The Confronting Christianity Podcast with Rebecca McLaughlin

Can We Trust the Gospels? with Peter Williams

Episode Summary

Rebecca McLaughlin is joined by Peter Williams to have a conversation about the trustworthiness of the gospels.

Episode Notes

Rebecca McLaughlin is joined by Peter Williams to have a conversation about the trustworthiness of the gospels.

Questions Covered in This Episode:

• How far off from Jesus's death and resurrection were the Gospels written?
• How can people remember the things Jesus said with such great detail decades after Jesus's resurrection?
• Why are there differences between the gospels in Jesus’s teachings?
• Why do the gospels have a different ordering of events?
• Why do we hear about Bartimaeus in one gospel and he doesn't have a name in another?
• Do the gospels use names as eye witness evidence?
• Can you tell us a bit more about the story of the prodigal son in Luke 15?
• Help us think through the historical context clues that the gospels were written in the place they claim to be written.
• When Jesus dies on the cross, the curtain in the temple is torn in two. Is there any historical record of this happening?

Guest Bio:

Dr Peter J. Williams is the Principal and CEO of Tyndale House, Cambridge. He was educated at the University of Cambridge, where he received his MA, MPhil, and PhD in the study of ancient languages related to the Bible. Dr Williams is also an Affiliated Lecturer in the Faculty of Divinity in the University of Cambridge, Chair of the International Greek New Testament Project, and a member of the Translation Oversight Committee of the English Standard Version of the Bible. He assisted Dr Dirk Jongkind in Tyndale House’s production of a major edition of the Greek New Testament and his book Can We Trust the Gospels? has been translated into 10 languages.

Resources Mentioned:

• Matthew 5-7, Luke 15, Genesis 33:4
• “New evidence for Hipparchus’ Star Catalogue revealed by multispectral imaging”
• “The Surprising Genius of Jesus” by Peter J. Williams
• “Can We Trust the Gospels?” by Peter J. Williams

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