McClatchie on Arguing from the Bible

Just gonna post this without comment.  Taken from Jonathan McClatchie:

It is very common to be asked by skeptics to provide evidence for the veracity and trustworthiness of the New Testament accounts by appealing to sources that are external to the Bible itself. This typically reflects a series of fundamental misunderstandings on the part of the skeptic, regarding both the New Testament and epistemology. First, it must be clarified that the New Testament does not constitute a single book, but rather a collection of twenty-seven books composed by as many as nine separate authors, which later came to be compiled into a single volume that we call the New Testament. It is thus possible in principle to adduce multiple attestation for an event even while limiting the scope of one’s analysis to the New Testament itself (though, of course, care must be taken here since multiple authors reporting the same information does not necessarily imply independent access to information). Second, it is sometimes thought that, since the reliability of the New Testament is the item under question, to appeal to the New Testament itself while building the case is to beg the question in favor of what one is seeking to prove. However, such a concern is misguided. To see the folly of this thinking, consider a courtroom defendant who takes the witness stand and is cross-examined by the prosecuting attorney. Clearly it makes no sense to argue that the defendant’s own testimony is not admissible because it is the credibility of their own alibi that is under scrutiny. Marks of internal consistency, dovetailing with other witnesses in regards to incidental details, provision of unnecessary details, knowledge under cross-examination of information that is surprising on the falsehood of the testimony, as well as other characteristics, can be indicative of the credibility of the defendant’s alibi. Third, it is popular to allege that the New Testament cannot be admitted as evidence because its authors are biased in favor of the truth of the events that they report. However, this is not in itself a reason to discount witness testimony. Consider a survivor of the holocaust who gives her testimony of having survived a Nazi concentration camp. Clearly, in such a case, the witness is not dispassionate about the events he or she is reporting. But should that have a significant impact on our trust in the survivor’s testimony? Few would argue that it would. Thus, a witness’ testimony can still be admitted as evidence even if the witness has a relevant bias. In some cases, bias can even count in favor of a witness’ testimony, such as in cases where information is provided that the witness would have motivation not to disclose (for example, in the case of the holocaust survivor, if they were to note some act of kindness of one of the camp guards). This of course relates to the criterion of embarrassment, often used in gospel studies, where details that are counter-productive to the evangelist’s cause is taken as evidence supporting veracity precisely because of their bias.