B.H. Carroll’s Pastoral Theology
Southwestern Journal of Theology
Volume 58, No. 2 – Spring 2016
Managing Editor: W. Madison Grace II
Truth Matters: Confident Faith in a Confusing World. By Andreas J. Köstenberger, Darrell L. Bock, and Josh D. Chatraw. Nashville: B&H, 2014. 188 pages. Hardcover. $12.99.
Truth in a Culture of Doubt: Engaging Skeptical Challenges to the Bible. By Andreas J. Köstenberger, Darrell L. Bock, and Josh D. Chatraw. Nashville: B&H Academic, 2014. 224 pages. Paperback. $19.99.
Recognizing Western society’s long drift away from absolute truth claims and its overall inclination towards overwhelming skepticism and suspicion towards the biblical texts, these complementary books address these issues head-on by providing an apologetic through evidence supporting a proper orthodox understanding of various doctrinal theologies important to Christianity. The books are a joint collaboration between Andreas J. Köstenberger, Senior Research Professor at Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary, Darrell L. Bock, Senior Research Professor at Dallas Theological Seminary, and Josh D. Chatraw, Associate Professor at Liberty University. Employing former evangelical and present skeptic, Bart D. Ehrman (b. 1955), a New Testament scholar and textual critic, as an exemplar of the skeptic’s position, the authors choose to respond to specific arguments that Ehrman has claimed in his writings. Their thesis is that Ehrman’s position is generally indicative of the Christian skeptics’ position—a disbelief in the reliability of the Bible and the truth claims of the historical Christian faith. The authors reason that if they can successfully provide a reasonable defense of the Christian faith to Ehrman’s claim, they have addressed and negated many of the general skeptic’s objections.
Truth Matters: Confident Faith in a Confusing World is written in a style and manner that is well-suited for high school and university students who are about to enter, or have recently entered into a classroom setting that is hostile to the Christian worldview. Truth in a Culture of Doubt: Engaging Skeptical Challenges to the Bible specifically addresses in greater detail and depth some of the most noteworthy challenges Ehrman has proposed to the Christian faith including the following: (1) the presence of suffering, (2) apparent biblical contradictions, (3) claimed manuscript corruptions, (4) the vast number of different expressions of the Christian faith, and (5) the possibility that the texts are not genuine.
In Truth Matters, the authors begin by pointing out that no one can absolutely prove the Christian faith. They argue that it is not absolute certainty that is required, but rather reasonable certainty, the same type of certainty that is employed in decision-making. If the skeptic is to demand absolute certainty from the Christian, the response to the skeptics is to state that skeptics cannot meet their own demands for certainty regarding their own claims and to state that the correct bar is reasonable certainty.
Suffering and pain are part of the condition of the world. The skeptic wants to know why this is so, and to claim that because it exists, we should be skeptical regarding the goodness of any so-called Christian God. The Christian’s understanding of the grand meta-narrative of Creation-Fall-Redemption explains why things are the way they are and why the crucifixion of Jesus points to God’s intended final solution for His creation.
Skeptics also take issue that the original manuscripts are missing and consequently claim the original words and meaning are now potentially not original. However, the manuscript evidence for the Scriptures is at least of an order of magnitude better than anything else we have. It is in fact the most well-attested and best-preserved ancient text that exists in the world.
Christianity was not something that came to be because of an ecclesial council, backroom power brokers, or politicians such as Constantine the Great (272–337), as skeptics including Ehrman believe. The rules of faith were in place early and are partially reflected in the New Testament witness. The mission was known, the early church understood the apostles’ teaching, and their message was the gospel of Jesus Christ. The faith of the early church was not corrupted, but is rather the proper and true faith of Christianity. The central point of the entire Bible is the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ, fully God and fully man. The skeptic wants to deny that we know that Jesus Christ really resurrected from the dead. The alternative explanations made by the skeptics are unsatisfactory based on the witness of the gospel writers, the nature and number of the witnesses, and the historical impact.
The authors conclude by saying the Christian faith is reasonable, not blind. Christians can read and trust that their Bibles contain the story that God wanted told.
Truth in a Culture of Doubt takes the items discussed in Truth Matters and addresses each major contention of Ehrman by breaking it down into a multipoint claim. The authors then examine each individual claim and address it by providing evidence that discredit the various claims of Ehrman. Because the essential highlevel points being discussed so closely correlate to the material in Truth Matters, the material presented in Truth in a Culture of Doubt often appears a second time. The positive is that this allows both books to stand alone in their defenses. The drawback to this approach is that the reader is reading large sections of text that exist in the other book.
Readers should be aware that the amount of overlap between the two books is substantial and that it may have been better to connect these two titles in a more intentional way than just leading off with the word “Truth.” Truth in a Culture of Doubt is largely a repackaged Truth Matters for those who prefer and desire the more formal, yet highly readable argument. Whereas Truth Matters appeals to a general audience, Truth in a Culture of Doubt is better suited for those who want a closer look at Ehrman’s claims. My suggestion to any potential reader is to determine which approach appeals to you more and read that one.
