From Behind the Zion Curtain,a Presbyterian pastor's blog:
Herodotus wrote his histories around 488-428 BC. The oldest existing copies date around 900 AD. That’s a gap of 1,300 years. And there’s 8 copies.
Thucydides wrote his histories around 460-400 BC. The oldest existing copies date around 900 AD. That’s a gap of 1,300 years. And there’s 8 copies.
Tacitus wrote his histories around AD 100. The oldest existing copies date around 1100AD. That’s a gap of 1,000 years. And there’s 20 copies
Caesar’s Gaelic War was written in 58-50 BC. The oldest existing copies date at 900AD. That’s a gap of 950 years. And there’s 10 copies.
Livy’s Roman History was written somewhere between 59 BC-17 AD. The oldest existing copies date around 900AD. That’s a gap of 900 years. There’s 20 copies.
The New Testament was written from AD 40-100. The earliest partial manuscripts date at 130AD. So the time gap between the composition of New Testament writings and the earliest manuscripts is from 30-310 years. There’s over 5000 copies in Greek, another 10,000 in Latin.
The fact of the matter is, the New Testament is a far more reliable report of what early Christians did and believed than what we think ancient Greeks and Romans believed and did.
1 comment:
The gap between the early historians and their initial manuscripts is irrelevant. Similar gaps exist for many of the early Christian documents. Other writers such a Pliny and Josephus are excellent sources for the time, as are the manuscripts cited. All, taken together, can give us insight into the time. The New Testament is icing on the cake.
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