Episode 106: Are There 'Undesigned Coincidences' in the New Testament? [Part 1] with Dr. Tawa Anderson

Skeptics will routinely make the claim that the Gospels and New Testament are filled with contradictions and historically unreliable. Maybe at times you feel like you have to be a biblical scholar to refute such claims. Don't worry! On this special two-part episode, we sit down with professor of philosophy and apologetics at Oklahoma Baptist University Dr. Tawa Anderson to discuss a simple way to understand how the New Testament is indeed historically reliable. You need not have a seminary degree to follow along, either! It's called undesigned coincidences. First introduced in 1790 by William Paley, this concept highlights simple, seemingly trivial details in the New Testament that would have been difficult if not virtually impossible for someone writing much later and outside the region of first-century Israel and Jerusalem to have correctly mentioned. On part one, Tawa gives us examples of  two kinds of undesigned coincidences found in the New Testament  he terms “incidental details” and “insider knowledge.”In part two we’ll dive deeper into what Tawa calls “intricate convergence” what undesigned coincidences are mostly all about. This is when details in one Gospel account in say Mark are explained in an entirely unrelated account in Luke or Matthew.Dr. Tawa J. Anderson joined the Oklahoma Baptist University (OBU) faculty as Assistant Professor of Philosophy in the fall of 2011, shortly after completing his Ph.D. in Worldview & Apologetics at The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary (SBTS) in Louisville, KY. Before arriving at OBU, Anderson served as a Garrett Fellow at SBTS, guest lecturing in a broad variety of philosophy courses. For more on Dr. Anderson, visit: www.okbu.edu/directory/tawa-anderson.htmlADDITIONAL RESOURCES: Why Believe: Christian Apologetics for a Skeptical Age by Tawa J. Anderson: https://amzn.to/3L3HXVB  An Introduction to Christian Worldview: Pursuing God's Perspective in a Pluralistic World by Tawa J. Anderson: https://amzn.to/3H5OAUK Lydia McGrew's book on undesigned coincidences: Hidden in Plain View: Undesigned Coincidences in the Gospels and Acts - https://amzn.to/3H9nPyI SUPPORT: Help us create more content like this. Make a tax-deductible donation here: www.watchman.org/give.Apologetics Profile is a ministry of Watchman FellowshipFor more information visit www.watchman.org © Watchman Fellowship, Inc.