You know, as a pretty young Christian, I grew up with the idea that it's a given that the Bible is reliable. I was given the impression that anyone who said otherwise is either ignorant, an idiot, or a liar with an agenda. The Christian community, when it comes to apologetics, can oftentimes lack nuance and objectivity, and terribly so. As I came into contact with more counterarguments, I really had to be more careful and objective with my research.
It's important for us to know whether the Gospels record accurate history or not. If we are going to base our faith on one man, Jesus Christ, whom we deem to be a real, historical figure, we better know for sure that the sources we use for His life are at least mostly accurate. And no, simply saying "The Gospels are inspired therefore they are true" will not cut it for me. Reading this book was very refreshing. Blomberg's methods are very careful and well-rounded. I'll say more about this later.
This was the first scholarly work that I've read in a while, and boy oh boy, it was not the easiest read. For this reason, I will remain humble and stay in my lane for this review and let the scholars be the scholars.
Overview
The Historical Reliability of The Gospels seeks to argue for the Gospels' historical reliability (wow I just repeated a lot of words lol). Do they record real history accurately? Or are they simply legends?
Blomberg begins by talking about the various different methods that are used in this field of study and critiquing those that he deemed ineffective.
Next is the bulk of the book. Blomberg addresses a wide array of issues that may undermine the Gospels' historicity. Subjects include miraculous claims, supposed contradictions in the Gospels, the problems pertaining to John, and much more. Blomberg discusses these issues in-depth and answers many very specific objections.
In the final sections of the book, Blomberg talks about some final considerations for determining the Gospels' historicity. He talks about the genre of the Gospels, criteria for historical authenticity, and a few more topics for consideration.
This is by no means a casual read, it's not the longest book in the world, but a lot of the language is pretty technical and will take several read-throughs to fully understand.
Why Read This?
As mentioned in the intro, it's important for us to understand why the Gospels are reliable history. If Jesus Christ never existed, or the accounts we have for His existence are fraudulent, then we have no solid hope for our eternal future. This book is a good place to start for someone who wants to dig deeper into this avenue of apologetics. Blomberg is a prominent Bible scholar, I found his works through Lee Strobel's The Case for Christ.
Blomberg's approach, which he emphasizes in the final chapter of the book, is refreshing. Blomberg is not interested in using "divine inspiration" (as important as this is) as an argument for the reliability of the Gospels, as many Christians like to do. He seeks to establish historical reliability through objective means. This approach is helpful for those who are not convinced of divine inspiration. It might just get their foot through the door. If the gospels truly are divinely inspired history, then they should stand up to tests of historicity we use for other documents!
I highly recommend this work to anyone who is seeking a deeper understanding of why the Bible is reliable.
Potential Pitfalls
The edition of this book I read is like, very old, it's from the 80s, so that's like, almost 40 years old. The book was so crusty that it was literally falling apart in my hand. I would recommend getting the newest edition of this book. Since this book's publication, I'm sure scholarship would have made countless new discoveries that changed the conversation, thankfully many new works regarding this topic have come out since then. I want to read them, you should too.
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