Textual Criticism

When a Miracle Enters Nature “The moment [the miracle] enters [nature’s]

realm, it obeys all her laws. Miraculous wine will intoxicate, miraculous conception will lead to pregnancy, inspired books will suffer all the ordinary processes of textual corruption, miraculous bread will be digested.”

C. S. Lewis, Miracles: A Preliminary Study (New York: Touchstone, 1996), 95.

The Reliability of the NT Texts Frederic Kenyon: “The interval between the

dates of original composition and the earliest extant evidence becomes so small as to be in fact negligible, and the last foundation for any doubt that the Scriptures have come down to us substantially as they were written has now been removed. Both the authenticity and the general integrity of the books of the New Testament may be regarded as finally established.”

Cited in F. F. Bruce, The New Testament Documents: Are They Reliable? (Grand Rapids MI: Wm. B. Eerdmans, 1980), 20.

Bart Ehrman on Textual Criticism “It is probably safe to say that the copying of

early Christian texts was by and large a ‘conservative’ process. The scribes—whether non-professional scribes in the early centuries or professional scribes of the Middle Ages—were intent on ‘conserving’ the textual tradition they were passing on. Their ultimate concern was not to modify the tradition, but to preserve it for themselves and for those who would follow them. Most scribes, no doubt, tried to do a faithful job in making sure that the text they reproduced was the same text they inherited.”

Bart D. Ehrman, Misquoting Jesus: The Story Behind Who Changed the Bible and Why (HarperOne, 2007), 177.