Undesigned Coincidences in the Writings Both of the Old and New Testaments, an Argument

by John James Blunt

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Genres: History, Christian

364 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1863

About the author

"John James Blunt (1794 – 18 June 1855) was an English Anglican priest. His writings included studies of the early Church.

Blunt was born at Newcastle-under-Lyme in Staffordshire. He was educated at St John's College, Cambridge, where he took his degree as fifteenth wrangler in 1816 and obtained a fellowship. He was appointed a Worts travelling bachelor 1818, and spent some time in Italy and Sicily, afterwards publishing an account of his journey. He proceeded MA in 1819, BD 1826, and was Hulsean Lecturer in 1831-1832 while holding a curacy in Shropshire.

In 1834, he became rector of Great Oakley in Essex, and in 1839 was appointed Lady Margaret's Professor of Divinity at Cambridge. In 1854 he declined the see of Salisbury.

His chief book was Undesigned Coincidences in the Writings both of the Old and New Testaments (1833; fuller edition, 1847). Some of his writings, among them the History of the Christian Church during the First Three Centuries and the lectures On the Right Use of the Early Fathers, were published posthumously."

-- Wikipedia

Reviews

[Liz · Rating 5 out of 5]

Interesting details on small mentions from other passages and sources that uphold the veracity of Scripture. Many points were already familiar, but I especially enjoyed the supporting evidences from Josephus.

[James · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting look at how the little overlooked details of Scripture point to the truth of the accounts recorded in the Bible.

[Jeffrey Brannen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Moderately interesting examination of historical coincidental details which argue for historical accuracy and reliability of both the Old and New Testaments.

If you are wanting internal corroboration of details which lend themselves to an historically accurate text, this is a decent place to start.

If you are wanting a preaching resource to tie specific historical events to other parts of Scripture, then you will find some elements here.

Other than that, the author repeats himself over and over about how these small details unintentionally point towards historical reliability. Much of this material can be effectively skimmed and probably doesn’t need to be carefully read after the 1st chapter.

[Daniel · Rating 5 out of 5]

Brilliant work from the early 19th century theologian J.J. Blunt. He looks at “undesigned coincidences” in the Bible--that is, when a seemingly random piece of data in a story is unexplainable in itself, but is explained *without* purposeful intent by a later account or by a separate eye witness (as in the case of the Gospels). When one account is coincidentally explained by another, the veracity of the eye witness testimony is upheld.