Thu Jun 6 11:48:02 1996

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From: Maurice Robinson 
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On Thu, 6 Jun 1996, DC PARKER wrote:

> The whole discussion on this theme stirs up in me a thought on one 
> point.  It is being assumed (I suggest) that local texts had acquired all 
> their own characteristics from the very beginning of their existence, 
> and that therefore all members of the group must be, as it were, fully 
> paid up members.  This is not at all how I think of them.  Rather, each 
> text slowly acquired its peculiar properties over a sequence of 
> transmissions.  Rather than Athene springing fully armed from Zeus' 
> head, they evolved like the distinctive species which Darwin found in 
> different places.  Or perhaps one might conceive of them as the 
> various dialects in which a language is spoken.  Thus, an early 
> member of a type (or whatever you want to call it} will show some 
> characteristics of its descendants, but will also share characteristics 
> with members of other groups which its descendants will not retain.  
> We must remember here what a tiny proportion of the members of 
> any one group are available to us, even in part, as a consequence of 
> which it is generally impossible to trace these developments in 
> detail.

I fully concur with Parker on this point; it reflects well my own 
transmissional presuppositions regarding local texts.

_________________________________________________________________________
Maurice A. Robinson, Ph.D.           Assoc. Prof./Greek and New Testament
Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary     Wake Forest, North Carolina
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

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