Book Comment: Documents of the Christian Church.

 

In his book, Documents of the Christian Church, editor Henry Bettensen presents hundreds of the most important documents of Christianity from the earliest days up until the modern era. The latest, an Amendation to the Constitution of the World Council of Churches, is from 1961, in the second edition of the book.

As with most books such as this, what you get from the book depends on what you bring with you. This one is not an easy read, but, if you have a more scholarly bent, it can be used to track the development of Christian ideas and doctrines such as ecumenism or the Trinity.

Some of the subjects, in no particular order, include: references to Christianity in classical writers, creeds, church councils, anti-heretical documents, writings of the Church Fathers, the Church in the Middle Ages, Anglican documents, Vatican Council documents, the World Council of Churches, scholasticism, doctrinal disputes, church-state relations, controversies, monasticism, the Reformation, and the Dissenters. This is not an exhaustive list.

Information you will need to search for this book: Bettensen, Henry, ed., Documents of the Christian Church, 2^nd ed., (New York: Oxford University Press, 1975 paperbound reprint.)

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A general caution: books may give you wonderful new insights and explanations of subjects, but you should never base your Christian beliefs on any one book or the teachings of one person, no matter who they are. All teachings must be consistent with scripture. Read as the Bereans did, with discernment. “… for they received the word with great eagerness, examining the Scriptures daily to see whether these things were so.” Acts 17:11 NASB

Any doctrines must be consistent with the historical full body of Christian thought. Doctrines or teachings inconsistent with scripture in any way must be rejected. You would not eat cheese which had a fuzzy fungus growing on it.

The Origin of the English Language Word "Goodbye"

        The English language word, Goodbye, a "parting word"used grammatically as an adverbial phrase, is derived from "Godbwye" a shortened form of the Old English phrase God þē mid sīe: (in modern English: "God be with you.")  God  (God) þē ("thou" = "to you") mid ("with") sīe: (a form of "to be").

        The first known recorded occurrence of the word was in 1573 when it was used by the English scholar and poet, Gabriel Harvey. Harvey often wrote in Latin, claimed to have invented the English language hexameter format of poetry, and coined these English language words: "rascality," "extensively," "conscious," "jovial," "notoriety," and "idiom."

Book Comment: The New Testament Documents: Are They Reliable?

F. F. Bruce was one of the pre-eminent New Testament scholars of the Twentieth Century.  He insisted that the New Testament documents are historically accurate and are better attested than universally accepted classical writings.  An emphasis of his teaching was that Christianity has its roots in history.  Though some religions (such as Confucianism, Buddhism, and Hinduism) can stand independently of their actual historicity, Christianity is firmly grounded in provable dates and facts.  No credible scholar now insists that Jesus did not exist.

Dr. Bruce said,  “The evidence for our New Testament writings is ever so much greater than the evidence for many writings of classical authors, the authenticity of which no-one dreams of questioning.  And if the New Testament were a collection of secular writings, their authenticity would generally be regarded as beyond all doubt.”

Here is some evidence:

There are only two known copies of Lucretius’ works.  The earliest copy comes from 1100 years after the originals were written.

There are only seven known copies of Plato’s works.  The earliest copy comes from 1200 years after the originals were written.

There are only seven known copies of Aristophanes’s works.  The earliest copy comes from 1200 years after the originals were written.

There are only eight known copies of Herodotus’ works.  The earliest copy comes from 1300 years after the originals were written.

There are only forty-nine known copies of Aristotle’s works.  The earliest copy comes from 1400 years after the originals were written.

There are only six hundred and forty three known copies of Homer’s works.  The earliest copy comes from 500 years after the originals were written.

There are only one hundred and ninety-three known copies of Sophocles’ works.  The earliest copy comes from 1400 years after the originals were written.

There are 5686 Greek manuscripts of the New Testament.  The earliest dates to about 100 years after the originals were written.  There are over 25,000 partial documents.  The John Rylands Fragment, containing John 18: 31-33, dates from about twenty-nine to thirty-five years after the original was written. 

Luke says he recorded what was “handed down to us by those who from the first were eyewitnesses…” (Luke 1:2.)