The Gospel and the Evidence

Recently I had the opportunity to peruse Can We Trust the Gospels? by Peter Williams of Cambridge University. The book was a quick and interesting read. It’s an analysis of the textual reliability of the four written accounts at the center of the Christian faith, without which – as I’ve mentioned before – the Bible itself says it’s all a hoax.

The Importance of Perspective

Dr. Williams starts by acknowledging that too often, Christians (especially those who grew up Christian) and non-Christians live on alien planets when it comes to considering religion, truth, faith, trust,sacred texts, and particularly the Bible and Christianity. No one is neutral;everyone has an opinion. But the presuppositions on either side are so entrenched and so subconscious that it is extremely hard to bridge the gap, as I have learned through many frustrating attempts.

If you are a Christian, try to look from the non-Christian’s perspective: the Bible is a group of vague-sounding texts containing assorted sayings that many people attach a cultural value to and use as emotional touchstones. They contain a jumble of stories from various people and places that contradict each other and have been mixed and mangled over time by many translations and political maneuverings. People behave very irrationally about them in claiming they are infallible.

If you are not a Christian, try to look from the Christian’s perspective: the Bible is a collection of texts written by prominent followers of God and guided by him toward the truth. As such, it is the word of God, and has been guarded through the ages from corruption both by his will and through the vigilance of people convinced this was the most important text in the world. It has been changing lives and guiding individuals and societies for millennia and should continue to do so.

Now, if the first perspective, the atheistic perspective, is correct, it doesn’t much matter which of these options you take, and we can agree to disagree. But if the second perspective is correct, this book is meant to change your life, and the content of its central four texts changed the world. It is not something we can be neutral about. Thus, on the off chance the second perspective is correct, we should look at the evidence instead of simply picking whatever fits our assumptions. This is what Can We Trust the Gospels? does.

Considering the Evidence

The book examines the rapid spread of Christianity and, with it, the gospels, examining how such numerous and geographically widespread manuscripts so soon after the events described would be next-to-impossible to uniformly corrupt. Dr. Williams discusses the geographic, cultural, and historical knowledge demonstrated by the authors of the text, and how such knowledge would have been impossible to acquire in ancient times outside of actual experience.*

Having drawn all these dimensions of textual reliability together, there are only two options. Either early Christians were part of an historical conspiracy so vast, complex, and future-oriented, it would put SPECTRE to shame and probably also staged the moon landing and Kennedy assassination (but didn’t have the power to keep its advocates from being executed in droves) – or the gospel writers were simply telling the truth.

Dr. Williams makes an excellent case, but the greater virtue of the book, in my opinion, is his recognition of the gap between the secular view of the gospels and the Christian view. If you are of the first view, I would encourage you to recognize that you, too, have presuppositions that need to be put aside, and to honestly review the evidence for the text. If you are of the second party, I would encourage you to step out of your certainty and learn to present the evidence apart from any religious assumptions.

Let us not fear the truth. Let us go after it with everything we have and follow wherever it may lead.

*Clearly, I am not laying out much of the actual evidence here; I only have so much space. If you want the straightforward layout of evidence, I recommend reading the book.