Usually skeptics point out that the Bible contains errors, discrepancies and contradictions that cannot be resolved. These charges may involve logical fallacies such as argument from ignorance, argument from emotion, special pleading, wishful thinking and argument from personal incredulity. Those who take the time to study the verses-in-question and take context into consideration, can discover that alleged discrepancies are resolvable. This webpage is a "one-stop-shopping" site of scholars who have addressed this very topic. We invite sincere researchers to peruse this material carefully with the same standards as they would any historical document.

Scotland Yard official. Read about Anderson here.

• The Bible and Modern Criticism, with a preface by the Right Reverend Handley C. G. Moule. 5th edition. London: Hodder and Stoughton, 1905. xvi, 281, 1 pp.
• A Doubter's Doubt about Science and Religion or In Defence: A Plea for the Faith. Third edition. Pickering & Inglis, 1924. 176 pp.
  The fetich of "modern criticism" seems to have a sinister influence even on scholars of eminence. The Samaritan Bible is conclusive proof that the "critical hypothesis" of the origin of the Pentateuch is absolutely untenable. And its acceptance by the Higher Critics is proof of their utter incapacity in dealing with evidence.
  And this leads me to say with emphasis that the grounds on which these men claim the the "Higher Criticism" as their own peculiar province are as futile as are their arguments in its support. The language of the incriminated books has very little bearing on the issues involved; and in the case of the Pentateuch its testimony is against the critics. The problems of the controversy fall within the sphere, not of philology, but of evidence. And this being so, a Professor of Theology or of Hebrew, as such, has no special fitness for dealing with them. "As such" I say, for of course a knowledge of languages and of Biblical literature is not a disqualification. But experience abundantly proves that the pursuit of studies of that character creates no fitness for handling problems of evidence; and these should be left to men who by training and practical experience are qualified for the task. Proofs of this, both numerous and striking, might be culled from the controversy respecting the genuineness of the Book of Daniel. But I have published so much on that subject elsewhere, that I will not introduce it here.
• Works.

President and founder of The Ankerberg Theological Research Institute. Read about Dr. Ankerberg here.

• With John Weldon. "An Examination of the Alleged Contradictions in the Resurrection Narratives -- Part 1" . Alleged Contradiction #1 - Who first came to the tomb and when did they arrive?
• With John Weldon. "An Examination of the Alleged Contradictions in the Resurrection Narratives -- Part 2". Alleged Contradiction #2 - The angels at the tomb: How many angels were at the tomb - one or two - where and in what position were they located - and were they angels or men?
• With John Weldon. "An Examination of the Alleged Contradictions in the Resurrection Narratives -- Part 3". Alleged contradiction #3: Do the message of the angels to the women at the tomb and the women's response conflict in the Gospel accounts?
• With John Weldon. "An Examination of the Alleged Contradictions in the Resurrection Narratives -- Part 4" . The fourth alleged contradiction: Do Jesus' Resurrection appearances conflict with one another?
• With John Weldon. "An Examination of the Alleged Contradictions in the Resurrection Narratives -- Part 5" .1. Are the details surrounding the crucifixion contradictory?; 2. Are the details concerning the events that occurred around the time of Jesus' death contradictory?; and 3. Are the events surrounding Jesus' burial contradictory?
• Staff. The Sign of Jonah -- HTML version. Jesus said that, just as Jonah was in the belly of the great fish, so He would be in the grave for three days and three nights. Now, if Jesus was crucified on Friday and rose on Sunday, where do you get three days and three nights? Is that a lie, a contradiction, or is there a reasonable explanation?

• James Montgomery Boice, editor. "The Witness of the Bible to Its Own Inerrancy". From The Foundation of Biblical Authority. London & Glasgow: Pickering & Inglis, 1979. Pbk. ISBN: 072080437X. pp. 85-99.
• A Survey of Old Testament Introduction. Moody Press, Chicago. 1964. Pages 105-110.
• A Survey of Old Testament Introduction. Moody Publishers, October 1, 2007. 508 pages. Buy this book here.
• The Authorship of the Pentateuch. From A Survey of Old Testament Introduction, Moody Press, Chicago. 1964. Pages 105-110.
• New International Encyclopedia of Bible Difficulties. Zondervan: August 1, 2001. 480 pages. Buy this book here. "Referencing both the New International Version and the New American Standard Bible, this helpful resource makes scholarly insights accessible to everyone. Whether you're a student, pastor, everyday Bible-lover, or even a skeptic, the New International Encyclopedia of Bible Difficulties will show you why the Bible is believable and dependable, with a message you can live by."

Australian apologist. Read about Ballard here.

• Harmonizing the Resurrection Accounts. Answers to specific alleged contradictions.

Theologian. Learn more about Barnes here.

• Lectures on the Evidences of Christianity in the Nineteenth Century. Delivered in the Mercer street church, New York, January 21 to February 21, 1867, on the "Ely foundation" of the Union theological seminary. New York, Harper & brothers, 1868. vi, 451 pp. 20 cm Series: Ely lectureship on the evidences of Christianity.
• Inquiries and Suggestions in regard to the foundation of faith in the Word of God. Philadelphia, Parry and McMillan [c1858]. 176 pp.
• Notes, explanatory and practical, on the general epistles of James, Peter, John and Jude. New York: Harper, 1868, c1847. xviii, 459 pp.; 19 cm
• New Testament Notes
• Notes on the New Testament, Explanatory and Practical
• Notes on the Old Testament Explanatory and Practical: Job Volume 1.
• Notes on the Old Testament Explanatory and Practical: Psalms Volume 1.
• Notes on the Old Testament Explanatory and Practical: Psalms Volume 2.
• Notes on the Old Testament Explanatory and Practical: Psalms Volume 3
• Notes on the Old Testament Explanatory and Practical: Isaiah Volume 1.
• Notes on the Old Testament Explanatory and Practical: Isaiah Volume 2.
• Notes on the Old Testament Explanatory and Practical: Daniel Volume 1.
• Notes on the Old Testament Explanatory and Practical: Daniel Volume 2.

• The Four Gospels from a Lawyer's Standpoint. Boston: Houghton, Mifflin, 1899. xi, 58 pp.; 18 cm. (TM): In this brief book, Edmund Bennett (1824-1898), a probate judge in New York for over two decades and Dean of the School of Law at Boston University for 23 years, gives an overview of the peculiarities of each gospel, the confirmations of authenticity and veracity of the narratives by small details easily overlooked and not credibly the product of collusion, variations in the gospels, and alleged inconsistencies in the gospels. Though it is by no means a work of deep scholarship, it is a competent and very readable summary of some important points and a model of clear presentation for a nonspecialist audience.
• John Warwick Montgomery, editor. "Editor's introduction to this inaugural issue and to Bennett's Four Gospels". Simon Greenleaf Law Review, n. 1. 1981. pp. 1-14.

English minister. Learn more about Benson here. Disclaimer: Though Benson held to Socinian views, his work is often cited by orthodox writers, so he has been included here.

• The Reasonableness of the Christian Religion, as delivered in the Scriptures. In four parts. Part I. Contains the arguments for the truth of the Christian religion. Part II. The answers to the difficulties and objections proposed by the anti-revelationists. Part III. An interpretation of several texts, which they have perverted. Part IV. A vindication of the three preceding parts. The third edition. London: printed for J. Waugh; and W. Fenner, 1759. Volume 1; Volume 2
• The History of the first planting of the Christian religion taken from the Acts of the Apostles, and their Epistles. In three volumes. The second edition carefully corrected, and with large additions. London: printed and sold by J. Waugh and W. Fenner, 1755-1756. Volume 1 of 3; Volume 2; Volume 3.

Distinguished Professor of the New Testament at Denver Seminary in Colorado. Read about Professor Blomberg here.

• Do John and the Synoptics Contradict Each Other on the Passover?. Posted February 17, 2009.

Theologian. Read more about Boettner here.

• The Inspiration Of Scripture. Also here.
• The Holy Trinity.

Mathematician and lecturer. Learn more about Chalmers here and here

• Evidence and Authority of the Christian Revelation. 6th edition. Andover [Mass.]: Published and sold by Mark Newman, 1818. (Andover: Flagg & Gould). 172 pp.; 23 cm. Extracts of the first five chapters regarding testimony. Extract, Chapter 3, On the Internal Marks of Truth and Honesty to be Found in the New Testament.

  "In other cases, when we compare the narratives of contemporary historians, it is not expected that all the circumstances alluded to by one will be taken notice of by the rest; and it often happens that an event or a custom is admitted upon the faith of a single historian; and the silence of all other writers is not suffered to attach suspicion or discredit to his testimony. It is an allowed principle, that a scrupulous resemblance between two histories is very far from necessary to their being held consistent with one another. And what is more, it sometimes happens that, with contemporary historians, there may be an apparent contradiction, and the credit of both parties remain as entire and unsuspicious as before. Posterity is, in these cases, disposed to make the most liberal allowances. Instead of calling it a contradiction, they often call it a difficulty. They are sensible that, in many instances a seeming variety of statement has, upon a more extensive knowledge of ancient history, admitted of a perfect reconciliation. Instead, then, of referring the difficulty in question to the inaccuracy or bad faith of any of the parties, they, with more justness and more modesty, refer it to their own ignorance, and to that obscurity which necessarily hangs over the history of every remote age. These principles are suffered to have great influence in every secular investigation; but so soon as, instead of a secular, it becomes a sacred investigation, every ordinary principle is abandoned, and the suspicion annexed to the teachers of religion is carried to the dereliction of all that candor and liberality with which every other document of antiquity is judged of and appreciated.

  How does it happen that the authority of Josephus should be acquiesced in as a first principle, while every step, in the narrative of the evangelists, must have foreign testimony to confirm and support it? How comes it that the silence of Josephus should be construed into an impeachment of the testimony of the evangelists, while it is never admitted, for a single moment, that the silence of the evangelists, can impart the slightest blemish to the testimony of Josephus? How comes it, that the supposition of two Philips in one family should throw a damp of skepticism over the Gospel narrative, while the only circumstance which renders that supposition necessary is the single testimony of Josephus; in which very testimony it is necessarily implied that there are two Herods in that same family? How comes it, that the evangelists, with as much internal, and a vast deal more of external evidence in their favor, should be made to stand before Josephus, like so many prisoners at the bar of justice? In any other case, we are convinced that this would be looked upon as rough handling. But we are not softy for it. It has given more triumph and confidence to the argument. And it is no small addition to our faith, that its first teachers have survived an examination, which, in point of rigor and severity, we believe to be quite unexampled in the annals of criticism."

• On the Miraculous and Internal Evidences of the Christian Revelation. Books I and II. New York: Leavitt, Lord, & Co.; Boston: Crocker and Brewster, 1836. Books III and IV. New York: Robert Carter, 1840. From The Works of Thomas Chalmers.

Congressional representative. Read more about Chandler here.

• The Trial of Jesus from a Lawyer's Standpoint. New York: The Empire Publishing Co., 1908. Volume 1, Volume 2, Volume 1 special extract: on bias.

  In considering this phase of the credibility of the Gospel writers, it must again be remembered that the question of inspiration has no place in this discussion; and that Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John must be regarded simply as secular historians. The reader is urged to consider the biographers of the Christ as he would consider ordinary witnesses in a court of law; to apply to them the same tests of credibility; to sift and weigh their testimony in the same manner; and to subject them to the same rules of cross-examination. If this is done, it is felt that the result will be entirely favorable to the veracity and integrity of the sacred writers.

  In considering the subject of discrepancies it should be constantly kept in mind that contradictions in testimony do not necessarily mean that there has been falsehood or bad faith on the part of the witnesses. Every lawyer of experience and every adult citizen of average intelligence knows that this is true. Men of unquestioned veracity and incorruptible integrity are frequently arrayed against each other in both civil and criminal trials, and the record reveals irreconcilable contradictions in their testimony. Not only do prosecutions for perjury not follow, but, in many instances, the witnesses are not even suspected of bad faith or an intention to falsify. Defects in sight, hearing, or memory; superior advantage in the matter of observation; or a sudden change in the position of one or both the parties, causing distraction of attention, at the time of the occurrence of the events involved in litigation--all or any of these conditions, as well as many others, may create discrepancies and contradictions where there is a total absence of any intention to misrepresent. A thorough appreciation of this fact will greatly aid in a clear understanding of this phase of the discussion. Again, an investigation of the charge of discrepancy against the Gospel writers shows that the critics and skeptics have classified mere omissions as contradictions. Nothing could be more absurd than to consider an omission a contradiction, unless the requirements of the case show that the facts and circumstances omitted were essential to be stated, or that the omission was evidently intended to mislead or deceive. Any other contention would turn historical literature topsy-turvy and load it down with contradictions. Dion Cassius, Tacitus, and Suetonius have all written elaborately of the reign of Tiberius. Many things are mentioned by each that are not recorded by the other two. Are we to reject all three as unreliable historians because of this fact? Abbott, Hazlitt, Bourrienne, and Walter Scott have written biographies of Napoleon Bonaparte. No one of them has recited all the facts recorded by the others. Are these omissions to destroy the merits of all these writers and cause them to be suspected and rejected? Grafton's Chronicles rank high in English historical literature. They comprise the reign of King John; and yet make no mention of the granting of Magna Charta. This is as if the life of Jefferson had been written without mention of the Declaration of Independence; or a biography of Lincoln without calling attention to the Emancipation Proclamation. Notwithstanding this strange omission, Englishmen still preserve Grafton's Chronicles as valuable records among their archives. And the same spirit of generous criticism is everywhere displayed in matters of profane literature. The opponents of Christianity are never embarrassed in excusing or explaining away omissions or contradictions, provided the writer is a layman and his subject secular. But let the theme be a sacred one, and the author an ecclesiasticpreacher, priest, or prophet--and immediately incredulity rises to high tide, engulfs the reason, and destroys all dispassionate criticism. Could it be forgotten for a moment that Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John were biographers of the Christ, a sacred person, no difficulties would arise in the matter of inconsistencies, no objections would be made to their credibility. The slight discrepancies that undoubtedly exist would pass unnoticed, or be forever buried under the weight of an overwhelming conviction that they are, in the main, accurate and truthful.

  " The reader should most carefully consider the useful as well as the damaging effect of Gospel inconsistencies in the matter of the credibility of the Evangelists. A certain class of persons have imagined the Gospel writers to be common conspirators who met together at the same time and place to devise ways and means of publishing a false report to the world. This is a silly supposition, since it is positively known that the authors of the Evangelical narratives wrote and published them at different times and places. Moreover, the style and contents of the books themselves negative the idea of a concerted purpose to deceive. And, besides, the very inconsistencies themselves show that there was no "confederacy and fraud"; since intelligent conspirators would have fabricated exactly the same story in substantially the same language.

  Furthermore, a just and impartial criticism will consider not only the discrepant but also the corroborative elements in the New Testament histories. It should not be forgotten that the authors of the Gospels were independent historians who wrote at different times and places. Then, in all matters of fact in which there is a common agreement, they may be said to fully corroborate each other. And it may be contended without fear of successful contradiction that, when so considered, there will be found numerous cases of , corroboration where there is one of discord or inconsistency.

• Clarrie Briese, Witnesses to the Resurrection: Credible or Not?.

Church of England clergyman.

• A Discourse concerning the authority, stile, and perfection of the books of the Old and New Testament, with a continued illustration of several difficult texts of Scripture throughout the whole work. The 2nd ed. corrected. London: Printed by J.D. for Jonathan Robinson and John Wyat, 1696. [16], 423, [7] pp.; 19 cm.
• An Enquiry into four remarkable texts of the New Testament which contain some difficulty in them, with a probable resolution of them. Cambridge: Printed by J. Hayes for W. Graves, 1692. [19], 266, [1] pp.
• A Farther Enquiry into several remarkable texts of the Old and New Testament which contain some difficulty in them, with a probable resolution of them. The second edition. London: Printed and sold by Richard Wilkin, 1694. [8], 360 pp.

Clergyman. Read more about Eliot here.

• The Harmony of the Gospels: in the holy history of the humiliation and sufferings of Jesus Christ, from his incarnation to his death and burial. Published by John Eliot, teacher of the church in Roxbury. Boston; 1678. [4], 131, [1] pp.; 19 cm.

Professor of Divinity, Free Church College, Aberdeen. Read about Fairbairn here.

• The Typology of Scripture. Second Edition, much enlarged and improved. Philadelphia, 1854.
• British North Review, v. 15. August 1851. The Typology of Scripture, pp. 389-418. Review of this and other science-based works.

Apologists. Read about Forster and Marston here.

• "The Resurrection of Jesus: A Harmony of the Resurrection Accounts". Based upon the outline given in Reason & Faith, R. Forster & P. Marston, Monarch Publications, 1989, p 79 - 108.

Apologist.

• The Internal Evidence of the Genuineness and Authenticity of the Gospels. Cambridge: Goode, 1817.
• On the Evidences of Christianity, as they were stated and enforced in the discourses of our Lord: Comprising a connected view of the claims which Jesus advanced, of the arguments by which he supported them, and of his statements respecting the causes, progress, and consequences of infidelity / by James Clarke Franks. Other Entries: Frank's Hulsean lecture. Cambridge: Printed by J. Smith, printer to the university and sold by Messrs. Rivington, 1821. xxvi, 529, [1] pp.; 22 cm. Series: Hulsean lectures; 1821 Notes: Spine title: Frank's Hulsean lecture.

Founder, Jesus Saves Ministries. Read more about Gastrich here.

• Dan Barker's Easter Challenge.
• The Skeptic's Annotated Bible: Corrected and Explained.

Swiss divine. Read more about Gaussen here and here

• Theopneustia; The Plenary Inspiration of the Holy Scriptures. Edinburgh: Johnstone & Hunter, 1850. vi, [5]-365 pp.; 18 cm.

Scottish clergyman. Read more about Geikie here.

• Hours with the Bible: or, The Scriptures in the light of modern discovery and knowledge. New York: J. Pott & Co. 1881-1886.
• The Holy Land and the Bible: A Book of Scripture Illustrations gathered in Palestine. London, etc.: Cassell & Co., 1887. 2 volumes: maps; 23 cm.

Apologist. Learn more about Geisler here.

• Alleged Errors in the Bible.
• Alleged Errors in the Bible--Part 2 -- HTML version.
• Alleged Errors in the Bible--Part 3 -- HTML version.
• Alleged Errors in the Bible--Part 4 -- HTML version.
• Alleged Errors in Luke -- HTML version.
• Noah's Flood -- HTML version.
• Christ of Faith vs. Jesus of History -- HTML version.
• Was Adam a Real, Historical Person? -- HTML version.
• Baker Encyclopedia of Christian Apologetics. Baker Publishing Group, October 1998, 864 pp. Buy this book here.
• With R. Brooks. When Skeptics Ask. Baker Publishing Group, February 1990. 348 pp. Buy this book here.
• With Thomas Howe. When Critics Ask (A Popular Handbook on Bible Difficulties). Baker Publishing Group, August 1992. 615 pp. Buy this book here.

  ?The Bible is without mistake, but the critics are not. All their allegations of error in the Bible are based on some error of their own. Their mistakes fall into the following main categories.

  1. Assuming that the unexplained is not explainable.
  2. Presuming the Bible guilty until proven innocent.
  3. Confusing our fallible interpretations with God's infallible revelation.
  4. Failing to understand the context of the passage.
  5. Neglecting to interpret difficult passages in the light of clear ones.
  6. Basing a teaching on an obscure passage.
  7. Forgetting that the Bible is a human book with human characteristics.
  8. Assuming that a partial report is a false report.
  9. Demanding that NT citations of the OT always be exact quotations.
  10. Assuming that divergent accounts are false ones.
  11. Presuming that the Bible approves of all its records.
  12. Forgetting that the Bible uses non-technical, everyday language.
  13. Assuming that round numbers are false.
  14. Neglecting to note that the Bible uses different literary devices.
  15. Forgetting that only the original text, not every copy of scripture, is without error.
  16. Confusing general statements with universal ones.
  17. Forgetting that latter revelation supersedes previous revelation."
  

Scottish religious leader. Read more about Gib here.

• Tables for the Four Evangelists: Containing, I. The Harmony of the Gospels ... VII. A view of the places where our Lord sojourned. The 2d edition. To which is now added, an analysis, historical & critical, of the New-Testament scriptures. Edinburgh: printed by Thomas Maccliesh & Co., for Ogle & Aikman - G. Peattie, Leith - and M. Ogle, Glasgow, 1800. 40 pp.

Bible expositor. Read more about Gill here.

• An Exposition of the New Testament, in three volumes. London, 1746-48. 802 pp. Vol. 1 of 3.
• An Exposition of the New Testament, in three volumes . London, 1746-48. 800 pp. Vol. 2 of 3.
• An Exposition of the New Testament, in three volumes. London, 1746-48. 819 pp. Vol. 3 of 3.
• An Exposition of the Old Testament. Vol. I. Containing, I. Genesis. II. Exodus. III. Leviticus. IV. Numbers.. London, 1763-65. 828 pp. Vol. 1 of 4.
• An Exposition of the Old Testament, ... Vol. II. Containing, I. Deuteronomy. II. Joshua. III. Judges. IV. Ruth. V. I.. London, 1763-65. 794 pp. Vol. 2 of 4.
• An Exposition of the Old Testament, ... Vol. III. Containing, I. I Chronicles. II. II Chronicles. III. Ezra. IV. Nehemiah. V. .... London, 1763-65. 776 pp. Vol. 3 of 4.
• An Exposition of the Old Testament, ... Vol. IV. Containing, Psalms, the latter part, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, and Song of Solomon. By John Gill, D.D. . London, 1763-65. 648 pp. Vol. 4 of 4.
• Exposition of the entire Bible.
• John Gill's Archive.

Royall Professor of Law, Harvard University, 1834. Doctor of Laws degree by Harvard in 1834, Doctor of Laws by Amherst in 1845, and again from the University of Alabama in 1852. H. W. Howard Knott, Dictionary of American Biography: "While engaged in tutorial work he prepared what was originally intended as a text-book on evidence, published in 1842 as A Treatise on the Law of Evidence. The profession at once hailed it as the ablest extant work on the subject, distinguished alike for its deep learning, clarity of style, and practical utility. He added a second volume in 1846, and a third in 1853. In its completed form it came to be regarded as the foremost American authority, and passed through numerous editions under successive editors." Learn more about Greenleaf here.
The Law Magazine: or Quarterly Review of Jurisprudence. London: W. Benning and Co., Law Booksellers, 1845. Events of the Quarter, p. 350. "It is no mean honor to America that her schools of jurisprudence have produced two of the first writers and best esteemed legal authorities of this century--the great and good man, Judge Story, and his worthy and eminent associate, Professor Greenleaf. Upon the existing Law of Evidence more light has shone from the New World than from all the lawyers who adorn the courts of Europe."
Disclaimer: Greenleaf is known to have been associated with Freemasonry and was author of A Brief Inquiry into the Origin and Principles of Free Masonry (1820).

• The Testimony of the Evangelists. New York: 1874. Text-searchable. HTML version of his primary essay, with hyperlinks to his references.
  (TM): We are indebted to Simon Greenleaf (1783-1853), professor of Law at Harvard University, for one of the most interesting in the series of apologetic works by lawyers--a tradition that stretches back to Hugo Grotius's Truth of the Christian Religion. Greenleaf's work begins with a short, thought-provoking monograph on the application of the rules of evidence to the gospel accounts, stressing the canons of the ancient document rule and the principles of cross-examination in the evaluation of the testimony of the witnesses to the resurrection. Following this, and filling the bulk of the book in the online editions, there is a very extensive harmony of the gospels, drawn up according to the scheme of Edward Robinson's Harmony of the Four Gospels in Greek, with running commentary in the footnotes dealing with various skeptical objections and doubtful points in the narratives. The book is rounded out with Greenleaf's abridgment of Robinson's essay on the harmonization of the resurrection narratives and an examination of the trial of Jesus. A translation of M. Dupin's response to the critical arguments of Salvator is contained in all editions from the second onward. The copy of the second edition linked here contains Greenleaf's signature.
  • The North American Review, v. 53, n. 133, October 1846, pp. 382-432. "It is the production of an able and profound lawyer, a man who has grown gray in the halls of justice and the schools of jurisprudence; a writer of the highest authority on legal subjects, whose life has been spent in weighing testimony and sifting evidence, and whose published opinions on the rules of evidence are received as authoritative in all the English and American tribunals; for fourteen years the highly respected colleague of the late Mr. Justice Story, and also the honored head of the most distinguished and prosperous school of English law in the world."
  • New York Observer, October 24, 1846, p. 170. "The author is a lawyer, very learned in his profession, acute, critical, and used to raising and meeting practical doubts. Author of a treatise on the law of evidence, which has become a classic in the hands of the profession which he adorns, and teacher in one of the Law Seminaries which do honor to our country in the eyes of Europe, he brings rare qualifications for the task he assumes. That he should, with the understanding and from the heart, accept the Gospel as the truth, avow it as his Hope, and seek to discharge a duty to his fellow-men by laying before them the grounds on which he founds this acceptance and this hope, are cheering circumstances to the Christian, and present strong appeals to the indifferent.
• An Examination of the Testimony of the Four Evangelists, by the Rules of Evidence Administered in Courts of Justice with an Account of the Trial of Jesus. London, Second edition, 1847.

  § 28. Proceeding further, to inquire whether the facts related by the Four Evangelists are proved by competent and satisfactory evidence, we are led, first, to consider on which side lies the burden of establishing the credibility of the witnesses. On this point the municipal law furnishes a rule, which is of constant application in all trials by jury, and is indeed the dictate of that charity which thinketh no evil:

  In the absence of circumstances which generate suspicion, every witness is to be presumed credible, until the contrary is shown; the burden of impeaching his credibility lying on the objector.⁴⁹

  This rule serves to show the injustice with which the writers of the Gospels have ever been treated by infidels; an injustice silently acquiesced in even by Christians; in requiring the Christian affirmatively, and by positive evidence, aliunde, to establish, the credibility of his witnesses above all others, before their testimony is entitled to be considered, and in permitting the testimony of a single profane writer, alone and uncorroborated, to outweigh that of any single Christian. This is not the course in courts of chancery, where the testimony of a single witness is never permitted to outweigh the oath even of the defendant himself, interested as he is in the cause but, on the contrary, if the plaintiff, after having required the oath of his adversary, cannot overthrow it by something more than the oath of one witness, however credible, it must stand as evidence against him. But the Christian writer seems, by the usual course of the argument, to have been deprived of the common presumption of charity in his favor; and reversing the ordinary rule of administering justice in human tribunals, his testimony is unjustly presumed to be false, until it is proved to be true. This treatment, moreover, has been applied to them all in a body; and, without due regard to the fact, that, being independent historians, writing at different periods, they are entitled to the support of each other: they have been treated, in the argument, almost as if the New Testament were the entire production, at once, of a body of men, conspiring by a joint fabrication, to impose a false religion upon the world. It is time that this injustice should cease; that the testimony of the evangelists should be admitted to be true, until it can be disproved by those who would impugn it; that the silence of one sacred writer on any point should no more detract from his own veracity or that of the other historians, than the like circumstance is permitted to do among profane writers; and that the Four Evangelists should be admitted in corroboration of each other, as readily as Josephus and Tacitus, or Polybius and Livy.⁵⁰

  § 34. In the third place, as to their number and the consistency of their testimony. The character of their narratives is like that of all other true witnesses, containing, as Dr. Paley observes, substantial truth, under circumstantial variety. There is enough of discrepancy to show that there could have been no previous concert among them, and at the same time such substantial agreement as to show that they all were independent narrators of the same great transaction, as the events actually occurred. That they conspired to impose falsehood upon the world is, moreover, utterly inconsistent with the supposition that they were honest men; a fact, to the proofs of which we have already adverted. But if they were bad men, still the idea of any conspiracy among them is negatived, not only by the discrepancies alluded to, but by many other circumstances which will be mentioned hereafter; from all which, it is manifest that if they concerted a false story, they sought its accomplishment by a mode quite the opposite to that which all others are found to pursue, to attain the same end. On this point the profound remark of an eminent writer is to dour purpose; that "in a number of concurrent testimonies, where there has been no previous concert, there is a probability distinct from that which may be termed the sum of the probabilities resulting from the testimonies of the witnesses; a probability which would remain, even though the witnesses were of such a character as to merit no faith at all. This probability arises from the concurrence itself. That such a concurrence should spring from chance is as one to infinite; that is, in other words, morally impossible. If therefore concert be excluded, there remains no cause but the reality of the fact."⁵⁵

  § 35. The discrepancies between the narratives of the several evangelists, when carefully examined, will not be found sufficient to invalidate their testimony. Many seeming contradictions will prove, upon closer scrutiny, to be in substantial agreement; and it may be confidently asserted that there are none that will not yield, under fair and just criticism. If these different accounts of the same transactions were in strict verbal conformity with each other, the argument against their credibility would be much stronger. All that is asked for these witnesses is that their testimony may be regarded as we regard the testimony of men in the ordinary affairs of life. This they are justly entitled to; and this no honorable adversary can refuse. We might, indeed, take higher ground than this, and confidently claim for them the severest scrutiny; but our present purpose is merely to try their veracity by the ordinary tests of truth, admitted in human tribunals.

  § 36. If the evidence of the evangelists is to be rejected because of a few discrepancies among them, we shall be obliged to discard that of many of the contemporaneous histories on which we are accustomed to rely. Dr. Paley has noticed the contradiction between Lord Clarendon and Burnett and others in regard to Lord Strafford's execution: the former stating that he was condemned to be hanged, which was done on the same day and the latter all relating that on a Saturday he was sentenced to the block, and was beheaded on the following Monday. Another striking instance of discrepancy has since occurred, in the narratives of the different members of the royal family of France, of their flight from Paris to Varennes, in 1792. These narratives, ten in number, and by eye-witnesses and personal actions in the transactions they relate, contradict each other, some in trivial and some on more essential points, but in every case in a wonderful and inexplicable manner. ⁵⁶ Yet these contradictions do not, in the general public estimation, detract from the integrity of the narrators, nor from the credibility of their relations. In the points in which they agree, and which constitute the great body of their narratives, their testimony is of course not doubted where they differ, we reconcile them, as well as we may; and where this cannot be done at all, we follow that light which seems to us the clearest. Upon the principles of the skeptic, we should be bound utterly to disbelieve them all. On the contrary, we apply to such cases the rules which, in daily experience, our judges instruct juries to apply, in weighing and reconciling the testimony of different witnesses; and which the courts themselves observe, in comparing and reconciling different and sometimes discordant reports of the same decisions. This remark applies especially to some alleged discrepancies in the reports which the several evangelists have given of the same discourses of our Lord.⁵⁷

  Notes on the Resurrection. 1846 edition.
  • See also Simon Greenleaf's Harmony of the Resurrection Accounts. Adapted by W.R. Miller.
  • Simon Greenleaf on the Gospel of Mark. Extract from Testimony of the Evangelists.

Lord Chief Justice of England. Read about Hale here.

• The Harmony of the Four Evangelists; or, The History of incarnation, miracles, doctrine, sufferings, and ascension of our Blessed Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ: being a collection of the four Evangelists, Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, into one continued history. London: Printed by Geo. James for the editor, 1720. 244pp. Compiled by Sir Matthew Hale. cf. Dedication. Editor's dedication signed: John Coren. The engravings are mainly after Le Brun and were published by Drevet in Paris.

Geologist.

• A New analysis of chronology: in which an attempt is made to explain the history and antiquities of the primitive nations of the world, and the prophecies relating to them ... / by William Hales. 2nd edition, corrected and improved. Volume 1 of 4. Volume 2 of 4. Volume 3 of 4. Volume 4 of 4. London: Printed for C.J.G. & F. Rivington, 1830. 4 v.: ill.; 22 cm.

Bible commentator/apologist.

• An Examination of the alleged discrepancies of the Bible. With an introduction by Alvah Hovey. Chicago, W.G. Holmes: [etc., etc.], 1875. 494 pp. 21 cm. Also here.

Modern preacher. Read more about Hanko here.

• The Battle for the Bible.
• Issues in Hermeneutics.

• Observations on Various Passages of Scripture: placing them in a new light and ascertaining the meaning of several not determinable by the methods commonly made use of by the learned. Originally compiled by the Rev. Thomas Harmer, from relations incidentally mentioned in books of voyages and travels into the East. London: Lackington and W. Baynes, 1816. Vol 1, Vol 2, Vol 3 and Vol 4.

Professor emeritus of New Testament exegesis and theology at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School in Deerfield, Illinois. Read more about Harris here.

• "A Suggested Harmonization of the Resurrection Narratives" Source: "Three Crucial Questions about Jesus" by Murray J. Harris, Baker Books, 1994, ISBN 0-8010-4388-3; from the appendix, pages 107-109.

Biblical commentator. Read about Henry here and here.

• Matthew Henry's Commentary on the Whole Bible. CCEL: "This work was long celebrated as the best English commentary for devotional purposes and the expanded edition was initially published in 1896. Instead of critical exposition, Henry focuses on practical suggestion, and his commentaries contains rich stores of truths."

Apologist. Read more about Hinrichs here.

• Resurrection of Jesus Puzzle.
• Rational Reasoning for Reality.

President, Tekton Apologetics Ministries. Read more about Holding here.

• Apologetics Encyclopedia with Scripture Search function.
• "Harmonization, The Issue of Complementary Accounts - Part 1".
• "Harmonization, The Issue of Complementary Accounts - Part 2" .
• "Harmonization, The Issue of Complementary Accounts - Part 3".
• "Harmonization, The Issue of Complementary Accounts - Part 4".
• "In Harmony with the Essenes: An Example of Non-Biblical Harmonization".
• Are There Two Creation Accounts?
• Daniel Doings. A defense of Daniel.
• Connect the Dots With Us! Commentary on the Skeptics' Annotated Bible. Detailed critique here.
• Refutation to Packham's "Notes On Bible Problems".
• Some Reasons Why Humanists Reject the Bible, Annotated and Corrected.
• Refuting Remsberg's List.
• $6.99 History Revision Crimeline; "Christian Crimeline" Annotated and Corrected.

Educator. Learn about Hopkins here and here.

• Lectures on the Evidences of Christianity. Boston, T. R. Marvin, 1856. 383 pp.; 22cm.
• Noah Porter. Hopkins' Lectures Before the Lowell Institute. New Englander, vol. 4, January 1846, pp. 401-410. Review of Lectures on the Evidences of Christianity, January 1844.

Theologian. Read more about Horne here.

• An Introduction to the Critical Study and Knowledge of the Holy Scriptures, Volume 1, 1825 edition, 1841 edition, 1852 edition, 1877 edition. Edited by Thomas Hartwell Horne, John Ayre and Samuel Prideaux Tregelles. 14th edition, London: Longmans, Green, 1877.
  
  Extract on alleged contradictions.
  Extract on collateral testimony.
• An Introduction to the Critical Study and Knowledge of the Holy Scriptures, Volume 2, 1825 edition, 1877 edition. Edited by Thomas Hartwell Horne, John Ayre and Samuel Prideaux Tregelles. 14th edition, London: Longmans, Green, 1877.
  
  Scripture extracts.
• An Introduction to the Critical Study and Knowledge of the Holy Scriptures, Volume 3, 1825 edition, 1877 edition. Edited by Thomas Hartwell Horne, John Ayre and Samuel Prideaux Tregelles. 14th edition, London: Longmans, Green, 1877.
• An Introduction to the Critical Study and Knowledge of the Holy Scriptures, Volume 4, 1825 edition, 1877 edition. Edited by Thomas Hartwell Horne, John Ayre and Samuel Prideaux Tregelles. 14th edition, London: Longmans, Green, 1877. Also here.

  "To the library of every lover of the Holy Scriptures, who has the leisure to peruse it, this elaborate work will form a most valuable addition; but to the Biblical Student, and to young Ministers, it is at once indispensable and invaluable; no single work on any of the four main branches of Biblical Study which are here so copiously treated, having, we believe, ever issued from the press, which comprehends so much information in itself, or points out, by references so ample, where that information may be obtained without which the Scriptures can neither be fully understood, nor explained. Almost every author of note has been consulted by the industry of the Author, and the most important contributions of the learning, research, and observation of others, will be here found collected, and arranged with a sober and temperate judgment, and under the guidance of the light of evangelical truth. The last is an important circumstance, and renders the work safe as well as instructive." Wesleyan-Methodist Magazine, 1, June 1822, p.373.

• An Introduction to the Study of Bibliography: to which is prefixed a memoir on the public libraries of the ancients. London, 1814. Volume 1 of 2. 429 pp. Volume 2 of 2. 531 pp.
• Miscellaneous -- "Death of the Rev. Hartwell Horne". From North Wales Chronicle (Bangor, Wales), February 1, 1862; Issue 1815. "We regret to announce the death of the Rev. Thomas Hartwell Horne, B.D. rector of the united parishes of St. Edmund the King and St. Nicholas Acons, Lombard-street, London. The reverend gentleman was the author of one of the most celebrated works in Biblical literature, "An Introduction to the Critical Study of the Holy Scriptures." So struck was Dr. Howley, bishop of London, with this work that he offered ordination to Mr. Horne, who was at the time devoting himself generally to the pursuits of literature. He held for many years an important literary appointment in the British Museum. His ordination took place in 1819, and for a long time he did parochial duty in London, chiefly at St. James's Church, Westmorland street, St. Marylebone. In 1833, Dr. Howley who had at that time become Archbishop of Canterbury, presented him to his city rectory, which he held up to the time of his death, which occured on Monday. Mr. Horne was in the 82d year of his age. " Globe.

Theologian.

• [Einleitung in die Schriften des Neuen Testaments - English] An Introduction to the Writings of the New Testament / by Johann Leonard Hug; translated from the original German by the Rev. Daniel Guildford Wait. London: C & J Rivington, 1827. Volume 1 of 2. Volume 2. 22 cm.

Bible commentator. Learn more about Jacobus here.

• Notes on the Gospels: critical and explanatory: incorporating with the notes, on a new plan, the most approved harmony of the four Gospels. Philadelphia: Presbyterian Board of Publication, 1853, 319 pp.

• Scott's Family Bible. The comprehensive commentary on the Holy Bible containing the text according to the authorised version; Scott's marginal references; Matthew Henry's commentary, condensed, but retaining every useful thought; the practical observations of Rev. Thomas Scott, with extensive explanatory, critical, and philological notes ... the whole designed to be a digest and combination of the advantages of the best Bible commentaries, and embracing nearly all that is valuable in Henry, Scott, and Doddridge, conveniently arranged for family and private reading, and at the same time particularly adapted to the wants of Sabbath school teachers and Bible classes.
• Volume 1. Genesis to Judges.
• Volume 2. Ruth to Psalm 63.
• Volume 3. Psalm 64 to Malachi.
• Volume 4. Matthew to John.
• Volume 5. Acts to Revelation.

Independent minister and tutor.

• Jewish Antiquities; or a course of lectures on the three first books of Godwin's Moses and Aaron. To which is annexed, a dissertation on the Hebrew language. Part 1, Part 2. London: printed for J. Johnson and B. Davenport, 1766. 2 volumes.
• The Scripture testimony examined and confirmed by plain arguments; or, An Appeal to reason and common sense for the truth of the Holy Scriptures. In two discourses. London: printed by T. Gillet; and sold by T. Chapman; and T. Nott, A new edition. 1796. 62 pp.
• Success from God alone, and the vanity of human endeavours without his blessing: considered in a sermon preached at a time of solemn prayer, on account of the war and the rebellion, at Dr. Guyse's Meeting-House. December the 12th, 1745. London, printed for J. Oswald; and J. Waugh, 1745. 36 pp.

English writer. Read more about Jenyns here.

• A View of the Internal Evidence of the Christian Religion. London: printed, by assignment from the executors of the late Mr. J. Dodsley, for James Nunn. The seventh edition. 1799. [2], 165, [1], v, [1]pp.

Bishop of Salisbury.

• A Defense of the Apologie of the Churche of Englande . Conteininge an answeare to a certaine booke lately set foorthe by M. Hardinge, and entituled, A confutation of &c. Whereunto there is also newely added an answeare vnto an other like booke, written by the saide M. Hardinge, entituled, A detection of sundrie fowle errours &c. Printed at Louaine, Anno. 1568. and inserted into the foremer answeare, as occasion, and place required, as by special notes added to the margine it maie appeare. By Iohn Iewel Bishop of Sarisburie. London: In Fleetestreate, at the signe of the Elephante, by Henry Wykes, Anno. 1571. 16. Septembris. [40], 472, 475-764, [6] pp. Henry E. Huntington Library and Art Gallery.

• Eight Discourses on the Harmony of the First Three Evangelists: in their accounts of the behaviour of the malefactors crucified with our blessed Lord; with an improvement of several arguments grounded upon their narrative of Our Saviour's crucifixion; and on the alliance of heresy with deism, and of deism and apostacy with the blasphemy that shall not be forgiven. Oxford: printed by W. Jackson and J. Lister, for J. and J. Fletcher and sold by Mr. Rivington and Mr. Walter, 1766. 244 pp.; 24 cm.

Pastor of the Reubens Community Church, Craigmont, Idaho. Read about Kingsley here.

• Answering Easter Contradiction. An answer to skeptic Dan Barker's "Easter Challenge." See also The Easter Answer.

Old Testament scholar with specialty in Egypt. Read more about Kitchen here.

• Ancient Orient and Old Testament. Chicago/London, Tyndale Press, 1966. xiii, 14-191 pp. 23 cm. This is a prior edition of Kitchen's new book, On the Reliability of the Old Testament.
• On the Reliability of the Old Testament. Grand Rapids, Mich.: W.B. Eerdmans, 2006. xxii, 662 pp. : ill., maps; 25 cm. Contents: First things first - What's in question? -- 2. "In medias res" - the era of the Hebrew kingdoms -- 3. Home and away - exile and return -- 4. The empire strikes back - Saul, David, and Solomon -- 5. Humble beginnings - around and in Canaan -- 6. Lotus eating and moving on - Exodus and covenant -- 7. Founding fathers or fleeting phantoms - the patriarchs -- 8. A vitamin supplement - Prophets and prophecy -- 9. Back to Methuselah - and well beyond -- 10. Last things last - a few conclusions.
  Buy this book here.
• "The Aramaic of Daniel". Notes on Some Problems in the Book Of Daniel. London: The Tyndale Press, 1965. Pbk. pp. 31-79.
• "The Old Testament in Its Context: Part 1". Theological Students' Fellowship Bulletin, n. 59 (Spring 1971)
• "The Old Testament in Its Context: Part 2". Theological Students' Fellowship Bulletin, n. 60 (Spring 1971)
• "The Old Testament in Its Context: Part 3". Theological Students' Fellowship Bulletin, n. 61. Summer 1971.
• "The Old Testament in Its Context: Part 4". Theological Students' Fellowship Bulletin, n. 62 (Autumn 1971).
• "The Old Testament in Its Context: Part 5". Theological Students' Fellowship Bulletin, n. 63 (Summer 1972).
• "The Old Testament in Its Context: Part 6". Theological Students' Fellowship Bulletin, n. 64 (Autumn 1972).
• The Bible in its World: The Bible and Archaeology Today. Exeter: The Paternoster Press, 1977. Pbk. pp.168.

English theologian. (TM): Nathaniel Lardner (1684-1768) was a dissenting minister who devoted his life to producing the apologetic masterpiece of the 18th century, the multi-volume Credibility of the Gospel History.
Lardner's christological views were not orthodox, though he stated publically that he was not an Arian. These issues, however, do not affect his historical work. Richard Watson included works by Lardner and several other dissenters in his Collection of Theological Tracts, (2nd edition 1791; see especially the Preface, p. xix).
Read more about Lardner here.

• The Credibility of the Gospel History; or, the facts occasionally mention'd in the New Testament; confirmed by passages of ancient authors who were contemporary with Our Saviour or His apostles, or lived near their time. ZIP archive. London: J. Chandler, 1727. 2 volumes. 20 cm.
  • On Josephus. Extract from Credibility, Part 1, vol 2, 3rd edition.
  • Extract on Luke 2:1-2.
  
  (TM): Lardner's objective may be explained in his own words:
  
  The peculiar design of this work is to enable persons of ordinary capacities, who, for want of a learned education, or of sufficient leisure, are deprived of the advantage of reading over ancient writings, to judge for themselves concerning the external evidence of the facts related in the New Testament. ...
  The method taken in this work is to set down in the first place the representation, which the sacred writers have given of persons, facts, customs or principles; and then to produce passages of other ancient writers, which confirm or illustrate the account delivered in the New Testament.

  Lardner executes his design with incredible thoroughness. The question of the census in Luke 2:1-2, for example, fills 86 pages (volume 1, pp. 260-345). Virtually every subsequent apologist who takes up the historical argument is explicitly indebted to him.
  In a work of this scope, written this long ago, it is inevitable that there should be some places where modern scholarship diverges from Lardner's opinions or where new discoveries shed a fuller light on issues he discusses. But when he errs, it is generally on the side of being overly critical of the evidence for his own case, as when he rejects the (then recently-discovered) first epistle of Clement of Rome, which is now widely acknowledged to be genuine. And in all cases his massive research remains an invaluable resource, a detailed and scrupulously honest map of all prior thinking on each topic he covers. No one who aspires to be a well-informed student of apologetics can neglect this monumental work, which fills the first four and a half volumes of Kippis's 10 volume edition of Lardner's Works.

  Thomas Chalmers, Evidence and Authority of the Christian Revelation: We offer no reflection against the assiduous Lardner, who, in his credibility of the Gospel history, presents us with a collection of testimonies which should make every Christian proud of his religion. In his evidence for the authenticity of the different pieces which make up the New Testament, he begins with the oldest of the fathers, some of whom were the intimate companions of the original writers. According to our view of the matter, he should have dated the commencement of his argument from a higher point, and begun with the testimonies of these original writers to one another. In the second Epistle of Peter, there is a distinct reference made to the writings of Paul; and in the Acts of the Apostles, there is a reference made to one of the four Gospels. Had Peter, instead of being an apostle, ranked only with the fathers of the church, and had his epistle not been admitted into the canon of scripture, this testimony of his would have had a place in the catalogue, and been counted peculiarly valuable, both for its precision and its antiquity. There is certainly nothing in the estimation he enjoyed, or in the circumstances of his epistle being bound up with the other books of the New Testament, which ought to impair the credit of his testimony. But in effect, his testimony does make a weaker impression on the mind, than a similar testimony from Barnabas, or Clement, or Polycarp. It certainly ought not to do it, and there is a delusion in the preference that is thus given to the latter writers. It is, in fact, another example of the principle which we have been so often insisting upon. What profane authors are in reference to Christian authors at large, the fathers of the church are in reference to the original writers of the New Testament. In contradiction to every approved principle, we prefer the distant and later testimony, to the testimony of writers, who carry as much evidence and legitimate authority along with them, and who only differ from others in being nearer the original sources of information. We neglect and undervalue the evidence which the New Testament itself furnishes, and rest the whole of the argument upon the external and superinduced testimony of subsequent authors.

• A History of the apostles and evangelists, writers of the New Testament: With remarks and observations upon every book of the New Testament, In three volumes. ZIP archive The second edition. London: printed for J. Buckland, and W. Fenner; J. Waugh; P. Davy, and B. Law; and T. Field, 1760.
• With John Hogg. The History of the Heretics of the two first Centuries after Christ. ZIP archive. London: Johnson, 1780. XVI, 468 S.
• An Essay on the Mosaic Account of the Creation and Fall of Man. London: sold by Joseph Bouquet, 1753. 67,[1] pp. Also here.
• The Works of Nathaniel Lardner, D.D., containing Credibility of the Gospel history, Jewish and heathen testimonies, History of heretics, and his sermons and tracts: In eleven volumes: with general chronological tables, and copious indexes. London, 1788.
  
  Volume 1 of 11. 686 pp. v. 1-5, The life of Dr. Lardner / Andrew Kippis. The credibility of the Gospel history.
  Volume 2 of 11. 560 pp.
  Volume 3 of 11. 555 pp.
  Volume 4 of 11. 524 pp.
  Volume 5 of 11. 426 pp.
  Volume 6 of 11. 681 pp. History of the Apostles and evangelists, writers of the New Testament.
  Volume 7 of 11. 468 pp. Jewish testimonies to the truth of the Christian religion. Testimonies of ancient heathen authors.
  Volume 8 of 11. 483 pp. v. 8-9. Testimonies of ancient heathen authors, concluded. The state of Gentilism under the Christian emperors. The history of the heretics of the two first centuries after Christ.
  Volume 9 of 11. 535 pp.
  Volume 10 of 11. 665 pp. Fifty-three sermons
  Volume 11 of 11. 559 pp. Tracts. Indexes.
  

French theologian. Read more about Le Clerc here

• Johannis Clerici Harmonia evangelica. Cui subjuncta est Historia Jesu Christi. Ex quatuor Evangeliis concinnata. Accesserunt tres dissertationes de annis Christi, deque concordia & auctoritate Evangeliorum. Opus absolutissimum ad multorum instans desiderium formâ hâc compendiariâ recusum, & dissertatione prooemiali de potioribus harmoniarum evangelicarum scriptoribus auctum. Lugduni, Apud Petrum Martau, 1700 [54], 384 (i.e. 386), 235, 96 p. front. In Latin. Fictitious imprint; printed at Altdorf. Cf. Weller, Die falschen und fingirten Druckorte, I., p. 286./ Pages 385-386 incorrectly numbered 383-384./ Edited by J.M. Lange.
  
  Thomas Hartwell Horne, An Introduction to the Critical Study and Knowledge of the Holy Scriptures, Vol. 2, 1856 edition: "All critics unite in commendation of Le Clerc's Harmony. He has arranged the history of the four evangelists, according to chronological order, in columns parallel to each other, in Greek and Latin; and under the text he has given a Latin paraphrase, the design of which is to remove apparent contradictions. Le Clerc promised to publish Annotations on his Harmony, which have never appeared. A Latin edition of it was printed at Altorf in 1700, in 4to.; and an English translation of it, is said by Walchius, to have been published at London in the same year, also in 4to."
• Harmonia Evangelica cui subjecta est historia Christi ex quatuor Evangleiis concinnata: accesserunt tres dissertationes de annis Christi, déque concordia & auctoritate Evangeloricum. Amstelodami: Sumptibus Huguetanorum, Netherlands; Amsterdam, 1699. [4], 552 pp.: ill.; 33 cm. In Latin.
• The Harmony of the Evangelists. Being the whole text of the four Gospels dispos'd according to the Order of Time in which the Things related in them were done. Each Gospel being rang'd in a Separate Column, exhibiting at one view the Concurrence or Variation that is between them in every Circumstance. With a paraphrase underneath, in which the Four Evangelical Histories of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, are digested into one intire Narration; and the difficult Passages occurring in any of them, explain'd. With useful dissertations. By John Le Clerc. London, 1701. 641 pp. Also here and here.
• A Supplement to Dr. Hammond's Paraphrase and annotations on the New Testament. In which his interpretation is examin'd: and further explain'd by new remarks upon every chapter. By Monsieur Le Clerc. To which is prefix'd, a letter ... Likewise his paraphrase, ... on the beginning of St. John's Gospel. London: printed for Sam. Buckley, and sold by Jeffery Wale, 1704. xxiv, [2], 668, [16]pp.

English Biblical scholar. Read more about Lightfoot here.

• A Commentary upon the Acts of the Apostleschronicall and criticall: the difficulties of the text explained, and the times of the story cast into Annals. The first part: from the beginning of the books to the end of the twelfth chapter: with a briefe survey of the contemporary story of the Jewes and Romans. London: Printed by R.C. for Andrew Crooke, 1645. 331 pp.; 19 cm.
• A Few, and new observations, upon the Booke of Genesis, the most of them certaine, the rest probable, all harmelesse, strange, and rarely heard off before. London: Printed by T. Badger, 1642. [4], 20 pp.; 19 cm.
• A Handful of Gleanings out of the Book of Exodus probable solution of some of the mainest scruples, and explanation of the hardest places of that Booke ... London: Printed by R. Cotes for Andrew Crooke, and are to be sold at his shop, 1643. [4], 58 pp.
• The Harmony of the foure Evangelists: among themselves, and with the Old Testament: the first part: from the beginning of the Gospels to the baptisme of our Saviour ... ( -the second part. From the baptism of our Saviour, to the first Passeover after ...). Part 1.

  The Harmony, chronicle and order of the Old Testament: The Years observed and laid down chronically; and the books, chapters, stories, prophesies, &c. taken up orderly, as the naturall method, and genuine series of the chronology and history doe require. With reasons given of dislocations of texts and stories, where they come: very many remarkable observations upon the text as it goes along: difficulties in the chronology untyed: differences in the relating of stories reconciled: and abundance of places in the Old Testament, briefly cleared. Also, a second part of the Harmony of the four Evangelists among themselves, and with the Old Testament; from our Saviours baptism to the first Passeover after. London: Printed by R. Cotes for John Clark, and are to be sold at his shop entring into Mercers-Chappell, at the lower end of Cheapside, 1647. [16], 108, 72, 65-72, 81-206, [12], 136 pp. Part 2. Part 3.

  Thomas Hartwell Horne review: The Harmony, Chronicle and Order of the New Testament. The text of the four Evangelists methodised. Story of the Acts of the Apostles analyzed. Order of the Epistles manifested. Times of the Revelation observed, and illustrated with variety of observations upon the chiefest difficulties Textual and Talmudical, for clearing of their sense and language. By John Lightfoot, D. I). London, 1654, folio. Also in the first volume of his works, London, 1682, folio.

  In this valuable work Dr. Lightfoot has pursued the same method which he had adopted in his Chronicle of the Old Testament. He further published, at London, in 1644 and 1650, three parts of The Harmony of the Four Evangelists, among themselves, and with the Old Testament. The fourth and fifth parts, which were to have completed his design, never appeared. This harmony is enriched with numerous philological and explanatory remarks, of which many subsequent critics and harmonists have availed themselves.

• On Some Points Connected with the Essenes.
• The Brethren of the Lord.
• A Commentary on the New Testament from the Talmud and Hebraica

English statesman. Learn more about Lyttelton here and here.

• Observations on the Conversion and Apostleship of Paul: being an argumentative and rational defence of the Christian revelation; deduced from the peculiar circumstances of St. Paul before his conversion, and the effects which followed it; as exemplified in his life, and in the doctrines which he preached: In a letter to Gilbert West, Esq./ By Lord George Lyttleton. [Two lines from Ecclesiastes] First Boston edition. Boston: Printed by Manning and Loring. Sold at their bookstore, no. 2, Cornhill, 1800. 95, [1], 23, [1] pp.; 17 cm. (12mo). 1819 edition.

  Britton H. Tabor. Skepticism Assailed, 1895: "Lord Lyttleton [sic] and his friend, Gilbert West, were both men of known ability, who had become skeptical on a superficial study and investigation of the Bible. They both entertained the idea that the Bible was an imposture, and entered into an agreement to expose what they assumed to be its fallacies. It was decided that West should write an attack on the resurrection, and Lord Lyttleton one on the conversion of St. Paul.

  "Both entered upon their chosen tasks with the avowed determination to oppose Christianity. But at the conclusion of their labors, instead of exulting over an exposure, as they had planned to do, both sadly lamented the follies of their past lives, and regretted that they had not sooner thoroughly investigated the Scriptures. Revolutionized in their convictions, they had become firm believers in our Holy Bible as being the Word of God.

  Lord Lyttleton said he found that every step of Paul's life after conversion showed honesty and sincerity of purpose, and that his account of the said conversion removed it from all visionary or speculative fields. He said that Paul was either a wicked impostor, or that his testimony was true; and that he referred to too many witnesses, dates, paces, and facts not to have been exposed if what he had stated was a dream or a lie, and that the facts and evidence corroborating Paul's testimony justified but one rational conclusion.

  "This profound lawyer and eminent jurist, thorough investigator and strong reasoner, whose fame will live as long as law is enforced, after full and thorough investigation, declared that he had no doubt whatever of the truth of Paul's testimony relating to the facts that led to his conversion and sudden change from an avowed Pharisee and persecutor to the greatest missionary the world has ever produced.

  "In our judgment, Lord Lyttleton's argument is the strongest ever written on the conversion of Paul, and is absolutely conclusive. Every one ought to read it."

Biblical scholar. Read about MacKnight here.
"Agreeably to the plan of this sketch, any critical account of Dr. Macknight's works cannot with propriety be given here. It may only be observed, in general, that his reputation for sound criticism, extensive knowledge, and clear elucidation of the sacred writings, is rapidly increasing amongst Christians of every denomination; and he must be acknowledged to have been one of the most intelligent, judicious, and candid expositors of the Scriptures that ever appeared. Even during his own lifetime his diligence was rewarded by an ample portion of respectable fame. The "Harmony of the Gospels" has long been esteemed a work of standard excellence for the students of evangelical knowledge.--"Account of the Life and Character of James MacKnight, D. D." from A New Literal Translation from the Original Greek.

• Truth of the Gospel History. His "Truth of the Gospel History" has hitherto attracted the notice of the public less than any of his other productions: but it well deserves to be more generally read, since, of what it proposes to establish, it contains the most satisfying views that can be suggested by learning, acuteness, and good sense, and is admitted by the best of judges to be a performance as useful and instructive as any we have on that important subject."--"Account of the Life and Character of James Macknight, D. D." from A New Literal Translation from the Original Greek.
• Harmony of the Four Gospels: Part 1, Part 2.
  
  Thomas Hartwell Horne, An Introduction to the Critical Study and Knowledge of the Holy Scriptures, Vol. 2, 1836 edition: Dr. Macknight closely adheres to the principle of Osiander; but his paraphrase and commentary contain so much useful information, that his Harmony has long been regarded as a standard book among divines; it is in the lists of Bishops Watson and Tomline. The preliminary disquisitions greatly enhance its value. Dr. Macknight's work was translated into Latin by Professor Ruckersfelder, and published in 3 vols. 8vo. at Bremen and Deventer, 1772. Bishop Marsh says, that whoever makes use of this harmony should compare with it Dr. Lardner's observations on it, which were first published in 1764, and are reprinted in the eleventh volume of the octavo edition, and in the fifth volume of the quarto edition of his works.
• A New Literal Translation from the Original Greek, of All the Apostolical Epistles: With a Commentary, and Notes, Philological, Critical, Explanatory, and Practical, to which is Added a History of the Life of the Apostle Paul. Philadelphia: Thomas Wardle, 1841. 776 pp.
  'The Commentary on the Apostolical Epistles' is now held in peculiar estimation; and it may be doubted whether the scope of the sacred authors of these writings was ever, in any former age of Christianity, so fully, clearly, and happily stated, as has been done by Dr. MacKnight in the general Views and Illustrations which he has prefixed to the several Chapters of the Epistles.--In this able, judicious, and learned Work, the Author's method of explaining the Scriptures is everywhere employed with the greatest success. His object was to discover the meaning of the inspired writers in difficult passages, from a comprehensive view of all the circumstances to which they allude, without regard to interpretations of mere human authority. Hence, although on principle attached to the established standards of the Church of Scotland, he did not conceive it as any advantage to the system which he maintained, to urge in support of its peculiar doctrines every passage which zeal without knowledge may have employed for that purpose. Nothing, in fact, tends more to injure the cause of truth and religion than an injudicious appeal to Scripture; or the attempt to establish opinions by the sanction of scriptural words or passages, quoted singly, without regard to what precedes or follows them, and thus invested with a meaning, more than probably, entirely different from what was intended by the sacred writers. Of this mistaken application Dr. MACKNIGHT has shewn various instances; remarking, that when a doctrine is sufficiently established by any passage in which it is expressly or undoubtedly declared, we only weaken it by any appeal to other passages, of which the application to that doctrine may be dubious, or at best equivocal.--Accordingly it must be allowed, that in this method of eliciting the true meaning of Scripture, by a due respect to parallel passages, and the design of the whole context, the exposition and views which, with much sagacity of critical investigation, our Author has given of Paul's Epistles, are extremely natural, acute, and sensible.

Technical consultant. System/Chip Architect and Technologist, Chip & New Product Specification and Architecture, Board/System/Product/FPGA Architecture & Design. Read about Mammen here. Tabs are currently dysfunctional with Firefox. Access with Internet Explorer.

• Gospel contradictions? Why they don't exist. A Little Experiment to Teach Skeptics about NT Accuracy. Posted September 8th, 2010.

  Extract:

  December 2005
  Neil writes:
  Hi all,
  I was just reading the news last night about that tragic accident in Chicago. One thing occurred to me. I don't think there really was a crash. Because when I read the story from these 5 different sources they all seemed to disagree with each other. Just shows how the media twists things.

  AP - Sat Dec 10,
  A Southwest Airlines Boeing 737 rests in the middle of Central Ave. Saturday, Dec. 10, 2005 in Chicago. The jetliner, trying to land in heavy snow slid off the runway Thursday at Midway Airport, crashed through a boundary fence and slid out into the street, hitting one car and pinning another beneath it. A child in one of the vehicles was killed. (AP Photo/M. Spencer Green)

  Radio@UPEI December 9, 2005
  A snowy runway caused a Southwest Airlines Boeing 737 to skid off the runway in Chicago Thursday evening. Nobody on the plane was seriously injured, but a 6-year old boy was killed as the plane skid onto the intersection of 55th Street and Central Avenue, and hit the vehicle he was traveling in.

  - This one must be false as well because it only mentions 1 vehicle being hit and nothing about going through any fence, but we know there were fences from the first report.

  AFP/Getty Images - Fri Dec 9,
  Southwest Airlines jet sits on a roadway after it crashed through a security wall the evening before at Midway Airport in Chicago, Illinois. US authorities launched an investigation after the jet skidded off a Chicago airport runway and into a street where it hit two cars and killed a child (AFP/Getty Images)

  - This also must be made up because it says the plane went through a security wall, not a boundary fence like the last one said it did. Don't you think that if a plane went through a brick wall it would have exploded or at least caught on fire?

  Reuters - Fri Dec 9,
  A Southwest Airlines plane bound from Baltimore, Maryland, sits on a road along Chicago's Midway Airport December 9, 2005, after crashing through a safety barrier while trying to land during a snowstorm in Chicago on December 8, 2005. (Frank Polich/Reuters)

  -This story doesn't mention that someone was killed in this crash. Don't you think this is kind of important? It talks about a safety barrier not a wall, it also doesn't talk about any cars being hit. So were NO cars hit?

  AP Canadian Press - Fri Dec 9,
  A Southwest Airlines Boeing 737 rests nose first at the intersection of W.55th Street and Central Ave. in Chicago Friday after it skidded off the runway at Midway Airport Thursday. (AP/Charles Rex Arbogast)

  - This is a second AP source that doesn't agree even with the first source. It doesn't say anything about any cars (forget about 2 of them), it doesn't mention a fence of any sort, nor does it mention anybody dying. You'd think that was important.

  So folks can you help? Are we being snowed by the media? Did this event really happen? Can we trust that it really happened?

  Question 1: Did any cars get hit? Two reports don't mention it, the others do.
  Question 2: How many cars did get hit? One report only says 1 car, some say 2 cars.
  Question 3: Did anyone really die? Two reports don't mention any deaths at all.
  Question 4: What did the plane crash through, did it crash through anything? Some reports say it crashed through a security wall, other a boundary fence, and others a safety fence. Some don't say anything about crashing through any sort of wall or fence.

  So my conclusion is:
  1. This story is a lie and made up by the media.
  2. There may be some semblance of truth to it, but on the whole it is inaccurate and should not be given any credence. Probably a myth?
  3. Each of these news medias are deliberately colluding to create a false story and they can't even get their lies straight.
  4. Besides we all know that if a plane crashes into a car it will explode in a big fireball, so this whole story is just unacceptable.
  

English divine. Read more about Marsh here

• Lectures on the Criticism and Interpretation of the Bible, with two preliminary Lectures on Theological Study and Theological Arrangement: to which are added two Lectures on the History of Biblical Interpretation. By Herbert Marsh, D.D. Bishop of Peterborough. London, 1828. 8 vo. This is a new edition, revised, corrected, and enlarged, of the first four parts of the preceding course of Lectures. The two additional Lectures on the History of Biblical Interpretation, which were published separately, contain bibliographical notices of the principal writers on that subject.
  • Lectures on the Criticism and Interpretation of the Bible, with two preliminary Lectures on Theological Study and Theological Arrangement: To which are now added, two lectures on the history of biblical interpretation. New edition, with an index. London, printed for J. G. F. & J. Rivington, 1842.
• The Authenticity of the Five books of Moses considered, being the substance of a discourse lately delivered before the University, by Herbert Marsh. Cambridge: printed for the Author, by J. Archdeacon; and sold by J. & J. Merrill, in Cambridge; J. Johnson and F. & C. Rivington, G. Robinson [and 4 others in London], 1792. 15 pp.; 4⁰

Modern Christian apologist. Learn more about McDowell here.

• How do you explain the contradictions in the resurrection story?.
• Hasn't the New Testament been changed?.

Biblical scholar. Read more about Michaelis here.

• Introduction to the New Testament; Translated from the fourth edition of the German, and considerably augmented with notes by Herbert Marsh. Cambridge: printed by J. Archdeacon; and sold by J. & J. Merrill, and W. H. Lunn, in Cambridge; J. Johnson, and F. & C. Rivington [and 6 others in London], 1793-1801. 4 volumes; 80. Volume 1 of 4; Volume 2 of 4; Volume 3 of 4; Volume 4 of 4. Translated from Einleitung in die göttlichen Schriften des Neuen Bundes.

IT business executive. Founder, Christian Thinktank. Read more about Miller here and here.

• If Christianity is true, why does it need so much defending? And why doesn't God make it clearer?
• "Do the Resurrection accounts HOPELESSLY contradict one another?"
• Why do the gospels disagree on the last sayings of Jesus on the Cross?
• Women, stones, spices, empty tombs.
• How many people saw the risen Jesus? 150 or 500?
• three days and night vs. "on the 3rd day"" Part One.
• three days and night vs. "on the 3rd day"? Part Two.
• A contradiction in the ascension accounts?
• What about number differences in parallel passages?
• Was Terah 70 or 130 when Abraham was born?
• Problems in the Genealogies of Jesus.
• Problems in the Genealogies of Jesus: Jeconiah.
• why should we believe Jesus was the Messiah, if He didn't fulfill all the prophecies when He was here?
• Contradictions in the Infancy Stories?
• Does Mary's Question Contradict other passages in the NT?
• Well, did Jesus tell them to take a staff or not? Another contradiction?!
• Well, did God LIKE what Jehu did or NOT--"another" contradiction?
• Are the Christologies of Mark and John radically different?
• Was the NT wrong about roosters being allowed in Jerusalem?
• What about number differences in parallel passages?
• Noah's ark -- the problem of size.
• God's revelation to us: skepticism, hiddeness
• Did the gospels make an error in their citation of the Judas-30pieces episode?
• Did the Bible lie about Jesus not being married?
• Did the Messianic Jewish Believers use the OT deceitfully or ignorantly in the New Testament?
• Stephen's mistakes in Acts 7
• If the BirthStar appeared in the East, why did the Magi travel West?!
• Herod's slaughter of the children
• How does the memory research of Elizabeth Loftus on eyewitness testimony affect the credibility of NT?
• Was the town of Nazareth made-up by Christians?
• Can the gospels (or the stories of the historical Jesus) not have been written (or invented) until 100-150 AD?
• Christian 'bias' in the NT Writers--Does it render the NT unreliable or inadmissible as evidence?
• What about all those resurrected people walking around in Jerusalem after Jesus' death?
• Are some/many of the NT letters examples of pseudonymity?
• Was Jesus mistaken about Zechariah?
• On two historical issues in Acts: Theudas and the Sanhedrin.
• An objection about Luke, Quirinius, and Herods.
• Is the tomb story flawed because the term 'rolled' is used?
• Did the Roman empire totally distort the New Testament documents?
• The accuracy of the account of the trial of Jesus before Pilate.
• Could Jesus really not have had any 'Son of man' sayings, because they were allegedly only later?
• What are the scholarly trends in that area today?
• KNOWN textual errors in the Bible--don't they destroy "inerrancy"?
• Doesn't the archaeological record CONTRADICT the Bible's claims about Joshua's "Conquest"?!
• Why did God order Abraham to do child sacrifice?
• Was the Bible wrong about Abraham having camels that early?
• When was the name "YAHWEH" revealed?
• Are there any extra-biblical refs to longevity BEFORE the flood?
• God's revelation to us: means, authentication, canon, transmission

Sunday School worker.

• Robert Mimpriss, compiler. The Gospel treasury, and expository harmony of the four evangelists, In the words of the authorised version, having Scripture illustrations; expository notes form the most approved commentators; practical reflections; geographical notices, copious index, etc. New York: Dodd & Mead, 1870. 2 volumes in 1.

World-class Christian apologist, philosopher and legal expert. John Warwick Montgomery is Distinguished Research Professor of Philosophy and Christian Thought, Patrick Henry College (Virginia); and Emeritus Professor of Law and Humanities at the University of Luton (England). Professor Montgomery holds ten earned degrees, including the LL.B.; LL.M. from Cardiff University, Wales; the A.B. with distinction in Philosophy (Cornell University; Phi Beta Kappa); B.L.S. and M.A. (University of California at Berkeley); B.D. and S.T.M. (Wittenburg University, Springfield, Ohio); M. Phil. in Law (University of Essex, England); Ph.D. (Univeristy of Chicago), and the Doctorat d'Université from Strasbourg, France. He told Contemporary Authors, "My world-view was hammered out at university; there I became a Christian. ... Like the late C. S. Lewis (one of my greatest heroes), I was literally dragged kicking and screaming into the Kingdom by the weight of evidence for Christian truth."
Visit The John Warwick Montgomery website and read more about Montgomery here.

• A Critique of Certain Uncritical Assumptions in Modern Historiography.
• Myth, Allegory & Gospel, by John Warwick Montgomery. 159 pages. A collection of essays on J. R. R. Tolkien, C. S. Lewis, G. K. Chesterton, and Charles Williams originally delivered as lectures at De Paul University, Chicago. Essayists include Edmund Fuller, Clyde Kilby, Russell Kirk, Chad Walsh, and the editor. Buy this book here.
• Why Has God Incarnate Suddenly Become Mythical?
• Misc. essays. Hermeneutics, Legal and Theological: An Exercise in Integration; Defending the Hope That Is in Us: Apologetics for the 21st Century. Some material in German and Russian. (PDF)

Church of Ireland archbishop of Armagh and theologian.

• A Review of the Chief Difficulties in the Gospel History relating to our Lord's resurrection. Dublin: printed by R. Marchbank, 1791. 16 pp.
• Attempt Towards Revising the English Translation of the Greek Scriptures -- Part 1, Part 2
• An Historical View of the English Biblical Translations the expediency of revising by authority our present translation: and the means of executing such a revision. Dublin: printed by John Exshaw, 1792. [2],xiv,381,[4],388-427,[18],430-438,[2] pp.
• A Harmony in Greek of the Gospels. Andover [Mass.], Printed by Flagg and Gould, 1814. xvi, xii, [13]-424, 188 pp. 22 cm.
• An English Harmony of the Four Evangelists, generally disposed after the manner of the Greek of William Newcome, Archbishop of Armagh; with a Map of Palestine divided according to the twelve tribes, Explanatory Notes, and Indexes. Philadelphia, Kimber and Conrad, Brown & Merritt, printers, 1809, 476 pp.
  
  Thomas Hartwell Horne, An Introduction to the Critical Study and Knowledge of the Holy Scriptures, Vol. 2, 1854 edition: The Greek Harmony of Archbishop Newcome has long been held in the highest estimation; but its bulk and price necessarily place it beyond the reach of many biblical students. In publishing this harmony, the anonymous compiler (a member of the Society of Friends) has rendered to English readers the same service which that learned prelate had conferred on biblical scholars by his larger Greek work. "Several trifling alterations have been adopted in the text, and, it is hoped, generally to advantage." (Preface, p. v.) The harmony fills four hundred and thirty-four pages; and the "Notes and Illustrations" comprise thirty-six pages: though brief, they are judiciously selected from the critical and philological labours of Beausobre and L'Enfant, Calmet, Grotius, the Rev. Drs. Hammond, Harwood, Shaw, Doddridge, from the harmony of the late eminent physician, Dr. Robert Willan, and various other sources. The volume concludes with an index to the Parables delivered by Jesus Christ, and a Table for finding any passage of the Gospels in this Harmony. Altogether, "the form in which this work is printed is extremely convenient; so much so, that they, who can use the Greek, may be glad to consult the English octavo rather than the unwieldy folio of the archbishop." (British Critic: O. S.), vol. xxii. p. 437.)

English divine and philosopher. Learn more about Paley here and here.

• A View of the Evidences of Christianity in Three Parts, with annotations by Richard Whately. New York: Miller, 1865. 407 pp.
  
  I know not a more rash or more unphilosophical conduct of the understanding than to reject the substance of a story by reason of some diversity in the circumstances with which it is related. The usual character of human testimony is substantial truth under circumstantial variety. This is what the daily experience of courts of justice teaches. When accounts of a transaction come from the mouths of different witnesses it is seldom that it is not possible to pick out apparent or real inconsistencies between them. These inconsistencies are studiously displayed by an adverse pleader, but oftentimes with little impression upon the minds of the judges. On the contrary, a close and minute agreement induces the suspicion of confederacy and fraud. When written histories touch upon the same scenes of action, the comparison almost always affords ground for a like reflection. Numerous, and sometimes important, variations present themselves; not seldom, also, absolute and final contradictions; yet neither one nor the other are deemed sufficient to shake the credibility of the main fact. The embassy of the Jews to deprecate the execution of Claudian's order to place his statue in their temple, Philo places in the harvest, Josephus in seed-time; both contemporary writers. No reader is led by this inconsistency to doubt whether such an embassy was sent, or whether such an order was given. Our own history supplies examples of the same kind. In the account of the Marquis of Argyll's death, in the reign of Charles II, we have a very remarkable contradiction. Lord Clarendon relates that he was condemned to be hanged, which was performed the same day; on the contrary, Burnet, Woodrow, Heath, Echard, concur in stating that he was condemned upon the Saturday and executed upon a Monday. Was any reader of English history ever skeptic enough to raise from hence a question, whether the Marauis of Argyll was executed or not? Yet this ought to be left in uncertainty, according to the principles upon which the Christian history has sometimes been attacked.1
  1 An opposite doctrine seems to be taught in Luke xii. 11,12; xxiv. 48,4.9. 1" Evidences of Christianity," p. 319.
• A View of the Evidences of Christianity. The seventh edition. In two volumes. London: printed by J. Davis; for R. Faulder, 1800. Volume 1, 397 pp.; Volume 2. Text-searchable edition found here at CCEL.
  (TM): Paley's Evidences is one of the very best summaries of the historical case for Christianity, making good use of the work of his great predecessors Lardner and Douglas. In Part I, which is the heart of the book, Paley sets out to establish two propositions:
  1. That there is satisfactory evidence that many professing to be original witnesses of the Christian miracles passed their lives in labours, dangers, and sufferings, voluntarily undergone in attestation of the accounts which they delivered, and solely in consequence of their belief of those accounts; and that they also submitted, from the same motives, to new rules of conduct, and
  2. That there is not satisfactory evidence that persons professing to be original witnesses of other miracles, in their nature as certain as these are, have ever acted in the same manner, in attestation of the accounts which they delivered, and properly in consequence of their belief of those accounts.
  In Part II he considers auxiliary evidences such as prophecy, the character of Christ, and the propagation of Christianity. In Part III he considers some popular objections to Christianity.
  • n.g. A View of the Evidences of Christianity. In three Parts. By William Paley, D.D., Archdeacon of Carlisle. A new Edition, with Introduction, Notes, and Supplement. Review from Wesleyan-Methodist Magazine, v. 4. December 1848. p. 1347.
  • n.g. A View of the Evidences of Christianity, in three parts. From Journal of Sacred Literature and Biblical Record, v. 10, n. 20. January 1860. p. 413.
  • Analytical Review.
  • Jeremiah Joyce (1763-1816). Disclaimer: Joyce was a Unitarian minister. An Analysis of Paley's View of the evidences of Christianity. Cambridge [Eng.]: Printed by B. Flower; for W.H. Lunn, 1795. 90 pp.; 21 cm.
    ADVERTISEMENT: "In drawing up the following Analysis, the Editor had no other object in view, than to obtain a more general discussion of this most important of all questions -- Is Christianity true? For the event of the inquiry he is under no apprehension. -- The extensive and accurate view which Dr. Paley has taken of its evidences, merits the applause of every friend to revelation, and, it is hoped, will be the means of exciting that degree of attention, among the friends to freedom of inquiry, which the subject seems to demand.
    "The very able account given of Dr. Paley's work in the Analytical Review, the Editor of this pamphlet had never heard of, till after he had finished his own Analysis. He has compared them, and, in consequence, has altered a few passages.
    April 20, 1795."
    
  • Jeremiah Joyce. An Analysis of Paley's View of the evidences of Christianity. 2nd edition. Cambridge: Printed by B. Flower; for J. Deighton, and J. Nicholson; and for J. March, Norwich; [and 3 others], 84, [2] pp. (8)
• Horæ Paulinæ, or, The Truth of the Scripture History of St. Paul, Evinced by a comparison of the Epistles which bear his name with the Acts of the apostles, and with one another. 1st American, from the 4th London ed. Cambridge, Mass.: Printed and sold by William Hilliard, 1806. 235 pp. 1879 edition, with Introduction, Notes, and Questions, by William Binnie, D.D.

  Olinthus Gregory, Letters on the Evidences, Doctrines, and Duties, of the Christian Religion, London, 1836, p. 99: ... "I must briefly advert to the cogent arguments so ably advanced by the late venerable Dr. Paley, drawn from the numerous obviously undesigned coincidences, mutually subsisting between the several Epistles of St. Paul, and the History of the Acts of the Apostles: these coincidences are so little seen by common observers, that it is impossible to suppose them the effect of forgery: an examination of them is sufficient to prove that neither the history was forged to square with the letters, nor the letters to accord with the history: that they are too numerous and close to be accounted for by the accidental, or by the designed, concurrences of fiction, or in any other way than by the uniformity of the tendency of truth to one point.*

  *"For a full development and application of this train of argumentation, see Dr. Paley's admirable work, entitled, Horæ Paulinæ. This book has now been published thirty years, during all which period, though many of the Infidel host have 'gnashed their teeth' at it in private, not one has attempted to refute it."

• n.g. The Horæ Paulinæ of William Paley, D. D., carried out and illustrated in a continuous History of the apostolic Labours and Writings of St. Paul, on the Basis of the Acts; with intercalary Matter of sacred Narrative, supplied from the Epistles, and elucidated in occasional Dissertations. Review from Wesleyan-Methodist Magazine, v. 20. January 1841. p. 51. "The Horæ Paulinæ of Dr. Paley has been long known as the most original, and not the least valuable, of all his publications. Its design is, to prove the truth of the sacred writings, so far as St. Paul is concerned, by means of the undesigned coindicences between his Epistles, and St. Luke's narrative in the Acts of the Apostles; and the argument is brought out and sustained with irresistible effect. This great work (for such it is in reality) is vastly improved by Mr. Tate. By placing the whole of St. Paul's history in connexion with Dr. Paley's argument, he has rendered it more clear and striking. This book, in its amended form, should have a place in the library of every biblical and theological student."
• n.g. Horæ Paulinæ. Review from Journal of Sacred Literature, v. 7, n. 13. January 1851. p. a246.

Irish priest.

• Sermon answering objections concerning the OT.
• The Evangelical History and Harmony. London printed by William Bowyer for the author; sold by J. and J. Rivington, J. Hildyard at York, J. Fletcher at Oxford, W. Thurlbourn and F. Hopkins at Cambridge, G. Ayscough at Nottingham, J. Leake at Bath, and S. Trimer at Derby, 1747.
  
  Thomas Hartwell Horne, An Introduction to the Critical Study and Knowledge of the Holy Scriptures, Vol. 2, 1854 edition: This harmonist professes not to adhere to any of the schemes laid down by his predecessors for arranging the evangelical history. It is not disposed in columns, like the works of Le Clerc, Toinard, and others; but the text is exhibited in such a manner as to relate the various discourses and facts recorded by the sacred writers in their identical words, and in the fullest manner possible, yet so as to avoid tautology. The history is divided into chapters, and these are subdivided into sections of moderate length. Two Chronological Dissertations are prefixed: 1. On the time of Herod's death, of the birth of Jesus Christ, the duration of his minis try, and the year of his crucifixion, &c. &c. 2. On the time and place of the adoration of the wise men. Notes are subjoined for the elucidation of particular passages. The work is executed with great care, and may frequently be purchased at a low price.
• Passages related to eternal life in Moses and the Prophets.

Dean of Norwich. Read more about Prideaux here.

• The Old and New Testament connected, in the history of the Jews and neighbouring nations. Edinburgh, 1799. Vol. 1; Vol. 2; Vol. 3; Vol. 4

• Light shining out of darkness, The Fidelity of the four evangelists evinced by their apparent imperfections. London, 1839.

Biblical scholar. Read more about Robinson here and here.

• A Harmony of the Four Gospels in English. According to the common version. Newly arranged, with explanatory notes, Rev. ed., with foot-notes from the rev. version of 1881, and additional notes by M.B. Riddle. Boston, Houghton, Mifflin,1886, xix, 205 pp.
• A Harmony of the Four Gospels in Greek. Rev. ed., giving the text of Tischendorf, and various readings accepted by Tregelles, Westcott and Hort, and in the rev. English version of 1881. With additional notes by M.B. Riddle. Boston, Houghton, Mifflin 1885, xxvi, 273 pp.
• Henry B. Smith and Roswell D. Hitchcock. The Life, Writings and Character of Edward Robinson. New York, 1863. Also here.

Senior researcher, Jews for Jesus. Read more about Robinson here and here.

• The New Testament: Contradictory Or Consistent? Posted August 15, 2006. "The study of the Bible can be invigorating, both in terms of what it clearly says, and in grappling with its more challenging passages. One can regard the Bible as (to quote Beth Moshe) 'lacking in harmony and coherence . . . flawed in contrary statements . . . unreliable' or one can approach it with the kind of humility that comes from realizing that we are far removed from the time, place and culture of its authors. Frankly, it is the first approach that is na've or simplistic, not the second. Many who have taken the time and trouble to read the Bible, study it, and yes, even question its problem passages have discovered that while the original messengers may be distant, the message is 'stunningly' contemporary close to us as our minds and hearts."

Bible commentator. Read more about Scott here.

• The Holy Bible, containing the Old and New Testaments; with original notes, ... by the Rev. Thomas Scott, ... To which are added, a Concordance, General Index, and Tables. Second edition. London, 1792. 922 pp. Volume 1 of 4.
• The Holy Bible, containing the Old and New Testaments; with original notes, ... by the Rev. Thomas Scott, To which are added, a Concordance, General Index, and Tables. London, 1788-92. 941pp. Volume 2 of 4.
• The Holy Bible, containing the Old and New Testaments; with original notes, ... by the Rev. Thomas Scott, ... To which are added, a Concordance, General Index, and Tables. Second edition. London, 1792. 1164 pp. Volume 3 of 4.
• The Holy Bible, containing the Old and New Testaments; with original notes, ... by the Rev. Thomas Scott, ... To which are added, a Concordance, General Index, and Tables. Second edition. London, 1792. 1285pp. Volume 4 of 4.

  See The Comprehensive Commentary on the Holy Bible, edited by William Jenks, for additional commentary by Matthew Henry and Phillip Doddridge, plus Gill, Adam, Clarke, Patrick, Poole, Lowth, Burder, Harmer, Calmet, Stuart, Robinson, Bush, Rosenmueller, Bloomfield, and many other writers on the Scriptures.

Apologist.

• The Resurrection Accounts .
• Works.

Associate Professor of Philosophy and Religious Studies at Atlantic Baptist University, Moncton, New Brunswick, Canada.

• The Chronology of the Last Supper. Westminster Theological Journal, v. 53, n. 1. 1991. pp. 29-45.

American educator.

• Origin and history of the books of the Bible; both the canonical and the apocryphal, designed to show what the Bible is not, what it is, and how to use it. Hartford, Conn.: Hartford Pub. Co., 1868, ©1867. 583 (i. e. 587) p. incl. facsims., [13] leaves of plates: ill., port., plates; 23 cm.
  "Now let us compare with this statement the antiquity, number and variety of the manuscript copies which we have of the historical and ethical writers of the New Testament. Of the manuscript copies of the Greek Testament, from 700 to 1000 of all kinds have been examined already by critics, and of these at least 50 are more than 1000 years old, and some are known to be at least 1500 years old; while the oldest of the Greek classics scarcely reach the antiquity of 900 years, and of these the number is very small indeed, compared with those of the Greek Testament. We have manuscripts of the Greek Testament that could have been read by men who had opportunity to read the autographs of the apostles themselves; manuscripts as near to the life time of the apostles as we ourselves are to the life time of the pilgrim fathers who landed at Plymouth; and the writers of which might have themselves seen the autograph books in the churches as we now may see the original records of the old colony in the Plymouth court-house."--p. 60.
• History of the Books of the Bible, designed to show what the Bible is not, what it is, and how to use it. By Prof. Calvin E. Stowe. Boston: Estes and Lauriat, 1886 [c1885]. vi pp., 1 l., [9]-583 pp. incl. pl., facsims. front. plates. 23 cm.
• The Right interpretation of the sacred scriptures: the helps and the hindrances: an inaugural discourse delivered at Andover, Sept. 1, 1852. Andover [Mass.], 1853. 32 pp.
• Introduction to the criticism and interpretation of the Bible: Designed for the use of theological students, Bible classes, and high schools. Volume 1, Note: No more published. Cincinnati: Corey, Fairbank & Webster, 1835. 276 pp.; 20 cm. Contents: Of revelation and the language in which it is given -- Pecularities of the Bible in respect to interpretation -- Proof that Moses was the writer of the five books usually ascribed to him -- Hypotheses of those who reject the authorship of Moses, their objections stated and answered -- Origin of alphabetic writing -- Authenticity of the four gospels -- Character of the gospels -- Genuineness of the Apocalypse -- Interpretation of the Apocalypse -- Hebrew and pagan prophets contrasted -- Doctrine of inspiration -- Scriptural idea and proof of inspiration -- Miracles.

Reverend.

• The Antiquity, literal meaning, and authenticity of the Mosaic Narrative: Examined and established / by the Rev. Alexander Strachan. London: Longman and Co., Routledge and Co., 1854. 112 pp.: ill.; 17 cm.

Biblical scholar. Read more about Stuart here, here and here.

• A Harmony in Greek of the Gospels, with notes by William Newcome, D.D., Dublin, 1778: reprinted from the text and select various readings of [Jo. Jac] Griesbach, by the Junior Class in the Theological Seminary at Andover, under the superintendance of Moes Stuart, Associate Professor of Sacred Literature in Said Seminary. Andover [Mass.]: Printed by Flagg and Gould, 1814. 311 pp.
• A Commentary on the Epistle to the Hebrews. London: W. Tegg, 1864.
• A Commentary on the Epistle to the Romans. 6th edition. London: W. Tegg, 1857.
• A Commentary on the book of Daniel. Boston: Crocker & Brewster, 1850.
• A Commentary on the book of Proverbs. New York, M. W. Dodd, 1852.
• Hints on the interpretation of prophecy. 2d edition, with additions and corrections. New York: Van Nostrand & Terrett, 1851, c. 1842.
• Critical History and Defence of the Old Testament canon. Edited, with occasional notes and references, by Peter Lorimer. Edinburgh: T. & T. Clark, 1849. (Recommended read -- It can still be purchased here.)
• Article IV. Inquiry Respecting the Original Language of Matthew's Gospel, and the Genuineness of the Fist Two Chapters of the same; with Particular Reference to Mr. Norton's View of these Subjects as Exhibited in his Treatise on the Genuineness of the Gospels. From The American Biblical Repository, October 1838, pp. 315-356.
• William Adams. A Discourse on the life and services of Professor Moses Stuart. New-York: J. F. Trow, printer, 1852. 71 pp. 23 cm. Also here.

• An Analysis of the Holy Bible, containing the whole of the Old and New Testaments: collected and arranged systematically, in thirty books. Leeds, 1800. 908 pp.

Author. Read more about Taylor here.

• History of the Transmission of Ancient Books to modern times, together with The Process of Historical Proof; or, A concise account of the means by which the genuineness of ancient literature generally, and authenticity of historical works especially, are ascertained. A New edition, revised and enlarged. Liverpool: E. Howell, 1889. xii, 401 p. 20 cm.
• The Process of Historical Proof. London, Printed for B. J. Holdsworth, 1828. viii, 338 pp. 22 cm.
  Thomas Chalmers, Evidence and Authority of the Christian Revelation: "Taylor in his Transmission of Ancient Books to Modern Times," p. 7, says, "Satisfactory evidence in support of the first proposition (the genuineness of the books) will prove that the works in question are not forgeries; and of the second (their authenticity) will show that they are not fictions."
  "Both the book now quoted, and another by the same author on The Process of Historical Proof, are most important accessions to the literature of the argumentative evidence for Christianity. Few writers have exhibited in such bold relief the strength and solidity of the cause."

Software/process engineer. Read more about Taylor here.

• Bible Difficulties and Contradictions - some suggested solutions.

Writer and Church of England clergyman.

• The New Testament, arranged in Historical and chronological order; with copious notes on the principal subjects in theology; the gospels on the basis of the harmonies of Lightfoot, Doddridge, Pilkington, Newcome, Michaelis; the account of the resurrection on the authorities of West, Townson, and Cranfield; the epistles are inserted in their places and divided according to the apostles' arguments. Boston: Published by Perkins and Marvin. Philadelphia: Henry Perkins. 1837.
• With Joseph Barber Lightfoot, (1828-1889). The Old Testament, arranged in Historical and chronological order, (on the basis of Lightfoot's Chronicle,) in such a manner, that the books, chapters, psalms, prophecies, &c. &c. may be read as one connected History, in the words of the authorized translation: With copious indexes. 2nd edition. London: Printed for C. and J. Rivington, 1826. 2 vol.; 22 cm. 1821 edition, 2 vol. 22 cm., Volume 1. Volume 2.

Biblical scholar. Read more about Warfield here.

• "On the Post-Exilian Portion of our Lord's Genealogy," The Presbyterian Review, Volume 2. New York: Anson D. F. Randolph & Co., 1881.
  ... "We conclude, therefore, that Luke's genealogy, from Zorobabel to Christ, is fully vindicated in its historical character. With regard to Matthew's, as we have no lists with which to compare it, we are forced to rest in the general considerations set forth at the beginning of this paper. If his Abiud is to be identified with Luke's Jodas, as seems probable, then Joseph's and Mary's lines part at that point, to meet again in the Saviour of the world, the real son of one and the legal heir of the other. There being no reason to suspect Matthew's list of not being historical, but, on the contrary, every internal evidence of its true historical character, it also may be safely accepted as vindicated from all doubt. The questions arising concerning Matthew's arbitrary omissions of names, and symmetrical arrangement into tessaro-decades, etc., are fully discussed in the works of Mill, Hervey, and Ebrard, quoted above."

English divine. (TM): Richard Watson (1737-1816), not to be confused with the Methodist theologian of the same name, was an Anglican theologian and scholar. He was a fellow of Trinity College, Cambridge, was appointed a professor of chemistry and later of divinity at Trinity. From 1782 until his death, he served as the Bishop of Llandaff.

The Oxford biography says of him: "A student of mathematics before he turned his hand to chemistry, Watson came fresh to the study of religion on his appointment as regius professor of divinity in 1771. He then applied himself not to theology or patristics but to biblical study of the New Testament....In his six volumes of Theological Tracts (1785), which reprinted twenty-four extracts from nineteen writers for 'young persons of every denomination' (1.v), he included works by a number of dissenters, even some Unitarians, insisting that he 'did not at all consider the quarter from whence the matter was taken, but whether it was good, and suited to my purpose' (1.xix). His aim was to establish the truth of Christianity and defend his young readers 'from that contagion of Infidelity which is the disgrace of the age' (1.ix); his target was deists not dissenters...Twice in his career he came forward as a defender of the Christian faith: in 1776 his Apology for Christianity addressed Gibbon's sceptical account of the growth of Christianity in Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire; twenty years later his Apology for the Bible (1796) responded to the second part of Thomas Paine's deist Age of Reason, published in 1795. While his rejoinder to Gibbon was relaxed and courteous that to Paine was urgent and anxious; the debate was no longer an intellectual exercise but a crucial defence of the political and social order."

Read more about Watson here.

• An Apology for Christianity, vs Edward Gibbon.
• An Apology for the Bible. (TM): The first of these two short books by Watson is a response to Edward Gibbon's treatment of the rise of Christianity in his Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire (1776); the second is a response to Thomas Paine's coarse but popular attack on Christianity in The Age of Reason (1794-95). Both of Watson's works combine considerable learning with graceful rhetoric. He treats Gibbon with the respect due to a scholar of high standing, a compliment that Gibbon appreciated and returned in some correspondence that passed between them in November of 1776. With Paine, Watson allows himself a more remonstrating tone.
  Watson had a clear sense of the limitations of the genre in which he was writing, and in a note to the fifth (1791) edition of his Apology for Christianity he expresses "an earnest wish, that those who dislike not this little Book, will peruse larger ones on the same subject." His six volume Collection of Theological Tracts (1785; 2nd ed. 1791) gives some indication of where he hoped his readers would go.
  • On the Authority for believing the Bible to be the Word of GOD. From The Arminian magazine: consisting of extracts and original treatises on universal redemption, v. 19. October 1796. p. 498a.
  • LETTER II. from the Bishop of Landaff to Thom. Paine. From The Arminian magazine: consisting of extracts and original treatises on universal redemption, v. 19. November 1796. p. 539.
  • LETTER III. from the Bishop of Landaff to Thomas Paine. From The Arminian magazine: consisting of extracts and original treatises on universal redemption, v. 19. December 1796. p. 595.
  • LETTER IV. from the Bishop of Landaff to Thomas Paine. From The Arminian magazine: consisting of extracts and original treatises on universal redemption, v. 20. January 1797. p. 31.
  • LETTER V. From The Arminian magazine: consisting of extracts and original treatises on universal redemption, v. 20. February 1797. p. 91.
  • LETTER VI.. From The Arminian magazine: consisting of extracts and original treatises on universal redemption, v. 20. June 1797. p. 281.
  • LETTER VII. From The Arminian magazine: consisting of extracts and original treatises on universal redemption, v. 20. August 1797. p. 384
  • LETTER VIII.. From The Arminian magazine: consisting of extracts and original treatises on universal redemption, v. 20. September 1797. p. 427
  • From the BISHOP of LANDAFF to THOMAS PAINE. From The Arminian magazine: consisting of extracts and original treatises on universal redemption, v. 20. October 1797. p. 490.
  • LETTER X. . From The Arminian magazine: consisting of extracts and original treatises on universal redemption.v. 20 November 1797. p. 531.
  • LETTER XI. From The Arminian magazine: consisting of extracts and original treatises on universal redemption, v. 20. December 1797. p. 582.
• Anonymous. The Life of Right Rev. Dr. Watson, F. R. S. . From The Christian Journal, and Literary Register; Jul 19, 1817; 1, 13; pg. 193.

Author.

• Observations on the History and Evidences of the Resurrection. London, 1747. 8vo. Thomas Hartwell Horne, An Introduction to the Critical Study and Knowledge of the Holy Scriptures, Vol. 2, 1854 edition: The multiplied edition of this most valuable treatise, which places the history of the resurrection on impregnable ground, sufficiently attest its value, and the high estimation in which it is deservedly held. Mr. West had for a time listened to the blandishments of infidelity ; and the treatise in question was written in consequence of the inquiries which he conscientiously instituted into the evidence of Christianity, of which he lived and died a bright ornament. His work is noticed here, on account of the luminous and satisfactory manner in which he has harmonised the several accounts of the evangelical history of the resurrection.

• Lectures upon some of the parables and historical passages of the New Testament. Philadelphia, 1810. 368 pp.

Powerlifter. Director of Darkness to Light Ministry. Read more about Zeolla here.

• Easter Harmony. Presented in response to the article "Leave No Stone Unturned: An Easter Challenge For Christians" posted on the Internet Infidels Web site.