April 7th, 2012
by Max Andrews
Historicity of the Resurrection and Jesus[1]
1. The Five Facts
- Jesus’ Death by Crucifixion
- Disciples’ Beliefs that Jesus Appeared
- Conversion of the Church Persecutor Paul
- Conversion of Skeptic James
- Empty Tomb
2. Jesus died due to crucifixion
- Josephus
- Tacitus
- Lucian
- Mara Bar-Serapion
- Talmud
3. Jesus’ disciples sincerely believed Jesus rose from the dead and appeared to them
- Creeds (i.e. 1 Cor. 15.3-7)
- Sermon summaries (i.e. Acts 2
Written tradition
- Matthew
- Mark
- Luke-Acts
- John
Apostolic Fathers
Posted in Apologetics, Historical Jesus | 4 Comments »
June 20th, 2011
by Max Andrews
Below is a chart that compares popular ancient texts with the Bible in when it was written, the earliest copy we have, and the number of copies there are. This information is about a decade old so the number of NT manuscripts has most likely increased by now. This may serve as a simple illustration of a component to the textual reliability of the Bible.
| Author |
Book |
When Written |
Earliest Copy |
Time Gap |
No. of Copies |
| Homer |
Iliad |
800 BC |
400 BC |
400 yrs |
643 |
| Herodotus |
History |
480-425 BC |
AD 900 |
1,350 yrs |
8 |
| Thucydides |
History |
460-400 BC |
AD 900 |
1,300 yrs |
8 |
| Plato |
|
400 BC |
AD 900 |
1,300 yrs |
7 |
| Demosthenes |
|
300 BC |
AD 1100 |
1,400 yrs |
200 |
| Caesar |
Gallic Wars |
100-44 BC |
AD 900 |
1,000 yrs |
10 |
| Livy |
History of Rome |
59 BC – AD 17 |
4th Cent. (Partial)Mostly 10th Cent. |
400 yrs1,000 yrs |
1 Partial19 Copies |
| Tacitus |
Annals |
AD 100 |
AD 1100 |
1,000 yrs |
20 |
| Pliny Secundus |
Natural History |
AD 61-113 |
AD 850 |
750 yrs |
7 |
| New Testament |
|
AD 50-100 |
AD 114 (fragment)AD 200 (books)
AD 250 (most of NT)
AD 325 (complete NT) |
+50 yrs100 yrs
150 yrs
225 yrs |
5,366 |
Josh McDowell, The New Evidence that Demands a Verdict, 1999.
Posted in Apologetics, Bible, Historical Jesus, Resurrection of Jesus, Theology | 5 Comments »
