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Bibliographic Evidence Tests
Page 3: Comparison to Other Literary Works
The table below shows how other historical literary works compare to the Bible. First note the number of extant copies (copies made from the original) still in existence. Also note how narrow the time span is between the original and the earliest copies. Of the two major steps involved in textual criticism, no other literary work in history can compare to the Bible. If there is any book in all of history that can be considered to be textually accurate, it should be the Bible. 1
| WORK/AUTHOR |
DATE WRITTEN |
EARLIEST COPY |
YEARS ELAPSED |
NO. (#) COPIES |
| Caesar |
100 - 44 BC |
900 AD |
1,000 |
10 |
| Plato |
427 - 347 BC |
900 AD |
1,200 |
7 |
| Sophocles |
496 - 406 BC |
1000 AD |
1,400 |
193 |
| Aristotle |
384 - 322 BC |
1100 AD |
1,400 |
49 |
| Iliad (Homer) |
900 BC |
400 BC |
500 |
643 |
| Tacitus |
100 AD |
1100 AD |
1,000 |
20 |
| Thucydides |
460 - 400 BC |
900 AD |
1,300 |
8 |
| Herodotus |
480 - 425 BC |
900 AD |
1,300 |
8 |
| Euripedes |
480 - 406 BC |
1100 AD |
1,500 |
9 |
| Aristophanes |
450 - 385 BC |
900 AD |
1,200 |
10 |
| New Testament |
40 - 90 AD |
50 AD |
<20 |
23,000 |
FOOTNOTES / WORKS CITED
| 1 | Information condensed from Josh McDowell, Evidence That Demands A Verdict (Here's Life Publishers, Inc., San Bernardino, CA, 1992), 42-43. |
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