Sir Frederic G. Kenyon, in The Story of the Bible, notes that
"For all the works of classical antiquity we have to depend on manuscripts written long after their original composition. The author who is the best case in this respect is Virgil, yet the earliest manuscript of Virgil that we now possess was written some 350 years after his death. For all other classical writers, the interval between the date of the author and the earliest extant manuscript of his works is much greater. For Livy it is about 500 years, for Horace 900, for most of Plato 1,300, for Euripides 1,600."
Yet no one seriously disputes that we have accurate copies of the works of these writers. However, in the case of the New Testament we have parts of manuscripts dating from the first and early second centuries, only a few decades after the works were penned.
Not only are the biblical manuscripts that we have older than those for classical authors, we have, in sheer numbers, far more manuscripts from which to work. Some are whole books of the Bible, others fragments of just a few words, but there are literally thousands of manuscripts in Hebrew, Greek, Latin, Coptic, Syriac, and other languages. This means that we can be sure we have an authentic text, and we can work from it with confidence.
So the only rational reason we can believe that the Bible is the Inspired Word of God is essentially because the Catholic Church has revealed that to us by their authority given to it by Christ. And if we trust the Catholic Church to determine its canon, perhaps we should also trust it to interpret it for us. After all, that’s why God gave us a Church with the authority to do such things.
“I would not believe in the Gospels were it not for the authority of the Catholic Church” – St. Augustine. . . . more about this @ Fallible Blogma, an absolutely wonderful resource on the internet!
SOURCES:
The content in blue is quoted in full from Catholic Answers in the article entitled, "Proving Inspiration"
The last paragraph is quoted from, Why Should We Believe in the Bible @ Fallible Blogma.
The link provided for more information about St Augustine leads back to Villanova University
ADDITIONAL RESOURCES: Links of interest for more Augustinian detail:
 History of the Order |
| Augustine Rule |
| Saints of the Order |
| St. Augustine |
| St. Clare of Montefalco |
| St. John of Sahagun |
| St. John Stone |
| St. Nicholas |
| St. Rita of Cascia |
| St. Thomas of Villanova |
| Famous Augustinians |
| Luis deLeon |
| Martin Luther |
| Gregor Mendel |
| Andres Urdaneta |
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