Subject: tc-list BAS Website

From: James Trimm <[email-masked]>
Date: Sat, 06 Jun 1998 14:23:03 -0500

All,

The Biblical Archaeology Society (publishers of BAR) have recently set up a
BAS website at:

The Biblical Archaeology Society
http://www.bib-arch.org/index.html

Also for those interested in the Jewish origins of Christianity you may
want to check ot the website and listservers at:

The Society for the Advancement of Nazarene Judaism
http://www.nazarene.net
James Trimm
==============================================
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and having found he will be amazed,        
and having been amazed he will reign,      
and having reigned he will rest.           
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The Society for the Advancement of Nazarene Judaism:
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From: James Trimm <[email-masked]>
Date: Sat, 06 Jun 1998 15:09:36 -0500

All,
 
 Reagarding P52:
 
 I could find no peculiar text type variants that would qualify p52 as a
 single text type until I came across John 18:33a:
 
 There is a transposition of words that is peculiar only to the Western text
 as follows:
 
 1) "Entered then into the praetorium again Pilate" - aleph,A,C2,Mj.
 
                 vs.
 
 2) "Entered then again into the praetorium Pilate" - p52,B,C,D,Latin
This is the text of P52 recto with the script that survives bracketed.

	Recto: It is not lawful <for us> to put to death
	<No one; that the wo> rd of Jesus might be fulfilled;
	Which he spoke <signifying> by what death
	He was about to <die. Entered> therefore into the
	Praet<orium> again <P>ilate and called

 Whereas the Syriac omits the word "again" altogether.
 
 Now this shows that the oldest text of the N.T. dated from 100 C.E. belongs
 to the Western text family.

James Trimm

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From: "Robert B. Waltz" <[email-masked]>
Date: Sat, 6 Jun 1998 15:43:11 -0500

On Sat, 06 Jun 1998, James Trimm <[email-masked]> wrote:

[ ... ]

> to the Western text family.

I must firmly disagree. First, I can't see that it's a "Western" reading;
it's "Western" and Alexandrian (Alexandrian witnesses supporting the
reading, according to SQE, include P66-vid, B, C*, L, W, and 579).
It also has "Caesarean" support from f13. And D here is a supplement.
 
So there is no reason to conclude that this is a "Western" reading.

But ignore that. Suppose that the thesis were true, and this
reading had solely "Western" support.

I still say it means nothing. One reading means *nothing.* NOTHING.
It's not a statistically significant sample. This is especially
true since variations in word order often arose by accident (a
scribe left out a word, wrote it in the margin, and inserted it
in the wrong place).

I'm not saying P52 is not "Western." It may be; we cannot tell.
I'm simply saying this piece of data does not let us draw any conclusions.

The analogy I always use is to political polling. Suppose you went
out into the street, and asked *one* person at random whom he would
vote for for President. What are the odds that that person will win?
At best, only about 55%. And if you ask that same person on the
street about several issues, the chances that you'll get the correct
answer on every question falls to near zero.

One reading is not a significant sample. Ten readings are not a significant
sample. A hundred readings might be -- but even then, one must allow an
adequate margin for error.

And I'd better stop there, before i go off in high dudgeon about the
disgraceful lack of understanding of mathematics and sampling shown
by textual critics....

-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-

                        Robert B. Waltz
                     [email-masked]

Want more loudmouthed opinions about textual criticism?
Try my web page: http://www.skypoint.com/~waltzmn
(A site inspired by the Encyclopedia of NT Textual Criticism)