Subject: Re: Original Text

From: Jean VALENTIN <[email-masked]>
Date: Wed, 15 Jan 97 23:39:44 +0100

>If I may be so bold, I would be
>interested in getting your personal thoughts on what the 'original text' is
>(or 'texts' are).

Hmmm... the "original text" is something between a concept and a chimera. 
In fact, what we're dealing with is a _tradition_. Some people devote 
their whole life to searching "the ideal woman", and, probably, when we 
search naively for an "original text" we're doing just the same.

In any case, if such a thing ever existed, it is lost and all our 
reconstructions remain reconstructions. Personally, I find we're on more 
solid ground when studying the development and diversity of the tradition 
than when trying to reconstruct a remote original... I must avow my 
perplexity when facing these questions.

_______________________________________________________________________
Jean Valentin - Brussels - Belgium

Ce qui est trop simple est faux, ce qui est trop complexe est 
inutilisable.
What's too simple is wrong, what's too complex is unusable.
Wat te eenvoudig is, is verkeerd; wat te ingewikkeld is, is onbruikbaar.

---

From: "Robert B. Waltz" <[email-masked]>
Date: Wed, 15 Jan 1997 17:37:23 -0700

>perplexity when facing these questions.

I will concede that finding the *exact* original text is probably
beyond our abilities. I will also concede that the seeking is more
interesting than the finding (that is, I enjoy studying manuscripts
and text-types much more than reading the Greek Bible).

But are you saying that seeking the original text is pointless?
What, then, are people to do who simply want to read the Bible
(or any other classical text)?

I agree that there is a place for studying the tradition -- after
all, I am a folk musician. There is at least one song ("The Twa
Sisters," Child #10) where I sing *four* different versions (think of
it as reading the Bible in four different text-types). But surely
there is also a place for studying the best possible approximation
to the original text!

Bob Waltz
[email-masked]