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I think it is likely that what we have is pretty close to the originals, but it's hardly beyond reasonable doubt. I think this is certainly something that has to be considered.
Yet it has tended to be a verbotten subject, even in evangelical academia at the highest levels. The curriculum always stresses that inerrancy applies to the original autographs only---but the absence of those autographs is rarely discussed other than by that mention.
Speaking of academia at the highest levels ...Yet it has tended to be a verbotten subject, even in evangelical academia at the highest levels.
The curriculum always stresses that inerrancy applies to the original autographs only---but the absence of those autographs is rarely discussed other than by that mention.
Of course it is discussed. And there's an acknowledgement that the text we have is 99.99% or so of the original autographs... leaving the possibility that for some disputed passages we might not know exactly which way the original autographs read.
I've served on faculties in both the UK and USA and attended AAR/SBL and ETS for many years. Yet the potential gap between the autgraphs and the earliest mss. is not often discussed in evangelical circles
Of course it is discussed. And there's an acknowledgement that the text we have is 99.99% or so of the original autographs... leaving the possibility that for some disputed passages we might not know exactly which way the original autographs read.
That's really odd, because it's implicit in every single textual discussion about what the original text said.
Clearly we are talking about two different issues. You're talking the mechanics. I'm talking about the implications, especially as manifested in the ST classroom.
Sorry, but you can't possibly know this. You might be able to determine that you have 99.99% of the common ancestor to the extant manuscripts, but you can't know that that common ancestor is the original autograph.
One can't know for certain, but given the geographical spread of the various ancient manuscripts, it's most likely that the common ancestor is the original autograph.
This would all tend to concern me back in the day when I was just a baby Platapus with not a care in the world...
Seriously though I think we could all get along, creationists, YE's, evolutionists, if we could realize that warring over how it all started, is really altering the quality of life we have here and now as we all think we have a vested interest in being absolutely right about what we will never know with absolute certainty.
"The Language of God: A Scientist Presents Evidence For Belief" , was one of the best books I ever read. I think it would help a lot of Christians and even evolutionists to see there is no true competition to being the exclusive owners of the one truth in this matter.
When it can very easily be that creationists and evolutionists are not mutually exclusive ideologies.
One can't know for certain, but given the geographical spread of the various ancient manuscripts, it's most likely that the common ancestor is the original autograph.
In the Book of Rev John only recognized 7 churches. They all received a copy of his letter. Jesus use to preach in the synagogues. There was no record of Him carrying the Scriptures around with him. If he wanted something read he would call for the Scrolls and they would bring it to Him so He could read what He wanted to read. If they were outside of a synagogue then they would usually quote or paraphrase from memory.Sorry, but that's a pretty big assumption, considering we don't really know how they were circulated and distributed in the early years of the church.
Sorry, but that's a pretty big assumption, considering we don't really know how they were circulated and distributed in the early years of the church.
In the Book of Rev John only recognized 7 churches. They all received a copy of his letter. Jesus use to preach in the synagogues. There was no record of Him carrying the Scriptures around with him. If he wanted something read he would call for the Scrolls and they would bring it to Him so He could read what He wanted to read. If they were outside of a synagogue then they would usually quote or paraphrase from memory.
Keep in mind, also, that most of the earliest NT manuscripts are just fragments, and we often don't have full texts of some books until close to 300 C.E.
Yes, we do. We find fairly early copies in Egypt, for example, e.g. the Rylands Papyrus -- only a few decades after the autograph of John.
But the fragments are consistent with the later manuscripts, and imply a low probability for major changes in the intervening years. Basically, the common ancestor is inferred using less mathematical versions of the methods used to infer ancestral gene sequences in biology.
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