In considering the content of this course, it has struck me that besides the practical application of increasing my own familiarity with the Biblical text and the critical process, the primary use I will find for the content is the practical application of apologetics, which Dr. Heiser addresses in particular ways.
The process by which the New Testament has been transmitted to us is not a simple one, though not overly complicated, either (as some would make it out to be). In an age when skepticism towards Christianity seems almost state-sanctioned, speculation about the complexity of New Testament transmission flourishes on ignorance of the actual process involved. Dr. Heiser presents the course material in such a way that all Christians should be able to cut-their-teeth on it in helpful ways: to come to a deeper and more mature view on inspiration; to develop a respect for the history of transmission; to see through speculations regarding the unreliability of the text of the New Testament that are periodically leveled in the public square; to begin to speak knowledgeably about the process of textual criticism.
Dr. Heiser begins the course by clarifying his terms. I found this refreshing, as so much discourse these days seems to be undertaken without doing so: people speak at cross-purposes, without really hearing or understanding one another, simply because they assume common understanding of certain terms and neglect the task of clarification. In this he examines the name given to this collection of books: why we call them, collectively, the New Testament and what we mean by doing so. With these foundational matters addressed, he proceeds to look at Biblical inspiration, and what we mean when we call Scripture the Word of God. Inspiration should be seen as the process whereby God uses particular people at particular times, armed with particular ways of expressing themselves, so that what He intends to convey is conveyed. In part, God’s inspiration is not recognizable until the community of faith spends time with the text and hears Him speaking to them through it. What such a view of inspiration effects is a respectable faith that is not so easily dismissed by wider society as are some views that people hold to.
A large section of the course focuses on the transmission of the texts of the New Testament. This history is valuable, though I will skip summarizing it here as space is limited and I hope to look to the course’s instruction on Textual Criticism. By the time we arrive at the protestant translations of the Greek texts, there are really two primary groups of texts/traditions that we are concerned with: the Alexandrian and the Byzantine.
The discipline of Textual Criticism, which Dr. Heiser describes in quite helpful ways, is the process whereby the ancient manuscript evidence is collated, examined, and a translation made – not just from one particular manuscript, but from the end result of this examination. This is a rigorous and meticulous process which is largely unappreciated by society, as evidenced in the arguments that are popularly levelled against Scripture. Arguments against the reliability of the New Testament based on the time frame, or on textual variants, or on human error in transmission, or on intentional textual corruption due to scribal faith-bias – none of these arguments holds any water when the process of textual criticism is understood. This, then, becomes a valuable discipline for apologetics. It turns out that Christians aren’t unreasonable and unreasoning (ie. un-critical), when it comes to Scripture.
In many ways I found this course to be refreshing for me – both because it reminded me of things I had learned before and because the manner in which these things were taught was respectful of the faith. I would recommend this course to others.
- I recommend a 3 part series from Day of Discovery titled: The Bible - Why Does it Endure? with Drs Daniel Wallace and Peter Williams. We showed it to our adult Bible class along with some Bible study on the subject. The series is available on DVD to purchase or it can be viewed on their web site: http://dod.org/programs/the-bible-why-does-it-endure-part-i/ Part 2 and part 3 are also available to view online.
- Thanks, Jim! I'll check it out.