Lecture - Dr Peter Williams - New Evidences the Gospels were Based on Eyewitness Accounts

This is from The Lanier Library Lecture Series titled New Evidences the Gospels were Based on Eyewitness Accounts by Dr Peter Williams given March 5, 2011

The authorship of the first four books of the New Testament has fascinated scholars for centuries. If the authors were eyewitnesses, one could assume greater reliability. If not, then questions are naturally raised about the historicity of details in the writings. Because the first three Gospels are so similar, many theories have been proposed and argued to explain the sources of verbatim sections, as well as the unique material. Did Mark rely on Peter for eyewitness details? Luke admits his use of other sources, but did he use Mark or Matthew or both? What about Matthew and John? New evidence in the discussion of these questions and more will be the focus of this lecture.

Dr. Peter Williams. is a biblical scholar and also the Director of Tyndale House, Cambridge.


The Lanier Theological Library is an exciting new resource for all students and scholars of the Bible. The LTL is a research library and is open to everyone who will use it responsibly. Within the library, you will find a comprehensive collection of books, periodicals, historical documents and artifacts with topics ranging from Church History and Biblical Studies to Egyptology and Linguistics. The LTL regularly hosts events with noted authors, guest lecturers, and researchers who will challenge you both academically and spiritually. Come to the Lanier Theological Library and find serious tools for serious study.

For more info on this: http://www.laniertheologicallibrary.org/

For those interested in Dr Peter Williams and the translation work he is involved in here is a YouTube clip from those proceedings here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?&v=M...

This summer the Translation Oversight Committee of the English Standard Version (ESV) met at Tyndale House in Cambridge, England to consider improvements in certain specific English word choices. For example, should the Hebrew word 'ebed and the Greek word doulos be translated "slave," "bondservant" or "servant"? The question involved lexicography, biblical theology, and both ancient and modern culture.

During deliberations, the BBC stopped by and filmed a segment, which they reduced to a four-minute clip--reflecting hours of discussion based on hundreds of hours of scholarly research. Speaking in the video are C. John Collins (Covenant Theological Seminary), Peter Williams (Senior Warden of Tyndale House, Cambridge, and a past and future presenter in the Lanier Theological Library Lecture Series), Gordon Wenham (Trinity College, Bristol; son of the late John Wenham of Oxford, who contributed the Foreword to the second edition of The Fire That Consumes), Paul House (Beeson Divinity School), Wayne Grudem (Phoenix Seminary), and Lane Dennis (Crossway Books & Bibles).

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[AssyrianLanguage]

That was awesome!

[fleetwd1]

thank you. please let your friends know too.

[ViciousVinny]

why does he sniff so much...

[fleetwd1]

I had not noticed. It might be that allergies in England are different than those in Houston, Texas.

[LifeIsSoAwesome]

This is an excellent presentation, but in my opinion it only reinforces one's trust in the Gospels if they already believe, rather than being a convincing argument intended for unbelievers. As a Christian, I believe that "faith cometh by hearing and hearing by the word of God", and not through argument, but I worry that others might watch this and think "man, those liberals won't be able to answer THIS!"

[Judah Ivy]

Penny, if you'll notice, he's not at all using the names of the gospel authors to prove anything, but rather the names the gospels record of people living in Israel in the first century.

He is not testing to support traditional authorship by Matt. Mark Luke John, but rather testing to see if the names the gospel writers record accurately represent what one would expect of an eyewitness recording events in Israel in the first century. And they do.

[Nate Duv]

man, this is so shameless to the actual study of history. Show me a historian that believes the Gospels and I'll show you a deluded wish-thinker (or liar)

[Evan Minton]

Not true. Many people have come to faith through Apologetics. Lee Strobel and C.S Lewis are famous examples. William Lane Craig told the story of how a polish Physicist came back to faith just by hearing the Kalam Cosmological Argument.

[AegeanKing]

The gospels may be technically anonymous because they didnt come attached with names. But the unanimous opinion in the first century and second century was that these gospels were from who they were attributed too. Furthermore, they have never been thought to be from anybody else in the early Church. Lastly, the apostolic fathers who were students of the Apostles John and Peter quote the gospels in their letters. Just take the letters of Ignatius of Antioch or Clement of Rome.

[AndTheBeatStaysOn]

He didn't know it could rain in Texas?  This guy is a f***ing genius.

[geoffrobinson]

You can always be presented compelling evidence and then sit there unmoved. At the very least, what this video demolishes is that the New Testament is pure made-up myth. But if you don't want to believe, you aren't going to.

[flyinspirals]

I assume he meant that the lecture shows evidence of historical consistency. A good atheist is always polite.

[flyinspirals]

Don't worry about it -- we're used to it.

[Cindy Mulvey]

Cocaine ?