Week 7: Section 1, Chapter 6 — Separate Artifacts from Evidence

1.Wallace introduces the distinction between an "artifact" — something present at the scene that is incidental to the crime — and genuine "evidence" that actually bears on the case. How does this distinction apply when reading the Gospels? What kinds of difficulties or apparent contradictions might be artifacts rather than evidence of dishonesty?

2.He discusses the phenomenon of witnesses who tell the same event differently — focusing on different details, sequencing events differently, emphasizing different aspects. Why is some degree of variation between accounts actually a mark of independent testimony rather than collusion? When does variation become contradiction?

3.Wallace draws on his experience with the "telephone game" — how a story degrades as it passes from person to person — to evaluate how quickly the Gospel traditions were recorded and circulated. What evidence does he cite for early dating of the New Testament documents? Why does early dating matter for their reliability?