How are New Testament Manuscripts Dated?

Scholars have found tens of thousands of ancient manuscripts that contain parts of the Bible. Each manuscript had two aspects to it: 1) the physical media it's on; 2) the text that has been written on it.  The media and the text have to exist at the same time, but they don't have to be created at the same time. It is possible for a 2,000 year old text (i.e. the New Testament) to be written on modern media (i.e. paper). It is not possible for modern text...

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Should the Bible be Copied Like Links in a Chain?

My last article was Was the Bible Copied Like Links in a Chain or a Tangled Ball of String?. Here's a joke I found showing the dangers of the links-in-a-chain method of copying. There are several versions of this joke on the Internet, so I don't know who at attribute it to.

A new monk arrives at the monastery. He is assigned to help the other monks in copying the old texts by hand. He notices, however, that they are copying...

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In Theaters Tuesday, Feb 18 – Patterns of Evidence: The Red Sea Miracle (Part 1)

Red Sea Miracle - Poster

The documentary Patterns of Evidence: The Red Sea Miracle (Part 1) will be in theaters tomorrow night (Tuesday, February 18, 2020), for a one-night-only showing. Theaters and show times are available at Fathom Events. 

Please show your support for Christian films, whether they’re documentaries or dramas, by seeing them when they’re in the theaters.

My wife and I saw the premier of...

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Was the Bible Copied Like Links in a Chain or a Tangled Ball of String?

Chain or String

A common complaint against the Bible is that it's been copied, re-copied and corrupted so many times that it's impossible to know what was originally written. Behind this complaint is the assumption that scribes frequently made errors while copying the Bible, and that later scribes simply copied the errors rather than correcting them.

Many people believe the Bible was copied like links in a chain, with each copy made from the last one that was...

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Documentary Review: Patterns of Evidence: The Red Sea Miracle (Part 1)

Red Sea Miracle - Screen

Update: I didn't mention in the original version of this article that I'll likely see the documentary again when it's in the theater, and buy it when it's available in stores and online. The filmmaking industry measures the success of a film by how much money it makes, particularly when it's first released in the theaters. Please show your support for Christian films, whether they're documentaries or dramas, by seeing them when they're...

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What are Diglots and Polyglots?

New Testament, Matthew 1: NRSV, Greek and NIV

The words diglot and polyglot are linguistic terms that come from Greek words meaning "two-tongued" and "many-tongued", respectively; they can also mean "language" rather than "tongued". When used as adjectives, they refer to people who speak more than one language. In this article, I'll be using them as nouns and refer to manuscripts and books which have more than one language. Most of the time, I'll use polyglot to refer to two or more...

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What Symbols has the Church Used to Refer to Christianity?

Christian symbols used by the church

I've been working on the series What are New Testament Manuscripts?, and my last article,  What are Nomina Sacra?, described how names and titles for God were contracted to show a special reverence for them. The other articles in the series were about Biblical Manuscripts, but this one focuses on Christian symbols used by the church, sometimes in copies of the New Testament, but also in commentaries, prayers, letters and even on...

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