One of the UK’s leading theological research centres is launching a series of one-day seminars to help resource the church as it faces challenges from parts of society and the media to its core beliefs.

The first event, the Bible and Church Conference, is to be held on June 20 at Westminster Chapel in London. Organisers of the free day-long gathering say they want “to provide Christians with reliable scholarly evidence in support of the historical basis of the faith and, to equip Christians to share that faith with confidence”.

“Society is being bombarded with misinformation about the Bible, such as allegations that it has been corrupted by power-hungry Christians who, for example, omitted books they did not like, and changed the original message of Jesus," said Dr Peter Williams, Warden at Tyndale House and an expert in the study of ancient languages related to the Bible.

"When these and other wild claims are made in the media, and by members of the public, most Christians do not know how to respond. Some even find their faith shaken."

Dr Williams will address the issue of history, and how early core Christian beliefs were established.

He will then discuss whether early Christian records were legend, myth or fabrication before addressing how easy it would have been for fabricated accounts of Jesus’ life and ministry to be circulated in the early church.

Delegates will then be offered contributions by Dr Dirk Jongkind, an expert on the Codex Sinaiticus, (the oldest complete copy of the New Testament, who will explain the evidence for the New Testament text, before addressing whether the Bible has been deliberately corrupted or changed through the passage of time.

Editor of the Journal for the Study of the New Testament, Dr Simon Gathercole, will focus on why there are only four Gospels and the significant differences between them, before exploring contemporary views and books referring to the gospels of Mary, Thomas and Judas. Delegates will be given the opportunity to ask questions of a panel of experts.

Dr Williams said the conference would expose "false claims" about the New Testament and "show how the New Testament can be trusted".

He added that he hoped the conference would help Christians face "the many philosophical and secular challenges to orthodox Christian beliefs" and share their faith "with real confidence and conviction".





On the web: www.bibleandchurch.com