The video posted below caught my attention last night. I clicked on it just to see what it was about, and completely hooked me—I ended up watching the whole hour.
There have been a number of voices recently, such as my favorite target Bart Ehrman, who have claimed that the Gospels are essentially forgeries, written in order to mislead people into believing in Christianity. On the other hand, there is a growing body of evidence to support the position that the Gospels are actually quite reliable, based on eyewitness accounts.
Dr. Peter Willliams is a member of the Faculty of Divinity at Cambridge, among other things. And, he’s quite an engaging speaker, with a Ricky Gervais-like sense of humor (without the nastiness). More importantly, he presents some pretty compelling information based on recent scholarship that significantly bolsters the “eyewitness” position. The lecture was presented March 5, 2011:
And here is the Q & A session that followed:
I like his approach. This is not “proof,” but is significant evidence in the case for authenticity.
Great lecture – really interesting.