The greatest philosophical The greatest historical challenges to the challenges to the Christian faith. Christian faith. !Is God there? !The integrity of (materialism) the N.T. teaching. !Does God care? !The formation of (suffering) the .

!Is God fair? !The testimony of (pluralism) the Christian church.

2 Peter 3 “15 and regard the patience of our Lord to be salvation; just as also our beloved brother Paul, according to the The Canon wisdom given him, wrote to you, 16 as also in all his letters, speaking in them of these things, in which are some things hard to understand, which the untaught and unstable distort, as they do also the rest of the Scriptures, to their own destruction.” !The early church respected a canon of authoritative texts. Why were some books !The canon included Apostolic letters. excluded from the ? !There were unorthodox groups that claimed to be Christian.

How did the early church respond to heresy? The canon of the

1. The stories of the formation of the N.T. canon are influenced by differing presuppositions. Official Canon Creeds 2. The manuscripts behind our N.T. are true to the originals.

Apostolic succession There are a large number of extant Biblical The most famous classical documents manuscripts. Ancient Documents Date Earliest copy Time gap No. of copies 480–425 New Testament Herodtus (history) 900 C.E. 1,300 years written written B.C.E. 8 460–400 900 C.E. 1,300 years Thucydides (history) B.C.E. 384–322 1,100 C.E. 1,000 years Aristotle (philosopher) B.C.E. 5 1500 B.C.E. 1000 B.C.E. 500 B.C.E. 500 C.E. 1000 C.E. 1500 C.E. 0 100–44 900 C.E. 1,300 years Caesar (history) B.C.E. 10 ! ------50 61–113 ! Greek ------5,686 850 C.E. 750 years Pliny (history) C.E. 7 ! Latin ------10,000+ ! Anglo Saxon ----- 7 70–140 ! Gothic ------6 950 C.E. 800 years ! Ethiopic ------2,000+ Suetonius (history) C.E. ! Sogdian ------3 ! Slavic ------4,101 100 Tacitus (history) 1,100 C.E. 1,000 years ! Armenian ------2,587 ! Old Syriac ------2 C.E. 20 ! Persian ------2 550 ! Syriac Pashetta - 350+ 650 C.E. 1,200 years Confucius C.E. 30 ! Bohairic ------100 ! Frankish ------1 660 I Ching 900 C.E. 1,550 years ! Arabic ------75 Total 24,970+ C.E. 20

Codex Sinaticus

There are a large number of extant Biblical Three Greek manuscripts are at the core of our manuscripts. modern translations of the Bible. Old Testament New Testament Old Testament New Testament written written written written

1500 B.C.E. 1000 B.C.E. 500 B.C.E. 0 500 C.E. 1000 C.E. 1500 C.E. 1500 B.C.E. 1000 B.C.E. 500 B.C.E. 0 500 C.E. 1000 C.E. 1500 C.E.

Codex Sinaiticus 93% of all extant Biblical 331 C.E. Codex Vaticanus manuscripts are dated 350 C.E. after 900 C.E. 450 C.E.

Codex Sinaticus Codex Sinaticus

Codex Sinaiticus Codex Vaticanus (a) (B)

The basis of most modern The oldest and best translations of the N.T. manuscript of the (the Greek translation) O’Callahan Fragment Codex 50-60 C.E. A portion of Mark Alexandrinus (A)

A part of the The basis for the first that may date back to the printed Greek N.T. original copy of Mark

Magdalene Fragment (P64) The John Rylands Fragment (P52) 30-60 C.E. A portion of Matthew 117-138 C.E. :31-33

One of the earliest known One of the earliest copies of any portion of the known copies of a New Testament portion of John

Chester Beatty I (P45) Ancient authors and extant manuscripts 3rd cent. Luke Hebrew O.T. The relative gap 20 years vs. Apostles 1000 years

500 B.C.E. 0 B.C.E. 500 B.C.E. 1000 B.C.E.

Herodtus Thucydides Aristotle Caesar The earliest known Tacitus copies of Paul’s letters Confucius I Ching “Most of these [textual] differences are “If the New Testament completely immaterial and insignificant....In were a collection fact, most of the changes found in our early Christian manuscripts have nothing to do of secular writings, with theology or ideology. Far and away the their authenticity would most changes are the result of mistakes, generally be regarded pure and simple - slips of the pen, accidental omissions, inadvertent additions, as beyond all doubt.” misspelled words, blunders of one sort or F. F. Bruce another.” Manchester University Bart Ehrman in Misquoting Jesus pp. 10, 55-56, 62, 94, 177

Christians did not invent but identified The canon of the New Testament the inspired writings as Scripture.

1. The stories of the formation of the canon are influenced by differing presuppositions. Apostolic Mysterycults Marcionites Theological Origin 2. The manuscripts behind our N.T. Consistency Edionites Paul are true to the originals. Peter Judaizers 3. Most N.T. documents were received Universal JohnLiturgical as authoritative based on specific Nazareans criteria. RecognitionJames Power Four Gnostics Church fathers

Church

Which manuscripts are more authentic? #3 The breadth of geographic distribution #1 The number of manuscripts Europe More reliable Less reliable Byzantium #2 The age Asia of manuscripts Western Antioch Eastern

50 C.E. 200 C.E. 500 C.E. Africa Original More reliable Less reliable Caesarea Southern The Canon of the New Testament - Key facts The canon of the New Testament 0 100 200 300 400 1. The stories of the formation of the canon are influenced by differing • Most books presuppositions. were accepted when written. 2. The manuscripts behind our N.T. • The first list of books was a response to are true to the originals. the Gnostic heretic Marcion. (140 C.E.) • The Council of Nicea (325 C.E.) and the work 3. Most N.T. documents were received of established an official canon. as authoritative based on specific criteria. • The present list by Athanasius (367 C.E.) 4. Some books were disputed and • The final official canon at the Council of Carthage (397 C.E.) accepted later than others.

Which books were in dispute and why? Hebrew Bible Protestant Bible Catholic Bible • Hebrews - uncertainty of authorship Law Law Law Genesis - Deuteronomy Genesis - Deuteronomy Genesis - Deuteronomy • James - conflict with Paul!s letters Prophets History History • 2 Peter - different in style from 1 Peter Joshua - Joshua - Esther Joshua - Esther Tobias, Judith • 2 & 3 John - private nature and limited circulation Writings Wisdom Wisdom Job - Song of Solomon Job - Song of Solomon , Job, Proverbs, Wisdom of Solomon, Jude - it quotes from Enoch (vs.14-15) Ruth, Song of Solomon, • Ecclesiasticus , Revelation - its teaching of the Lamentations, Esther, Prophets Prophets • Daniel, Ezra, Nehemiah, Major ( - Daniel) Major (Isaiah - Daniel, 1,2 Chronicles millennium Baruch) Minor ( - Malachi) Minor (Hosea - Malachi, 1&2 Machabees)

Why does the Protestant Bible differ from the Catholic Bible? Conclusions

Septuagint 1. You can trust the Biblical record. Masoretic Original Hebrew Hebrew Greek Apocrypha O.T. copy 2. There are reasonable answers to O.T. the challenge of historical critics.

3. Historical criticism!s limits and !a"n assumptions must be recognized. Original #ulga$ Greek 4. Christian faith is not based on N.T. reason alone but is not contrary to reason. Protestant Catholic