Journal: Southern Baptist Journal of Theology
Volume: SBJT 24:3 (Fall 2020)
Article: Some Missteps In Narrating The Bible’s History
Author: John D. Meade

SBJT 24:3 (Fall 2020) p. 13

Some Missteps In Narrating The Bible’s History

John D. Meade

and

Peter J. Gurry

John D. Meade is Associate Professor of Old Testament and Director of the Text & Canon Institute at Phoenix Seminary, Phoenix, Arizona. He earned his PhD at The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, Louisville, Kentucky. He is the author of A Critical Edition of the Hexaplaric Fragments of Job 22–42 (Peeters, 2020), and the co-author of The Biblical Canon Lists from Early Christianity: Texts and Analysis (Oxford, 2017). Dr. Meade has presented papers at the Evangelical Theological Society, the International Organization for Septuagint and Cognate Studies, and the Society of Biblical Literature, and the International Patristics Conference in Oxford. He is currently writing a book with Peter Gurry on how we got the Bible with Crossway. Dr. Meade and his wife are members of Trinity Bible Church in Phoenix.

Peter J. Gurry is Assistant Professor of New Testament and Codirector of the Text & Canon Institute at Phoenix Seminary, Phoenix, Arizona. He earned his PhD from the University of Cambridge, Cambridge, England. He is the co-editor of Myths and Mistakes in New Testament Textual Criticism (IVP Academic, 2019) and co-author of A New Approach to Textual Criticism (SBL Press, 2017). He is also the author of A Critical Examination of the Coherence-Based Genealogical Method in New Testament Textual Criticism (Brill, 2017). Dr. Gurry has presented his work at the Evangelical Theological Society, the Society of Biblical Literature, and the British New Testament Conference. He is currently writing a book with John Meade on how we got the Bible with Crossway. Dr. Gurry and his wife are members at Whitton Avenue Bible Church in Phoenix.

The following article briefly describes some missteps in narrating the Bible’s history. Biblical scholars have expended great energy in researching the Bible’s textual and canonical histories.1 Popular accounts have also multiplied (see

SBJT 24:3 (Fall 2020) p. 14

literature in notes below). These works attempt to answer questions like: How has the Bible’s wording come down to the present day? How did Jews, Catholic, Eastern Orthodox, and Protestants arrive at different books for the Bible? We intend to show some unhelpful and even misleading ways in which these questions have been engaged and then offer brief suggestions of ways forward. If there is a common thread, it is the temptation to exaggerate the evidence or put it in a context that leads to exaggerated conclusions. The anti...