Home > Fall Conference
Central Seminary Fall Conference 2026
Trusting the Text
How confidently can we trust the New Testament after centuries of copying by hand? Four sessions with Dr. Daniel B. Wallace.
- Date
- Tuesday, October 13, 2026
- Time
- 8:00 AM to 1:30 PM
- Cost
- $15, lunch included
P52, the Rylands fragment of John 18, about AD 125
Save $5 with code P52 through September 30.
Registration closes October 9
The question
Four hundred thousand variants, and not one lost doctrine?
Every New Testament we own descends from copies made by hand. Scholars have catalogued hundreds of thousands of differences among those copies, and skeptics have built careers on that number. Dr. Wallace has spent four decades photographing and studying the manuscripts themselves. In four sessions he walks through what the variants actually are, which ones matter, and why the core of Christian doctrine stands secure.
Built for pastors, teachers, students, and anyone who wants a straight answer about the text they preach from.
Agenda
Four sessions, one morning
Tuesday, October 13, 2026
8:00 to 8:30 AM
Check-In
8:30 to 9:20 AM
Imperfect Copies of the Perfect Word, Part 1
How much did the ancient scribes alter the Scriptures? Dr. Wallace begins by examining the sheer number of textual variants across manuscripts and unpacking what those numbers actually mean for the biblical text.
Session one
9:20 to 9:35 AM
Break, coffee and refreshments
9:35 to 10:25 AM
Imperfect Copies of the Perfect Word, Part 2
How badly did the scribes corrupt the text? Building on the first session, Dr. Wallace shifts from the quantity of these variants to their nature, showing why the vast majority of scribal changes are minor and easily resolved.
Session two
10:25 to 10:40 AM
Break
10:40 to 11:30 AM
Scribal Glitches and Doctrinal Ditches
Can we still confidently trust our Bibles? This session answers the ultimate question of assurance, demonstrating that despite historical scribal glitches, no core Christian doctrine is jeopardized by textual variants.
Session three
11:30 to 11:45 AM
Break
11:45 AM to 12:35 PM
Saving Scripture: The Work of CSNTM
The great and noble task of preserving the New Testament text for future generations. Dr. Wallace shares the on-the-ground mission of the Center for the Study of New Testament Manuscripts: how his team uses emerging technologies to digitally resource scholars, educate the church on the history of our Bible, and collaborate with global institutions to rescue and preserve ancient manuscripts.
Session four
12:35 to 1:30 PM
Catered lunch, downstairs
The Alumni Association meeting will be held in the Fellowship Hall immediately following lunch.
- Founder
- Center for the Study of New Testament Manuscripts, csntm.org
Guest Lecturer
Dr. Daniel B. Wallace
Senior Research Professor of New Testament Studies at Dallas Theological Seminary. His Greek Grammar Beyond the Basics is the standard intermediate Greek textbook in the English-speaking world. He works extensively in textual criticism and has traveled the world in search of biblical manuscripts.
Read the full biography
Dr. Wallace influences students across the country through his textbook on intermediate Greek grammar. It has become the standard textbook in the English-speaking world on that subject. He is a member of the Society of New Testament Studies, the Institute for Biblical Research, the Society of Biblical Literature, and the Evangelical Theological Society, of which he was president in 2016.
Dr. Wallace is also the senior New Testament editor of the NET Bible, and a member of the Committee on Bible Translation, which is responsible for revisions to the NIV.
He works extensively in textual criticism, and founded the Center for the Study of New Testament Manuscripts (csntm.org), an institute with an initial purpose of preserving Scripture by taking digital photographs of all known Greek New Testament manuscripts. He has traveled the world in search of biblical manuscripts. His postdoctoral work includes Greek grammar at Tyndale House in Cambridge, text-critical studies at the Institut für Neutestamentliche Textforschung in Münster, and the Universität Tübingen, Germany.
Dr. Wallace and his wife, Pati, have four adult sons, two daughters-in-law, three granddaughters, and one grandson.
Dr. Wallace leads all four sessions at this year's conference.
Selected works
Looking for a past conference? Browse speakers, recordings and booklets from previous years.
Conference archive
APPLICATION & AID