What books do you recommend?

[sotzo]

Books that describe the transmission of the Gospels from oral stage all the way to the stage of being included in the finished canon.

Topics I'm particularly trying to understand are:

1. What are the differences between the canonical Gospels and the apocryphal gospels (of Thomas, Judas, etc.)?

2. Was oral transmission a reliable method of preserving eyewitness testimony?

3. What other gospel writings were considered prior to including only Matt, Luke, Mark and John in the finished canon?

 

[Jerusalem Blade]

Joel,

I would suggest,

Inspiration and Canonicity of the Scriptures: An Historical and Exegetical Study, by R. Laird Harris (A Press, Greenville, SC; ISBN: 1884416101).

Also, in BB Warfield's, The Inspiration and Authority of the Bible, in the Appendix on page 411 ff., "The Formation of the Canon of the New Testament."

A caveat on Warfield, however; he is not -- in my view -- to be trusted as regards text-critical matters, opting as he did for the Westcott-Hort view over against the Traditional Text, and twisting the view of the framers of the Westminster Confession as regards the preservation of the Scriptures per the Confession's 1:8. On this see this thread:

http://www.puritanboard.com/showthread.php?t=22547

Regarding the apocryphal gospels, take a look at:

http://www.apologeticsindex.org/g08.html

They provide some links to further articles, although I cannot vouch for all this latter (linked) material -- I provide it only to get you started.

Steve

 

[sotzo]

Thanks very much Steve. One question...is the Traditonal Text the same as the Textus Receptus?

 

[Jerusalem Blade]

Thanks very much Steve. One question...is the Traditional Text the same as the Textus Receptus?

Hi Joel,

Both the TT and the TR can be defined variously. The TT can refer to either the Majority Text (ala Robinson, Hodges & Farstad, Pickering, Bruggen, Burgon, et al) or the TR 1894, which is a Greek text exactly underlying the AV.

The TR may refer to the 1894 edition compiled by Scrivener, or the texts of Stephens 1550, Beza's editions in the latter half of the 1500s, and the Elzevirs' 1633. They are very close to one another, differing only in minutiae. This thread discusses the TRs:

http://www.puritanboard.com/showthread.php?p=239017.

I specify my definitions when I use the terms.

Steve