Throughout his various writing projects, J. Warner Wallace encourages his readers to study the Gospels forensically—that is, to always be on the lookout for evidence, either of deception on the one hand, or of authentic eyewitness testimony on the other. On this episode, Shane talks with him about some of the evidence he discovered when he read the Gospels for the first time and which ultimately led to his conversion to the Christian faith. They also discuss issues related to the dating of the four Gospels and some of the interpretive possibilities related to identifying Luke’s Theophilus. For more information about J. Warner Wallace, visit his website coldcasechristianity.com
During this episode, Shane referenced his recent webinar on the prologue of Luke’s Gospel. A video recording of this presentation is available here for paid subscribers. To upgrade to a paid subscription, click here.
SHOW NOTES
Articles
Why I Know The Gospels Were Written Early, J. Warner Wallace
The Date of John’s Gospel, Revisited, Shane Rosenthal
The Implications of 70 AD, Shane Rosenthal
A Pre-70 Date for the Gospels & Acts, Shane Rosenthal
Who is Theophilus? Notes to Ep. #79, Peter Bolt and others
How to Detect Deception, Shane Rosenthal
The Authenticity & Genuineness of The Fourth Gospel, J.B. Lightfoot
Authenticating The Fourth Gospel, Shane Rosenthal
Is Luke a Trustworthy Historian? Sir William Ramsay
Outside The Gospels, What Can We Know About Jesus? Shane Rosenthal
Can We Trust Luke’s History of the Early Jesus Movement? Shane Rosenthal
On Faith & History, Shane Rosenthal
Episodes
Dealing with Discrepancies, Episode #57 with J. Warner Wallace
The Case for Early Gospels, J. Warner Wallace (podcast)
Luke, Theophilus & Joanna, Episode #80 with Jim Sibley
Who is Theophilus? Episode #79 with Peter Bolt
Did Josephus Ever Mention Jesus? Episode #77 with T.C. Schmidt
Jesus in Josephus & Other Ancient Texts, Episode #78 with T.C. Schmidt
The Gospels as Eyewitness Testimony, Episode #48
Faith Founded on Facts, Episode #15 with Richard Bauckham and others
Stories of Jesus: Can They Be Trusted? Episode. #61 with Peter J. Williams
Are the Gospels History or Fiction? Episode #52 with John Dickson
Questioning Your Faith, Episode #21 with Fikrit Bocek
Death, Ghosts & Views of the Afterlife, Episode #31 with Michael McClymond
The Gospel Creed, Episode #9
Books
Cold Case Christianity, J. Warner Wallace
The Truth in True Crime, J. Warner Wallace
Forensic Faith, J. Warner Wallace
Person of Interest, J. Warner Wallace
Jesus & The Eyewitnesses, Richard Bauckham
Religion on Trial, Craig Parton
Testimonies to the Truth, Lydia McGrew
Can We Trust The Gospels? Peter J. Williams
Redating the New Testament, John A.T. Robinson
Redating Matthew, Mark & Luke, John Wenham
Rethinking the Dates of the New Testament, Jonathan Bernier
Luke’s Key Witness, Shane Rosenthal
Video
Can You Trust Bible Manuscripts? J. Warner Wallace
Has the Bible Changed Over Time? J. Warner Wallace
Rethinking Luke's Prologue (Video)
After reflecting on the meaning and significance of Luke’s prologue over the past few months, my view of Luke’s role as an eyewitness has taken a dramatic turn. According to most scholars, Luke was not in Judea during the time of Jesus but later became a disciple of the apostles. In this view, Luke’s Gospel, therefore, is not a record of things he personally witnessed, but instead should be seen as a narrative he composed after interviewing all the key witnesses. Though it’s certainly true that Luke calls attention to the testimony of various eyewitnesses who had written narratives about Jesus, nowhere in the prologue does he indicate that he was a generation removed from those events, or that he was exclusively dependent on those written narratives. In fact, right there in his opening verse, Luke refers to “the things that have been fulfilled
