Neil R. Lightfoot (1929–2012)
Author of How We Got the Bible
About the Author
Works by Neil R. Lightfoot
Tagged
Common Knowledge
- Canonical name
- Lightfoot, Neil R.
- Legal name
- Lightfoot, Neil Roland
- Birthdate
- 1929-09-22
- Date of death
- 2012-09-18
- Gender
- male
- Occupations
- professor (Abilene Christian University ∙ New Testament)
Minister, Church of Christ - Organizations
- Abilene Christian University
- Short biography
- In 1951 and they joined the faculty of Abilene Christian University in 1958. He taught New Testament and Biblical Languages (Greek and Hebrew), Apologetics and Evidences of Christianity. Dr. Lightfoot has been active as a lecturer and preacher, having served as full-time minister for several congregations in North Carolina and Texas. He has preached for more than fifty years, taught at ACU for forty-seven years and for more than twenty years served as an elder of the Eleventh and Willis Church of Christ in Abilene. Dr. Lightfoot is known for his books and scholarly articles.
Dr. Lightfoot held the B.A. and M.A. Degrees in Philosophy from Baylor University, and the Ph.D. degree in New Testament from Duke University. In 1978, he received the "Trustee's Award, Outstanding Teacher of the Year," Abilene Christian University. In 1986, he was Senior Associate of Westminster College, Cambridge University, Cambridge, England and also served as Distinguished Scholar in Residence. - Birthplace
- Waco, McLennan County, Texas, USA
- Place of death
- Abilene, Taylor County, Texas, USA
- Burial location
- Elliott-Hamil Garden of Memories, Abilene, Taylor County, Texas, USA
- Associated Place (for map)
- Texas, USA
Members
Reviews
I have been on a quest for an easy-to-read introduction to historical and literary analysis of the Bible. My goal is to find something to recommend to to my Christian friends who are lacking what I consider rather fundamental knowledge about a book that they are basing their life on. Christians will (and should) read the Bible primarily from a devotional point of view. However, to not understand the origins of a book you are basing your life on is, in my opinion, rather scary.
However, this show more book is most certainly not the book I would recommend. First, this book is only about textual criticism which is concerned with recovering the original text of the Bible. This is certainly an important part of understanding the Bible as it exists today, but only a part.
Second, while the book claims to be about how we got the Bible, it's really mostly about how we got the New Testament with a small amount of discussion about the Old Testament.
Third, when the author says that this book is "designed for the average reader", he means middle school reading level. Despite the book's 209 pages, the author gives only a shallow overview of textual criticism. To pad out the space, he spends a fair amount of time on stories about how various manuscripts were discovered. A better author could, perhaps, pull this off without making it seem like a waste of space, but Lightfoot, while a quite competent writer, is not quite up to the demands of the "the adventure of discovery" genre.
I would not say that this is exactly a bad book. It's just not very good. My current candidate book for recommending to others covered the same informational content in less than a chapter.
(The annoying part is that I actually spent money on this book because it was recommended by someone who I have luck listening to in the past, and the library did not have it.) show less
However, this show more book is most certainly not the book I would recommend. First, this book is only about textual criticism which is concerned with recovering the original text of the Bible. This is certainly an important part of understanding the Bible as it exists today, but only a part.
Second, while the book claims to be about how we got the Bible, it's really mostly about how we got the New Testament with a small amount of discussion about the Old Testament.
Third, when the author says that this book is "designed for the average reader", he means middle school reading level. Despite the book's 209 pages, the author gives only a shallow overview of textual criticism. To pad out the space, he spends a fair amount of time on stories about how various manuscripts were discovered. A better author could, perhaps, pull this off without making it seem like a waste of space, but Lightfoot, while a quite competent writer, is not quite up to the demands of the "the adventure of discovery" genre.
I would not say that this is exactly a bad book. It's just not very good. My current candidate book for recommending to others covered the same informational content in less than a chapter.
(The annoying part is that I actually spent money on this book because it was recommended by someone who I have luck listening to in the past, and the library did not have it.) show less
A history of the writing of the Bible; unfortunately, the author manages to ignore a large chunk of the scholarship on the topic. This book is written more for propping up belief that the Bible is the received word of God than it is for taking an honest look at the actual process of writing the Bible. Mostly interesting for the discussion of the various scrolls and papyri that are available; however, the author plays some word tricks to prop up belief that these are older than they really show more are, often mentioning a much earlier date in the first paragraph of a section, setting it in the reader's mind that the scrolls, etc, go back to this earlier date. Only the most discerning reader is likely to catch the bait-and-switch. It does get points for being easy to read and well written; not a lot of jargon to clutter up the process for a lay person. show less
Simply terrible. The book is so patronizing that it sometimes appears it was written for children. Whatever little (and often twisted) information it contains can be found in much better books by much better authors. I was very disappointed with this book, which had so much potential.
I enjoyed Lightfoot’s informative book on how the text of the Bible came to us through the ages. This is a good primer for anyone wanting to know or get into a deeper study of this subject. This would certainly be a good place to start.
I had a copy of his 2nd edition printed by ACU Press and had read that, but the 3rd edition is greatly improved with a lot more updated information so if you have read his earlier editions and enjoyed them, you will only get more out of this one.
Certain show more points jumped out at me. In chapter nine, I found his discussion of textual variants interesting. It seems that any book that discusses the canon of Scripture would need to include the topic of textual variation and Lightfoot does here in this chapter.
In chapter twelve, he discusses the reason as to why there are no early extant copies of the Old Testament that date any earlier than the 9th century A.D. The fact that older copies of the O.T. scriptures were burned and buried when newer copies were completed was the custom and tradition; however, the fact that these scribes were so precise and immaculate in their transmission of the text does speak to its reliability as well. He also discusses in this same chapter the Dead Sea scrolls and their significance to Old Testament scholarship and its authenticity.
He also addresses the alleged problem of “lost gospels” in the canon of scripture. With all the hype and sensationalism of the Gnostic scriptures such as the “Gospel of Thomas” and the “Gospel of Judas” being touted as “lost books” of the Bible, Lightfoot here reminds us that scriptures like these cannot be lost gospels because they were never a part of the canon or collection of the 1st and 2nd century churches. No council came together to canonize anything. The canon eventually came about as churches universally recognized the inspired teachings and doctrine with which they were familiar with. Christians would do well to ignore the sensationalism of those today who promote these “lost gospels” in efforts to destroy the credibility of the Bible.
In chapter eighteen, the author gives a good chapter by chapter summary, of what had been discussed previously in the book. If you want to know what the book discusses more in-depth, aside from the chapter headings in the table of contents, then read the chapter summaries in this chapter.
Overall, this is a great book. It serves its purpose well. show less
I had a copy of his 2nd edition printed by ACU Press and had read that, but the 3rd edition is greatly improved with a lot more updated information so if you have read his earlier editions and enjoyed them, you will only get more out of this one.
Certain show more points jumped out at me. In chapter nine, I found his discussion of textual variants interesting. It seems that any book that discusses the canon of Scripture would need to include the topic of textual variation and Lightfoot does here in this chapter.
In chapter twelve, he discusses the reason as to why there are no early extant copies of the Old Testament that date any earlier than the 9th century A.D. The fact that older copies of the O.T. scriptures were burned and buried when newer copies were completed was the custom and tradition; however, the fact that these scribes were so precise and immaculate in their transmission of the text does speak to its reliability as well. He also discusses in this same chapter the Dead Sea scrolls and their significance to Old Testament scholarship and its authenticity.
He also addresses the alleged problem of “lost gospels” in the canon of scripture. With all the hype and sensationalism of the Gnostic scriptures such as the “Gospel of Thomas” and the “Gospel of Judas” being touted as “lost books” of the Bible, Lightfoot here reminds us that scriptures like these cannot be lost gospels because they were never a part of the canon or collection of the 1st and 2nd century churches. No council came together to canonize anything. The canon eventually came about as churches universally recognized the inspired teachings and doctrine with which they were familiar with. Christians would do well to ignore the sensationalism of those today who promote these “lost gospels” in efforts to destroy the credibility of the Bible.
In chapter eighteen, the author gives a good chapter by chapter summary, of what had been discussed previously in the book. If you want to know what the book discusses more in-depth, aside from the chapter headings in the table of contents, then read the chapter summaries in this chapter.
Overall, this is a great book. It serves its purpose well. show less
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Statistics
- Works
- 12
- Members
- 1,507
- Popularity
- #17,057
- Rating
- 3.7
- Reviews
- 10
- ISBNs
- 21
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