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Evidence
and Paul's Journeys by Jefferson White Paperback - 168 pages Available at: This book has 14 sample pages available for viewing at Amazon.com |
"If you want to know the historical
truth about the
Apostle Paul's journeys, then you need to read this book..."
Philologos Comment:
The majority of this book deals with Acts. The author breaks all the evidence
therein down into bite-sized chunks and deals with each piece in a
straightforward and no nonesense fashion while following a self-imposed rule
that "a contradiction cannot be proved if there is a reasonable explanation
for it" (p. 118). This rightfully narrows the field of contradictions down
to a scant few and warrants the author's assertion that: "The Acts account
of Paul's journeys is as reliable as we may expect history to be. So far as it
can be tested by objective evidence, Acts has proven to be an astonishingly
accurate record of events" (p. 134). All of this evidence eventually points
to "one of the most striking aspects of the Acts record" which is how
many of the details "belong to the middle of the first century, and to that
era alone" (p. 132).
He also deals with empirical evidence regarding 1 and 2 Corinthians and states: "If Paul had not written a second letter to Corinth, or if that letter had been lost to history, the travel plans that he outlines in the first Corinthian letter would contradict Luke's account of his movements in the third journey" (p. 88). We can apply this same logic to the perceived contradictions elsewhere and wonder if they wouldn't be just as easily cleared up if there were more manuscripts extant relating to that time--we shouldn't look askance at the Biblical narrative because it has a remarkable track record but question our limited understanding of that particular time.
Easy writing style that won't leave you exhausted; nicely done.