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The Historicity of the Old Testament

How reliable is the Old Testament? What historical and archaeological evidence do we have for the reliability of the Old Testament text?

Bibliographic Test for the OT: The bibliographical test (also called lower criticism or textual criticism) asks if the original OT manuscripts were accurately transmitted to us today. Were these documents passed on reliably, or were they distorted over time?

Further Reading

Archer, Gleason L. A Survey of Old Testament Introduction. Third Edition. Chicago, IL: Moody, 1998.

Harris, R. Laird. Inspiration and Canonicity of the Scriptures. Greenville, SC, 1995. 75.

Hoffmeier, James Karl. The Archaeology of the Bible. Oxford: Lion, 2008.

Kaiser, Walter C. The Old Testament Documents: Are They Reliable & Relevant? Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity, 2001.

Kenyon, Frederic. Our Bible and the Ancient Manuscripts. New York: Eyre and Spottiswoode. 1897.

Kitchen, Kenneth Anderson. Ancient Orient and Old Testament. London: Tyndale, 1966.

Kitchen, Kenneth Anderson. On the Reliability of the Old Testament. Grand Rapids, MI: W.B. Eerdmans, 2003.

About The Author
James Rochford

James earned a Master’s degree in Theological Studies from Trinity Evangelical Divinity School, graduating magna cum laude. He is the founder of Evidence Unseen and the author of several books. James enjoys serving as a pastor at Dwell Community Church in Columbus, Ohio, where he lives with his wife and their two sons.