5.0 out of 5 stars A solid defense of the New Testament

E.B. · September 23, 2013

There have been few scholars with such a breadth and depth of knowledge of the New Testament documents as F.F. Bruce. His defense here of the authenticity of the New Testament is a succinct yet powerful argument that leaves no doubt. While the New Testament documents are constantly and increasingly being attacked in the eyes of the public it is imperative that Christians come to a solid belief and understanding that the Scriptures were written during the 1st century, by men inspired by the Holy Spirit, and have come to us uncorrupted so that we can know and follow the truth. Mr. Bruce begins his discussion by establishing beyond a reasonable doubt that the New Testament Scriptures were indeed written during the 1st century and did not come from questionable sources as has become the claim of some. He then moves on and lays out a portion of evidence from the gospels and the miracles of the gospels, which he states are the central reason that acceptance of the New Testament documents as historically authentic gives scholars any pause. He uses several points of historical verification from the gospel account of Luke and the book of Acts. F.F. Bruce also covers much ground in defending the writings of Paul as authentic by examining the documentary evidence. Archaeological evidence is addressed in one chapter, but I wish this had been fleshed out a bit more. Bruce concludes the book by examining the contemporary writings of both Jewish and Gentile detractors, futher establishing early dates for the New Testament documents and several points of doctrine. By the end of the book, it's clear that for these sacred texts to have been passably faked, forged, or unreliably corrupted the bar is unreasonably high.I did not observe any of the formatting problems on my Kindle that others have reported. These appear to have been corrected. Included are three chapters for further reading (broken down chapter-by-chapter), an index of names and subjects (although this references physical pages that don't apply to the Kindle version. With text search this is not such a big deal.), and an index of the Scripture references used. The table of contents is nicely linked.I found this book to be a quick read, but rich in substance and edifying to my faith. F.F. Bruce applied his lifetime of scholarship and study to produce a defense of the New Testament's reliablity that is easily accessible to the average Christian and is so much needed in our religious environment today. Certainly in the years since its publication and latest updates new information has continued to come to light, but this book does a service for Christians that will stand the test of time as the evidence continues to mount up and suppliment what is already recorded here. I would highly recommend this book for any Christian that is about to start college or leave home. However, the evidence of the Scriptures should be the study of all Christians and this book is a great, faith-building place to start. A must read, deserving a place on every Christian's bookshelf.

5.0 out of 5 stars Classic Bruce

P.T. · December 22, 2011

In classic form, the great evangelical scholar lays out a stunning defense of the New Testament. The book, although written over a half-century from the time of this review, is still an excellent resource for those studying the topic today. The writing style is like that of a discourse and is far more readable than other of Bruce's works. His train of thought is straightforward and his vocabulary is not complex. The work is short and concise. Having attended Seminary within the evangelical tradition, some of Bruce's arguments sounded familiar, but the amount of arguments all packed into such a small volume is of inestimable value. This work is excellent for the scholar and the layman, the doubter and the believer, the casual reader and the vociferous reader, the fundamentalist and the liberal.In summary, Bruce begins the book with a question. He asks why the reliability and historicity of the New Testament documents are important. His answer is that the Christian faith is grounded in history and facts. Without a history or without the underlying facts, Christianity is not really Christianity. His arguments ring here with sounds of Machen, Chesterton, and Lewis. Moving from this argument, Bruce shows the sound textual basis for the New Testament documents and contrasts this with the weak textual basis for other unquestioned documents in history. After establishing the textual basis, the writer brings up the historicity of the historical narratives of the New Testament (The Gospels and Acts). He deals with this in three categories, namely The Synoptics, John, and Acts. Here Bruce brings to bear the weight of substantial historical evidence for the facts recorded in the books. Throughout his discussions of these books the writer brings up time and again the idea of the miracles recorded in them. He makes the point that accepting or rejecting the miracles has nothing to do with the historicity of the records (for which ample proof exists), but more to do with one's preconceived notions about Jesus Christ. This thought is followed up with an examination of the historicity of Jesus from the sources contemporary to His time. Bruce goes to great lengths to establish the fine detail of the documents of historians who make comments regarding Jesus Christ. After this segment is concluded, the author discusses the other epistles of the New Testament in brief. Bruce's point here seems to be that where they mention history, they are accurate and that they were accepted historically.In essence, Bruce's work is monumental because it removes the supposed historical roadblock to the Christian faith and leaves the reader with a simple question: if the historicity of Scripture is unquestionable, why then do you not believe the account? This nagging question drives the reader to reconsider their preconceived ideas about the supernatural and the divine. For this reason, this work deserves the highest marks of classic Christian literature.

5.0 out of 5 stars Short but mighty!

J.F. · May 31, 2025

This is one of the best books I've read supporting the validity of the New Testament documents. Highly recommend. Also, I suggest having some on hand for people who want to know more about the trustworthiness of the Bible. It's a short, but powerful read! This order was a refill of my library for just that purpose!

4.0 out of 5 stars Very accessible introduction

R.S.F. · March 29, 2006

This book is a quick and easy read that introduces the reader to some of the reasons that the Bible is reliable in the form handed down to us. It is especially suitable for people heading off to college who have never examined the grounds for their belief in biblical authority. It gives a nice starting point for further study and removes some of the intimidation that can sometimes accompany this topic.

You can trust traditional biblical scholarship

t. · February 18, 2009

I have a background in biblical studies, but it was some years since I had considered in detail the topic discussed in this short book (only 124 pages, plus short bibliography, general index and index of biblical references), easily readable in one day. My interest was re-aroused by the attacks on the trustworthiness of the New Testament documents which now frequently appear on some internet discussions.Although the first edition of this book appeared 65 years ago, its conclusions hardly need altering, since they are based on a preceding century of scholarship in the study of the New Testament documents themselves and the Greek and Latin and Jewish worlds in which they were written. The latest edition is given as the 6th, in 1981, but the latest printing contains a much more recent Foreword by Bishop NT Wright of Durham, and the bibliography lists books published as recently as 2003.It is an immensely satisfying book, establishing the overwhelming case for the genuineness of the New Testament writings as historical documents, better attested by manuscript evidence than any other writings of the period by Greek or Roman philosophers or historians. Furthermore, the book establishes the internal coherence of the content of the New Testament writings, their record of the person and work of Jesus, claimed to be the Messiah and, for the New Testament writers, justifying that claim by their record of and belief in the resurrection of Jesus.The author goes carefully through every reference to historical personages mentioned in the New Testament, and through every reference to social customs, political and religious titles, religious beliefs, etc., and shows how they fit into the known wider Near-Eastern Greco-Roman world of the time. Occasionally, the lack of confirming evidence from non-biblical sources (one must remember that the overwhelming mass of the writings of the period were lost without trace) leaves some very few questions still not fully resolved. But these doubts are very few.As the author constantly points out, confidence in the historical authenticity of the New Testament writings is not the same as divinely inspired faith in the truth of their message. But that divinely inspired faith is solidly founded on historical fact, and to dismiss the Christian claims on the ground that Christianity, and Jesus Christ, have no foundation in history, is simply wrong and unjustified.It is the solid mainstream scholarship surrounding the New Testament that is to be trusted, not the unfounded guesses of an unsourced 'alternative' anti-Christian view.

¡Es una edición KIndle "pirata"!

J.G.S. · November 24, 2017

Mi puntuación no es para el libro, que tiene muy buena pinta, sino para la edición de Kindle. Para mi sorpresa, cuando abrí el libro en el Kindle, vi que se trataba de una edición "pirateada" creada con Calibre. Lógicamente, lo he devuelto. Es muy decepcionante que suceda esto cuando compras en la página oficial de Bolo... Adjunto la foto para que se vea que no es broma.

Bible originals

L.R.J. · July 29, 2016

This book is quite old now but it still gives a concise and detailed account of the original documents of the New Testament. A great starting place to explore the topic.

Excellent

C. · July 2, 2024

A brief but comprehensive study. This book deserves 5 stars simply for the style and flow which it has. It was a very pleasant read, despite all of the technicalities. I'm really encouraged to read more of Bruce's works because he is a brilliant writer.

The New Testament Documents Are Reliable

D.P.C.G. · August 28, 2014

This great scholar of the Greco-Roman-Judeo-Christian era, spanning BC100 to AD150, has told us in this book, that it is his opinion, from his reading, research, translation and interpretation, of the thousands of fragments and complete manuscripts from this and later periods, that the New Testament Documents are reliable historical documents. Further, he has shown that some of the contents of these documents are corroborated by the writings of other "historians" of that period, like Josephus, Pliny and others. I am not an expert on this field and the contents of the book were an eye-opener to me and I recommend the book to others interested in this subject.