The following transcript is from an Apologetics 315 interview with Craig Evans. Original audio here. Transcript index here. If you enjoy transcripts, please consider supporting, which makes this possible.

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BA: Hello, this is Brian Auten with Apologetics315. Today’s interview is with biblical scholar Professor Craig Evans. He is Payzant Distinguished Professor of New Testament at Acadia Divinity College, Acadia University, Nova Scotia. Professor Evans is author or editor of more than sixty books, and author of hundreds of articles and reviews. His area of expertise is Jesus and the Gospels, as well as New Testament manuscripts. Along with countless interviews on radio networks across Canada and the US, Evans has been seen on Dateline, NBC, CBC, CTV, Day of Discovery, and many documentaries aired on the BBC, the Discovery Channel, History Channel, History Television, and others. He’s also served as a consultant for the National Geographic Society. The purpose of this interview is to gain some insight from Professor Evans on the historical Jesus and the reliability of the Gospels. Well, thank you for joining me today Professor Evans.

CE: Oh, my pleasure, glad to be with you.

BA: Now Professor Evans, you have a resume that is quite extensive in the area of biblical scholarship. And looking at the historical Jesus, the Gospels, and the New Testament manuscripts. So you’ve done countless interviews and it’s certainly impressive work for which the Christian community is thankful for, so I want to thank you for your work in this area.

In a recent review of Craig A. Evans’ Jesus and His World: The Archaeological Evidence, a blogger condemned the book for not proving that Jesus existed. However, if the critic had read the first page of the work, he would have noted that Evans himself never posited that it would achieve that goal. The author writes that, while archaeology sometimes proves things, “often what archaeologists uncover is not so much proof but clarification” (1).

This is what Evans, Payzant Distinguished Professor of New Testament at Acadia Divinity College, Nova Scotia, Canada, offers in his book. He discusses a variety of discoveries that provide the backdrop for a number of first-century New Testament locations, practices and events including Christ’s death and burial. In doing so, he heightens our understanding of the culture of that era and, consequently, our understanding of the Bible.

On January 19 & 20, 2012, New Testament scholars Craig Evans and Bart Ehrman took part in two debate/dialogues on the topic: Does the New Testament present a reliable portrait of the Historical Jesus? Both videos are available on YouTube (night one and night two). The first night was at St. Mary’s University and the second night was at Acadia University. Audio of both debates can be downloaded using links below. Debates sponsored by ReligionSoup. (You may also want to check out their previous March 30th, 2010 debate on the topic: Does the New Testament Misquote Jesus?)

• Evans & Ehrman - January 19 Debate MP3 (2hr 16min)
• Evans & Ehrman - January 20 Debate MP3 (2hr)

Enjoy.

Biblical scholar professor Craig Evans, Payzant Distinguished Professor of New Testament at Acadia Divinity College is author or editor of more than sixty books, and author of hundreds articles and reviews. His expertise is Jesus and the Gospels. Here are a few videos featuring Craig Evans:

• Bible 101 - Part 1 | Part 2
• The Dead Sea Scrolls - Part 1 | Part 2
• Why is the culture skeptical of the Bible?
• On the Life and Death of Jesus - Part 1 | Part 2
• What's So Special About Sunday? Part 1 | Part 2

Enjoy.

Today's interview is with Biblical scholar Professor Craig Evans. He talks about his background and how he got into this area of scholarship (Jesus, the Gospels and Biblical manuscripts), what impresses him most about the Bible, handling manuscripts, the quest for the historical Jesus (and its overall timeline), the scholarly opinion on the "Jesus never existed" claim, the consensus of scholarship (and why scholarship is important), the contemporary distortion of Jesus, the demonstrable flaws in the thinking of particular scholars, evaluating presuppositions, a case for the reliability of the Gospels, the contrasting view of the "other" gospels, how to investigate the miracle claims within the Gospels, responding to the "failed apocalyptic prophet" objection, the faults in Bart Ehrman's reasoning, advice for those taking their Biblical studies seriously, the do's and don'ts of arguing for Bible reliability, and more. Find Craig Evans' website here. His author page here. See also Fabricating Jesus.

Full Interview MP3 Audio here (73 min)

Enjoy.
Subscribe to the Apologetics 315 Interviews podcast here or in iTunes.

2nd Timothy 3:16 teaches that "all Scripture is breathed out by God" (ESV). In order to defend the reliability of Scripture, apologists often have quotes from Bruce Metzger or Kurt Aland stored in their memory banks. Unfortunately, these quotes and most apologetic writing is primarily concerned with the New Testament (NT) excepting two topics; Genesis 1 and Old Testament (OT) ethics.  Since many attacks from the skeptical community are centered on the gospel narratives, we need good writings on the NT, but let us not neglect OT issues in our desire to defend the faith. What are the questions being asked in OT studies that affect the apologist? They are at least three: textual transmission, canon and the locale of inspiration in the text.

The Truthbomb Apologetics blog has linked to a nice series of 8 videos featuring NT scholar Craig Evans, entitled: Jesus: Man, Messiah, or More? Click over to Truthbomb for the links, or directly to the video site.

While you are there, check out TB's free apologetics ebook directory... very useful.

This is the March 31, 2010 debate between two prominent New Testament scholars: Dr. Dr. Craig Evans and Dr. Bart Ehrman (specific debate info and bios here) on the topic: Does the New Testament Misquote Jesus? The format revolves around 7 critical questions on the topic, with each participant providing their prepared answers. Wintery Knight has his overview of the debate here. Video can be found here.

Full Debate MP3 Audio here. (90 minutes)

Enjoy.

More Bart Ehrman debates and responses here.

New Testament scholar Craig Evans and resurrection historian Gary Habermas discuss the various Jesus books on this edition of the John Ankerberg show. This includes a discussion on The Jesus Papers, the Gospel of Judas, Misquoting Jesus, the DaVinci Code, and more. Subscribe to John Ankerberg podcast here.

Full MP3 Audio here.

Enjoy.