Earlier this week I mentioned a project that performed quantitative analysis on Hamlet and wondered whether it would prove to be a useful approach to literary analysis. Last night I stumbled across an example that shows how, when used creatively, such techniques can expand our knowledge and appreciation of a text. Dr. Peter Williams, Warden of Tyndale House at University of Cambridge, has conducted what I’d call an “algorithm-enhanced close reading” of the canonical gospels and compared them to the apocryphal testimonies about Jesus.
Normally, my attention span for videos on the web is limited to about 2 minutes. But when I started watching this video last last night I got sucked in by Dr. Williams engaging style and watched the entire lecture. As Evangel blogger Tom Gilson says, it’s a “talk on apologetics like you’ve never heard before.”
June 10th, 2011 | 12:45 pm
[...] Joe Carter: Last night I stumbled across an example that shows how, when used creatively, such techniques can expand our knowledge and appreciation of a text. Dr. Peter Williams, a Senior Lecturer in New Testament at the University of Abeerdeen, has conducted what I’d call an “algorithm-enhanced close reading” of the canonical gospels and compared them to the apocryphal testimonies about Jesus. [...]
June 10th, 2011 | 1:51 pm
Actually, Peter Williams is now the Warden of Tyndale House in Cambridge: http://www.tyndale.cam.ac.uk/index.php?page=peter-williams
June 10th, 2011 | 7:53 pm
To what is Peter Williams referring to when he says it has only been possible to conduct this type of research within the last handful of years? What was discovered?
June 11th, 2011 | 9:11 am
[...] Dr. Peter Williams, “New Evidences the Gospels were Based on Eyewitness Accounts” (HT First Things). [...]
June 11th, 2011 | 1:15 pm
@DJ, I think what PW was referring to are the recent studies on name popularity in ancient Judea. Given those, the gospels pass the verisimilitude test of right proportion of names, and the right use of ‘disambiguating qualifiers’ for the most common names.
This is simultaneously very clever and common-sensical. Well done.
June 11th, 2011 | 4:57 pm
Mike,
A couple quick google searches have not turned up anything on recent discoveries about genealogical name data in ancient Judea. Do you (or anyone) know who made this discovery? What was the form of the discovery? An ancient census? How credible is the data?
June 11th, 2011 | 8:38 pm
He discusses that beginning at 7:50. A German researcher, Tal Ilan, compiled a list of 3000 names used in ancient Judea, along with their etymologies, mostly from examining ossuaries (this is the archaeological work PW refers to), but also using writings known to be from that area and time period, like the Dead Sea Scrolls. So apparently it wasn’t a new discovery, just a clever tabulation of data already available. Ilan’s work is Lexicon of Jewish Names in Late Antiquity, identified at 8:19 in the video.
The graphic at 8:19 also identifies the British researcher, Richard Bauckham, who tested Ilan’s name data against the gospel. He says the close correlation is evidence of eyewitness authorship.
a link to Ilan’s work
http://www.mohr.de/en/jewish-studies/reference-works/buch/lexicon-of-jewish-names-in-late-antiquity-1.html
videos of Bauckham explaining his work
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=292NTf1cCNw
I believe there has also been archaeological work testing facts written about in the book of Acts. Colin Hemer’s Book of Acts in the Setting of Hellenistic History looks like the authoritative work.
June 11th, 2011 | 11:01 pm
Joe: thanks for posting this, it was well worth sitting through!
June 12th, 2011 | 5:33 pm
Mike,
I obviously wasn’t paying close enough attention! Thanks for pinpointing the parts of the video and thanks for the links. Very helpful.
June 14th, 2011 | 6:12 am
[...] Joe Carter: [...]
June 16th, 2011 | 3:15 pm
[...] that in mind, I found the following two lectures, recently recommended by Joe Carter and Justin Taylor, to be worth highlighting at this point in our listening. Joe Carter’s [...]
June 17th, 2011 | 2:46 am
[...] blogger Tom Gilson says, it’s a “talk on apologetics like you’ve never heard before.” via firstthings.com & [...]
June 20th, 2011 | 8:43 am
Joe, I appreciate the interest generated by your blog. Both the lecture and the QA of the lecture have both been effected positively in a marked manor.
Mark Lanier’s Theological Library Lecture Series deserves all the credit for this and other lectures it has brought to Houston audiences in the past year.
I hope you find other of my video posts of interest as well.
My appreciation goes out to Justin Taylor for his bringing it to your attention and to Tom Gilson’s further endorsement.
I read your thoughtful blog what-evangelicals-owe-catholics-an-appreciation. It was exceptional! I agree whole heartedly on every point. Thanks Again.
Links
Blogs
Find Us
Contact