The article seemed a bit sensationalized. Yes, both Christians and Jews hold their Scriptures to be divinely inspired, but that has always been with regard to the autographs, or the original writings. Biblical scholars would not consider a copy or a translation "inspired." The science of textual criticism, which is the subject of this article, has been going on for hundreds of years for the Greek, and thousands of years for the Hebrew.
At the bottom of my Greek New Testament is something called the apparatus, which shows any textual variant and it's location in the original manuscript, papyrus, scroll, etc.
In my Hebrew Old Testament, there is an apparatus as well. In fact, in most modern computer language tools like Logos, Bibleworks, or Accordance, there is even the ability to look at copies of the original fragments and sources to verify that the apparatus is accurate.
For the Hebrew Bible, there are no early manuscripts (the dead sea scrolls are hundreds of years later than the latest texts in the HB.) All these variants they're finding are very late, so any changes they're recording are very late changes.
Interesting, but they're obviously not going to find the "original" text, as if there was ever such a thing.
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Almost every claim the Bible makes is complete rubbish. How are they gonna correct that?
ReplyDeleteThe article seemed a bit sensationalized. Yes, both Christians and Jews hold their Scriptures to be divinely inspired, but that has always been with regard to the autographs, or the original writings. Biblical scholars would not consider a copy or a translation "inspired." The science of textual criticism, which is the subject of this article, has been going on for hundreds of years for the Greek, and thousands of years for the Hebrew.
ReplyDeleteAt the bottom of my Greek New Testament is something called the apparatus, which shows any textual variant and it's location in the original manuscript, papyrus, scroll, etc.
In my Hebrew Old Testament, there is an apparatus as well. In fact, in most modern computer language tools like Logos, Bibleworks, or Accordance, there is even the ability to look at copies of the original fragments and sources to verify that the apparatus is accurate.
It's really not all that new or earth shattering.
For the Hebrew Bible, there are no early manuscripts (the dead sea scrolls are hundreds of years later than the latest texts in the HB.) All these variants they're finding are very late, so any changes they're recording are very late changes.
ReplyDeleteInteresting, but they're obviously not going to find the "original" text, as if there was ever such a thing.