During my years in seminary, i spent many hours in class and reading in the field broadly referred to as Critical Biblical Studies. This includes lots of different things, from examination of manuscripts, to literary analysis, to Jesus Seminar type efforts to deconstruct the text of Scripture.

Over at American Thinker, James Arlandson has written the first of four articles on such studies, designed to help the average person with no advanced theological studies understand the ins and outs of New Testament textual criticism.

This article is the first in a four-part series on New Testament textual criticism. It provides the basics on this science and art, answering such questions as these:

o Did scribes make errors as they copied down holy Writ?
o If so, what kind of errors are they?
o Why wouldn't God protect his Word from such errors?
o What's the goal of the science and art of textual criticism?
o Should we even engage in criticism of the Bible? Isn't that blasphemous?
o Should I trust the New Testament?

These questions and more are explored in a basic Question and Answer format, for ease of understanding.

The ultimate goal in this four-part series is to provide a foundation for the readers' knowledge; then we will understand the critics who often mislead the general public about the complete reliability of the Bible.

Frankly, I find this first installment to be a great primer for those with limited background in the field, as it is clear, concise, and balanced. I'll link to the rest as they come along.