David R. Kenney David R. Kenney In the age of the Internet, it is hard to fathom
what writing materials must have been like during the days when
the original documents of the Bible were written. Various writing
materials (including stone, clay, wood, leather, papyrus, and
vellum) were used in ancient days. Paper was not widely used until
800 years after the life of Christ. It is also interesting to
note that document preservation was a task in and of itself. Even
in our lifetime we have seen document preservation change from
paper, to cassette, to floppy disk, to diskette, and now to CD.
Preservation of documents during times of the Bible was achieved
by re-copying the documents on new materials that would decay
and constantly have to be replaced. This is one of the reasons
some works have not been preservedthey simply became no longer
worth the effort to preserve over time a strong testimony to the
value of the Bible over time.
This book, How We God The Bible, deals
with the process used to preserve the Old Testament and New Testament
manuscripts. Several important textual finds, including the thrilling
story of the Dead Sea Scrolls and their significance in knowing
the Old Testament has been faithfully preserved by the Jews through
the ages, are discussed. The book also discusses the types of
mistakes made by copyists, which accounts for what are called
textual variants, and the process used to reconcile the variantstextual
criticism. The writer also discusses what books were considered
part of the canon and why. He also spends time discussing the
Apocryphal books and why these are disputed and considered non-canonical.
The author then does a good job of tying all these
factors together and turns to the subject of Bible translations.
Having a good understanding of how the manuscripts have been preserved
over the centuries is important to understand the challenges of
Bible translators.
When one first discovers concepts such as textual
variants, it can be rather alarming. We often talk about the Bible's
being inspired and without errors. That is correct when one discusses
the original manuscripts. What we need to clarify is that the
original manuscripts were perfect but the copies are not perfect.
Today, there are no original manuscripts, only copies; but a study
of this material will strengthen one's confidence that we have
the word of God in our possession.
Neil Lightfoot attended Freed-Hardeman College,
Florida Christian College, Baylor University, and Duke University.
He has taught at Abilene Christian College and has served as evangelist
for several congregations over the years. This book is a very
informative and interesting work on the efforts made to preserve
the word of God for all ages. This book will make a valuable introduction
to the world of Biblical archaeology and its impact on the religious
world today. -29 Flora Dr., Bedford, OH 44146-2011. DRKenney@email.com
For previous book reviews, visit www.streetsborochurch.org