the second debate or international DVDs
19 October 2011
Nika Spaulding and Robert D. Marcello
Saturday, October 1, 2011, at the McFarlin Auditorium on the SMU campus, stately columns reminiscent of the Grecian architecture of old greeted the nearly 1500 guests eager to watch the debate. The sheer numbers guaranteed that this debate would be the largest such event in history. Both the building and attendees—scholars, Christians, seekers, skeptics, atheists, Muslims, Mormons—suggested the magnitude of the subject matter: the reliability of the text of the New Testament. Expectations soared for the two scholars debating—our own Dr. Daniel B. Wallace and Dr. Bart D. Ehrman—and neither would disappoint.
The moderator, Dr. Mark Chancey, a former student of Ehrman’s and chairman of the Religious Studies Department at SMU, did an outstanding job introducing the speakers, fielding the questions, and keeping the audience on track. He was quite neutral, as his reputation had suggested he would be. Dr. Ehrman throughout the evening posited that the text of the New Testament was corrupted beyond repair. His main argument stems from the absence of New Testament manuscripts from the first 200 years after the writing of the New Testament. This “silence” he argued could have resulted in chaos from the scribes; thus, it follows that the text is no longer trustworthy. Conversely, Dr. Wallace asserted that much evidence exists which affirms the reliability of the text—including from the first 200 years: nearly 80 Greek MSS from that period! He compared the New Testament manuscripts to that of even the best Greco-Roman authors. To say the New Testament exceeds this literature in quality and quantity of manuscripts would be a gross understatement. Thus it follows, on the grounds of textual reliability, the New Testament far exceeds other literature of its kind.
Ehrman demanded absolute proof that the New Testament had not been corrupted, as though such proof was to be applied in all areas of life. But he was making unrealistic demands on the text, and demanding absolute certainty for historical materials. Wallace pointed out that skepticism of this sort would mean that we would need to be a thousand times more skeptical about the average Greco-Roman author, and that our knowledge of the ancient world would have to be surrendered, putting us right back in the Dark Ages.
Wallace took a more moderating position, arguing that we can have relative certainty that we can get back to the wording of the autographs.
In Wallace’s final point he argued that every one of Ehrman’s books on the New Testament presupposed that he knew what the autographic text said—even his latest book, Forged
Between the scholarly dialogue and lively, even humorous rhetoric of the two men, attendees enjoyed an evening that focused on a significant subject matter. DVDs of the historic debate will be on sale soon. More information about the upcoming DVD can be found on www.CSNTM.org in the coming weeks. An interesting sidenote: When Dr. Ehrman asked the audience how many were Bible-believing Christians, only about 60% of the hands went up. There was a healthy number of atheists, skeptics, Muslims, and Mormons—all fans of Ehrman—at the debate. The professional film crew interviewed several attendees after the debate. They sought out those with “ATHEIST” emblazoned in white on their black T-shirts, and others who were evidently not Christians. But no one who thought that Ehrman had won the debate was willing to be filmed.
Announced at the debate was Dr. Wallace’s brand new book (released on the day of the debate!): Revisiting the Corruption of the New Testament: Manuscript, Patristic, and Apocryphal Evidence (Text and Canon of the New Testament)
Tuesday, March 13, 2012
Please click above to be taken to Amazon's website. A portion of every purchase you make will automatically be given to CSNTM. There are no higher fees, used and third party items count, and you may still utilize your prime account!
Simply follow these links to the Amazon's homepage
CSNTM thanks you for your support.