Those who have studied the biblical manuscripts in the Dead Sea Scrolls (DSS) are aware that they preserve a variety of textual families, including some that agree with the Masoretic Text (56), the Samaritan Pentateuch (5), the Septuagint (7), or unaligned (57). What are we to make of this plurality? Anthony Ferguson who has a Read more about How Reliable are the Masoretic Texts?[…]
Have you ever noticed places in the Old Testament where an updated place name occurs? For example, Genesis 23.2 says “And Sarah died at Kiriath-arba (that is, Hebron) in the land of Canaan” and Judges 1.10 says, “And Judah went against the Canaanites who lived in Hebron (now the name of Hebron was formerly Kiriath-arba).” Read more about Updating the Old Testament? (Peter Gentry)[…]
Today we are beginning a major new class on how we get our English Bibles. I’m so excited about sharing with you so much about what I’ve learned in doing the research for this project. We’re going to have a great time together. My goal here is to cover the transmission of manuscripts and translation Read more about 330 Bible 1 – The Masoretic Text[…]
In preparation for Restoration Fellowship’s Theological Conference, I began work on a research paper to explain how the process of Bible translation works. While putting this paper together, I kept coming across important topics that I felt uncomfortable excluding. Whenever possible I prioritized brevity over thoroughness and still the “paper” grew beyond the 10 page Read more about Bible Translation Sources and Theory[…]
Apologetics 10: Old Testament Trustworthiness Last time we looked as reasons to believe the Jewish scribes reliably transmitted the Old Testament so that what we have today is what they actually wrote. This time you’ll learn five main reasons why we believe the Hebrew bible is true: (1) archaeology, (2) medical insights, (3) unflattering honesty, Read more about Podcast 59: Is the Old Testament Trustworthy? (Apologetics 10)[…]
Apologetics 9: Old Testament Transmission What reasons do we have for believing the Old Testament (Hebrew Bible) was reliable transmitted from antiquity to today? This lecture provides four arguments: (1) Jewish scribes were competent, (2) people memorized large portions of the text, (3) the consequences for false prophecy, and (4) the Dead Sea Scrolls function Read more about Podcast 58: Is the Old Testament Reliable? (Apologetics 9)[…]
by Sean Finnegan In Genesis 1.26, God says, “Let us make man in our image.” Since this is the creation of humanity, he couldn’t have been speaking to any humans. So whom was God speaking to? One common interpretation is to say he was speaking to another person within his being–God the Son. But, this Read more about Podcast 23: Let Us Make Man (Sean Finnegan)[…]
by Sean Finnegan The word “person” has multiple meanings. In normal conversation, it means simply a human being. However, in theological terminology (thanks to the council of Nicaea in AD 325) “person” means a being that has a mind (an independent consciousness). According to this definition, God is a person because He (note the personal Read more about Let Us Make Man[…]