From God’s Mind to Man’s Pen, Volume 1 by Sean Hochdorf, Editor

To contact us Click HERE

From God’s Mind toMan’s Pen, Volume 1:  Inspiration, Canonization, Transcription,Translation, Sean Hochdorf, Editor
Thisis a lectureship book from the 28^th Annual West Visalia church ofChrist Lectureship in West Visalia, CA conducted in 2007.  This is actually a two-volume set, but thisreview will focus on the first volume which deals with matters relating to thetext of the Bible in four different, but interconnected, areas:  inspiration, canonization, transcription andtranslation.  Knowledge in each of thesefour areas is critical to effectively answer questions such as “How can we knowthe Bible is from God?”, “How do we know we have all the books of the Bible andthat the ones we do have actually belong there?”  “How can we know that the Bible has beenfaithfully copied and transmitted to us over the centuries?” and “Can I rely onmy English translation of the ancient languages of the Bible?”  All of these are highly relevant questionsand ones which deserve serious attention. This lectureship book does a fine job of explaining these matters in astraightforward manner that is not overly technical but does not sacrificescholarship for simplicity. 

It appears the WestVisalia congregation sought to conduct a very informative lectureship and ifcertain subjects were unable to fit the schedule, then the leadership soughtqualified writers to write lectures for the book.  This makes the lectureship book even moreinformative than merely attending the lectures alone.  It is readily apparent that a lot of planningand detail work went into the making of this book.
There are excellentarticles relating to evidences for the inspiration of the Scriptures, whetherinspiration was at the “thought” or “word” level, and the impact of archaeologyon the accuracy and inspiration of the Scriptures.  There are also excellent articles on whetheror not the Catholic Church gave us the Bible and about other books by Gnosticwriters.  Included are chapters dealingwith matters such as the Received Text compared with the Critical Text, thedifference between Higher and Lower Criticism and an excellent discussion aboutthe full picture of those “copyists’ errors” that all would do well toread.  Included is a chapter by B. J.Clarke on whether or not Mark 16:9-20 belongs in the Bible or not that one willfind informative.  These is also a reviewof some of the more reputable translations accepted among conservative scholarssuch as the KJV, NKJV, ASV, NASV, NIV, ESV and others. 
The articles are wellwritten with extensive citations to follow-up with additional research for thededicated student. Some of the subjects dealt with in this series of lecturesare complex.  One may not agree withevery point in any book on this scale of subject matter; however, From God’s Mind to Man’s Pen is avaluable research tool from a conservative viewpoint of the Scriptures forone’s study of the One who guided man’s hand in the writing of His word!