<DIV>The proliferation of information and its sources makes skimmers of us all. We take a little here and a little there—not giving ourselves the time to evaluate and connect the dots. Skimming the popular media about the Gospels can easily lead one to conclude that these are curious ancient documents whose import has been badly misinterpreted by the church.<BR><BR>A few sound bites in a pre-Christmas or pre-Easter TV documentary. A cynical remark in a religious studies course. Even a work of fiction like Dan Brown’s The DaVinci Code can leave the skimmer thinking Jesus is just a figment of some first or second century imaginations.<BR><BR><I>The Holman Apologetics Commentary on the Bible </I>puts us on pause and invites us to go deeper. This first volume in the series contains a commentary on each of the four Gospels and the Acts of the Apostles that features apologetics-focused analysis and exposition of biblical passages in which apologetics issues arise. Criticisms of the text are answered. Positive proofs are brought to light. And readers are educated in the basic issues of New Testament literature and composition that will help clear away some of the apparent difficulties in the New Testament text.<br><BR>Each of these authors (Michael J. Wilkins on Matthew, Craig A. Evans on Mark, Darrell L. Bock on Luke and Acts, and Andreas J. Kostenberger on John) is aware not only of recent criticisms of these documents but criticisms that have arisen over the two-millennia since the documents were written. Moreover, each of these authors comes with the conviction that the historical reliability and truthfulness of these documents is of enormous consequence and worth careful consideration.<BR><BR><BR></div>