Snippets of Veritas: The Historical Reliability of the New Testament

A comparative study of the historical manuscript evidence for the New Testament with other writings from or about Caesar, Plato, Aristotle, etc.

JULIUS CAESAR
LIVED: 100-44 BC
EARLIEST MANUSCRIPT: 900AD
GAP OF TIME: 1,000 years
NO of COPIES: 10

PLATO
LIVED: 427-347 BC
EARLIEST MANUSCRIPT: 900AD
GAP OF TIME: 1,200 years
NO of COPIES: 7

ARISTOTLE
LIVED: 384-322 BC
EARLIEST MANUSCRIPT: 1,100AD
GAP OF TIME: 1,400 years
NO. of COPIES: 5 of any one work

JESUS CHRIST
LIVED: 3 BC to 30 AD (estimate)
EARLIEST MANUSCRIPT: The earliest manuscript of the New Testament was discovered about 50 years ago. P52 is a small papyrus fragment of the Gospel of John (18:31-33 on the front; 18:37-38 on the back), and it has been dated to about 125 AD.
GAP OF TIME: 30-40 years
NO. of COPIES: 5000 individual Greek manuscripts that contain all or part of the New Testament. 8000 Latin manuscripts from early fifth century.