Customer Reviews

New International Encyclopedia of Bible Difficulties

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This volume is a good addition to the Biblical expositor's reference library. But the first step is to become familiar with the Bible by actually having spent time reading and studying it. Many questions become answered once you understand the entire Bible in context. Then reference books such as this become useful in understanding cultural references, difficulties in the English translations of the original autographs, etc.

The author has an encyclopedic knowledge of Biblical languages and culture, and his book is most informative about a wide range of topics. Archer is also a trained lawyer, so can cut through the illogicality and special pleading of the arguments for "contradictions". By comparison, among those who argue for contradictions are such blatantly unqualified misotheists such as Barker, Ingersoll, McKinsey and Paine who haven't a clue about the original languages or culture, and are blatantly chronologically chauvinistic.

One important consideration in the Gospels is what the New Testament scholar N.T. (Tom) Wright pointed out, that most of the things Jesus said, he most likely said many times, and with many minor variations.

I didn't give this book five stars, because Archer is unnecessarily intimidated by old-Earth propaganda, but does believe in a global Flood that actually wipes out alleged geological evidence for age. But since this occupies only a small fraction of the book which is otherwise excellent, only a one-star deduction is warranted.

The author - Gleason L. Archer Jr. (1916-2004 - B.A., M.A., Ph.D., Harvard University; B.D., Princeton Theological Seminary; L.L.B., Suffolk Law School) was a biblical scholar, theologian, educator, and author. He served as an assistant pastor of Park Street Church in Boston from 1945 to 1948. He was a Professor at Fuller Theological Seminary for 16 years, teaching New Testament, Greek, Hebrew, and Arabic. From 1965 to 1986 he served as a Professor of Old Testament and Semitics at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School, Deerfield, Illinois. He became an emeritus faculty member in 1989. He also served for many years as a minister of the Evangelical Free Church of America. The remainder of his life was spent researching, writing, and lecturing.

Legend has it, (I have not been able to verify whether this is 100% true or not) that he was so gifted in languages that for fun (and as a challenge) he would study the Bible in a different language every year to continue to grow and develop mentally.

Archer served as one of the 50 original translators of the NASB published in 1971. He also worked on the team which translated the NIV Bible published in 1978. I give this introduction, because many people are not familiar with Archer (unfortunately), but he was a brilliant Christian scholar who could have excelled as a lawyer (his father was the founder and president of Suffolk Law School), and chose to use his exceptional gifts to defend the inerrancy and integrity of the Scriptures over the span of his entire adult life. I would say that along with Bruce Waltke and Walter Kaiser Jr., he was one of the most elite and influential Old Testament Evangelical Scholars at the end of the Twentieth Century.

As for this book - it's simply outstanding. It covers all the thorny issues from Genesis to Revelation in biblical order, and considers questions from the cultural, linguistic, and authorial intent of each passage considered. Of all the books I have on questions, and Bible answers, this is the one I turn to the most. It is extremely thorough and will increase anyone's' belief in the supernatural authorship of the sixty-six books in the Protestant Canon. It is definitely a "must have" for any interpreter/student/teacher of the Bible, or an apologist for the Christian faith.

I bought this book hoping it would give me more fuel to counter discussions with non-believers against the Bible - this book DOES NOT do that. It presents a very one-sided view of the text of the Bible and it doesn't take into consideration any extra-Biblical texts or discoveries that prove problematic to some scriptures.

I am a Christian, I do believe in God, I do profess Jesus as my Lord and Savior. However, I have increasingly become a textual critic of the Bible as it exists today and see many things in the scriptures that would seem clearly at odds with what we know to be fact - ALL of which is ignored completely by this book.

If you bring this book into a discussion with someone who's a well-informed non-Christian, they will tear you to pieces because it provides no concrete solutions to the many "problems" we encounter with many scriptural arguments. Honestly, I do not understand the glowing praise for this book, it's written on a very simplistic level and typical of Zondervian books, it's practically Sunday School reading material - it's just that basic.

Case in point comes right at the front of the book where the author is insistant that Moses personally wrote the Pentateuch, except the part about his own death and burial, of course, which was likely written by someone else. He doesn't mention the problem that a large number of the towns mentioned by "Moses" didn't exist in the time of Moses. That would seem to be a problem to me that should be addressed. He also doesn't explain why Moses contradicts himself repeatedly, and basically, the author bases his whole case on Mosaic authorship because "the scriptures clearly state 'and Moses wrote the Law of God' or "and Moses wrote what God had spoken." HELLO - if anything, this clearly points out that Moses DID NOT write the Pentateuch. Moses constantly refers to himself in the third person? This makes as much sense as saying, "and Luther wrote his 29 theses" - so therefore, any book which states that "Luther wrote his 29 theses" HAS to have been written by Luther himself -sorry, same nonesensical logic.

That's just one of many, many points where this book fails to help in any regard. It stretches from Genesis to Revelation without answering any serious problem or challenge to Biblical accuracy. I wish this were a better book, I sincerely do, but it's definitely shallow reading intended for those who already believe and DO NOT spend time on weighty questions. I WOULD NOT recommend this book to anyone seeking answers to serious matters of Bible inconsistencies or textual problems.

Dr. Archer was a true Bible scholar and a brilliant linguist, knowing 27 different languages. This is an excellent reference for a serious Bible student who wants to research the hard sayings of the Bible.

This book is written without any apologies from the perspective of an true orthodox Christian. Archer's academic credibility is impeccable and thankfully he left this book behind so a new generation could defend the biblical worldview aggressively.

I think Bible believing Christians will find this book to be an invaluable help for personal study and when witnessing to skeptics and to those Christians who do not believe in biblical inerrancy.
It is packed with clear explanatory answers to some of the most troublesome Bible difficulties and apparent contradictions, and it is arranged in biblical order to make it an easy reference guide.
However, some ethical opinions expressed in this book are strongly debatable.
Statements like: "a kingdom that is of the world has a perfect right to resort to warfare and the killing of enemy aggressors" (page 343) or "pacifism is completely lacking in support from the Word of God" (page 344) seem to be more political propaganda than religious thought.

New International Encyclopedia of Bible Difficulties [NEW INTL ENCY OF BIBLE DIFFICU]

I purchased this book to send to a native missionary in Zimbabwe. My preacher recommended it as a helpful book!