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Biblical Criticism on Trial: How Scientific Is Scientific Theology?

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Modern textual criticism of the New Testament purports to be scientific. It is however, as Linnemann clearly demonstrates, at best merely informed opinion about how the New Testament possibly may have been transmitted in early Christian communities, and eventually written down to comprise the many books that are part of the Bible.

There is no evidence that there ever existed a "Gospel Q" or a "Sayings Source Gospel" - no single fragment of a surviving text (of which there are thousands of specimens for the books of the New Testament). There is not a single reference to these hypothetical original Christian works from any of the early Christian writers of the age, including Paul the Apostle who surely would have knowledge of these very early sources. Linnemann clearly lays out these arguments, but goes a step further, presenting a statistical comparative analysis of the contents of the Synoptic Gospels, which demonstrates the improbability of the Synoptics being copied from earlier common sources.

Biblical textual criticism is really selling snake oil. It's nice to see someone point that out in a straightforward manner. This is a wonderful and fast read for anyone interested in the New Testament and early Christianity - regardless of religious beliefs.