Trusting the Text

How confidently can we trust the New Testament after centuries of copying by hand? Four sessions with Dr. Daniel B. Wallace, now available to watch.

Recorded: October 13, 2026
Format: Four sessions on video
Resources: Booklet and notes (PDF)

Watch the sessions Booklet Session notes

Papyrus 52, the Rylands fragment of John 18

P52, the Rylands fragment of John 18, about AD 125

The recordings

Four sessions, now online

Follow along with the session notes (PDF).

Session one

Imperfect Copies of the Perfect Word, Part 1

How much did the ancient scribes alter the Scriptures? Dr. Wallace examines the number of textual variants across the manuscripts and what those numbers actually mean.

Session two

Imperfect Copies of the Perfect Word, Part 2

From the quantity of variants to their nature: why the vast majority of scribal changes are minor and easily resolved.

Session three

Scribal Glitches and Doctrinal Ditches

Can we still trust our Bibles? Despite the scribes' mistakes, no core Christian doctrine is jeopardized by textual variants.

Session four

Saving Scripture: The Work of CSNTM

The Center for the Study of New Testament Manuscripts and its work to photograph, preserve and publish the Greek New Testament manuscripts.

PDF download2026 Conference Booklet Open PDF downloadSession Notes Open

Founder: Center for the Study of New Testament Manuscripts, csntm.org

Conference Speaker

Dr. Daniel B. Wallace

Senior Research Professor of New Testament Studies at Dallas Theological Seminary. His Greek Grammar Beyond the Basics is the standard intermediate Greek textbook in the English-speaking world. He works extensively in textual criticism and has traveled the world in search of biblical manuscripts.

Read the full biography

Dr. Wallace influences students across the country through his textbook on intermediate Greek grammar. It has become the standard textbook in the English-speaking world on that subject. He is a member of the Society of New Testament Studies, the Institute for Biblical Research, the Society of Biblical Literature, and the Evangelical Theological Society, of which he was president in 2016.

Dr. Wallace is also the senior New Testament editor of the NET Bible, and a member of the Committee on Bible Translation, which is responsible for revisions to the NIV.

He works extensively in textual criticism, and founded the Center for the Study of New Testament Manuscripts (csntm.org), an institute with an initial purpose of preserving Scripture by taking digital photographs of all known Greek New Testament manuscripts. He has traveled the world in search of biblical manuscripts. His postdoctoral work includes Greek grammar at Tyndale House in Cambridge, text-critical studies at the Institut für Neutestamentliche Textforschung in Münster, and the Universität Tübingen, Germany.

Dr. Wallace and his wife, Pati, have four adult sons, two daughters-in-law, three granddaughters, and one grandson.

Dr. Wallace led all four sessions at the 2026 Fall Conference.