Subject: tc-list Mt 6.28b (Sinaiticus)* // P. Oxy. 655.1 // Q 12.27

From: "Mark Goodacre" <[email-masked]>
Date: Fri, 11 Dec 1998 14:55:52 GMT

Have any of you seen the following?

James M. Robinson & Christoph Heil, "Zeugnisse eines schriflichen, griechischen 
vorkanonischen Textes: Mt 6, 28b X [aleph]*, P. Oxy. 655 1, 1-17 (EvTh 36) und 
Q 12.27", _ZNW_ 89 (1998), pp. 30-44.

Its thesis is that a scribal error by an editor of Q changed his source's OU 
XAINEI ("they do not card") to AUXANEI / AUXANOUSIN ("they grow").  Matthew and 
Luke were then dependent on a version of Q that featured the AUXANEI / 
AUXANOUSIN wording.  The argument that OU XAINEI was found in an early Greek 
collection of Jesus' sayings is supposedly attested by (1) the occurrence of  
OU XAINOUSIN in the original reading of Codex Sinaiticus at Matt. 6.28 
(revealed by Skeat in 1938) and (2) a possible reconstruction of the text of 
Thomas 36 in P. Oxy. 655.

Does anyone who has read the article find its argument persuasive?  I have 
several problems with it from a source-critical perspective, but I would be 
most grateful to hear any expert text-critical views on it.

James Robinson gave a presentation of the basic thesis at the Q section of the 
SBL annual meeting a couple of weeks ago but I suspect that it will have been 
missed by any TC-Listers in Orlando because it was scheduled at the same time 
as the Text Criticism Section.

Mark
--------------------------------------
Dr Mark Goodacre                mailto:[email-masked]
  Dept of Theology                tel: +44 121 414 7512
  University of Birmingham     fax: +44 121 414 6866
  Birmingham  B15 2TT  United Kingdom

Homepage: http://www.bham.ac.uk/theology/goodacre