Top 9 Quotes & Sayings by Craig A. Evans

The Gospel of Thomas, greatly favored in some circles, is ignored by archaeologists, primarily because it exhibits no verisimilitude. It tells us nothing about the historical Jesus and the world he and his disciples lived in. I've heard it said, that if all we had was the Gospel of Thomas, would we even know that Jesus was Jewish?

Radical skepticism is no more critical than is credulity.

The principal problem is that textual data and material remains are often incomplete and sometimes lack adequate context, in order to know precisely how they correlate. Sometimes all we can say is that the textual data and the material remains are probably related but how exactly can't be said until additional discoveries are made.

As it now stands, I Enoch appears to consist of the following five major divisions: (1) The Book of the Watchers (chaps. 1-36); (2) The Book of the Similitudes (chaps. 37-7l)-, (3) The Book of Astronomical Writings (chaps. 72-82); (4) The Book of Dream Visions (chaps. 83-90); and (5) The Book of the Epistle of Enoch (chaps. 91-107).

The materials in I Enoch range in date from 200 B.C.E. to 50 C.E. I Enoch contributes much to intertestamental views of angels, heaven, judgment, resurrection, and the Messiah. This book has left its stamp upon many of the NT writers, especially the author of Revelation.

The Gospel of Judas turns Judas' act of betrayal into an act of obedience. The sacrifice of Jesus' body of flesh in fact becomes saving. And so for that reason, Judas emerges as the champion and he ends up being envied and even cursed and resented by the other disciples.

The Greek word pseudepigrapha is a Greek word meaning 'falsely superscribed,' or what we moderns might call writing under a pen name. The classification, 'OT Pseudepigrapha,' is a label that scholars have given to these writings.

All archaeologists in Israel and Palestine make use of the New Testament Gospels. They do this because the Gospels exhibit verisimilitude. In short, the Gospels help archaeologists know where to dig and they help archaeologists understand what they unearth. The 2nd-century Gospels and Gospel-like writings rarely exhibit verisimilitude, so archaeologists rarely appeal to them.

Archaeological evidence provides significant help in interpreting the Gospels. In a sense, archaeology is an exegetical tool. To ignore the evidence of archaeology would be almost as irresponsible as making no appeal to the original text. The archaeological evidence is a vital component in the context of Scripture.