New International Encyclopedia of Bible Difficulties: (Zondervan's Understand the Bible Reference Series)

Dr. Archer was a true Bible scholar and a brilliant linguist, knowing 27 different languages. This is an excellent reference for a serious Bible student who wants to research the hard sayings of the Bible.

This book is written without any apologies from the perspective of an true orthodox Christian. Archer's academic credibility is impeccable and thankfully he left this book behind so a new generation could defend the biblical worldview aggressively.

This volume is a good addition to the Biblical expositor's reference library. But the first step is to become familiar with the Bible by actually having spent time reading and studying it. Many questions become answered once you understand the entire Bible in context. Then reference books such as this become useful in understanding cultural references, difficulties in the English translations of the original autographs, etc.

The author has an encyclopedic knowledge of Biblical languages and culture, and his book is most informative about a wide range of topics. Archer is also a trained lawyer, so can cut through the illogicality and special pleading of the arguments for "contradictions". By comparison, among those who argue for contradictions are such blatantly unqualified misotheists such as Barker, Ingersoll, McKinsey and Paine who haven't a clue about the original languages or culture, and are blatantly chronologically chauvinistic.One important consideration in the Gospels is what the New Testament scholar N.T. (Tom) Wright pointed out, that most of the things Jesus said, he most likely said many times, and with many minor variations.I didn't give this book five stars, because Archer is unnecessarily intimidated by old-Earth propaganda, but does believe in a global Flood that actually wipes out alleged geological evidence for age. But since this occupies only a small fraction of the book which is otherwise excellent, only a one-star deduction is warranted.