Is it cool now to be a textual critic?
3 Podcasts about Textual Criticism
I am not a textual critic. I went to school with guys who went into textual criticism, and my mind does not work like theirs. Yet, I’m incredibly thankful for my friends who work in the field.
For those who don’t know, textual criticism is the discipline of biblical studies that seeks to ascertain and confirm the original text of the Bible by examining and comparing the various biblical manuscripts available to us. While it is one thing to learn to read Greek and Hebrew, it is quite another level to be able to read them in the handwritten copies.
Since January, I’ve been teaching a study group at Overland Church about “How We Got the Bible.” In God’s providence, this study group just so happened to launch a few weeks after Joe Rogan’s now famous interview with Wes Huff. It’s been interesting to see the topics of our study, like textual criticism and canonicity, become popular topics in the public square, at least for the blip that is the public attention span.
In the aftermath of Huff’s interview, a few friends have been featured on podcasts both clarifying and expanding claims that Huff made about the manuscripts of the Bible. I’m not brilliant, but I know several brilliant people. It’s my honor to share them with you.
Anthony Ferguson on the Great Isaiah Scroll
I met Anthony and his wife Kristen during doctoral entrance exams at Southern Seminary. Anthony became an expert in 1QIsaA, better known as the Great Isaiah Scroll of Qumran. He is now a pastor in Southern California, where he also teaches as an adjunct at California Baptist University and Gateway Seminary.
I love Anthony’s brilliant mind, displayed in this interview with Sean McDowell, but I love even more his heart. When I saw him at ETS in San Diego this year and we caught up about life and ministry, he stopped and prayed over me there in the convention hall. I will forever be thankful for friends like him.
Nelson Hsieh on Early Church Scribes
In PhD seminars, there are some guys that just stand out for their precision, careful research, and argumentation. Nelson was always one of those guys at Southern Seminary. Now Nelson works at Tyndale House, the biblical studies library in Cambridge.
This episode is part of a series from Tyndale House, and it would be worth your time to go back to episode one. But if you can only listen to one episode, I think episode four is the best.
John Meade on the Great Isaiah Scroll
I didn’t meet John Meade at Southern Seminary. I met him later in Phoenix, where he has taught at Phoenix Seminary over the past several years. John and his colleague Peter Gurry literally wrote the book on these topics or at least the book that I’m using in my study group at Overland—Scribes and Scripture.
When our family began the process of leaving Malawi, John and his wife Annie were an incredible blessing to us during a season that we thought we would be making our home in Phoenix. While the Lord had Fort Collins marked out for us instead, I’m still thankful for the kindness that John showed me as well as for his textual critic brilliance.