Historic Bible pages put online

[minidog]

About 800 pages of the earliest surviving Christian Bible have been recovered and put on the internet.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/8135415.stm

"This 1,600-year-old manuscript offers a window into the development of early Christianity"

Dr Scot McKendrick
British Library

 

[Ace Bandage]

Watch for it in the "Fiction" section.

Sorry, everyone's entitled to their opinions, right? Except me? All right, whatever...

 

[busenbust]

(No more tearing out of pages from the British Library :nono:

Nice article/read mini :thumbsup:

 

[Skyraider22]

This should be very intresting

 

[mrtrebus]

They have finally allowed the public to see the opening page which reads thus -
"All characters appearing in this work are fictitious. Any resemblance to real persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental."

 

[Ray Ecks]

Watch for it in the "Fiction" section.

They have finally allowed the public to see the opening page which reads thus -
"All characters appearing in this work are fictitious. Any resemblance to real persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental."

Good stuff.

 

[Baill Inneraora]

^^ How do you say that in Coptic?

 

[Shindekudasai]

That manuscript is a real historical treasure and I think it's great that it is made available for scholars worldwide this way.
It's really expensive, time consuming and sometimes even tiresome (and that means something coming from me) to have to drive or fly (or go by boat) long distances to get to historical sources or historic sites and spots. I can tell you, three of the most important spots for my main field of research are more than 3,000 miles away from where I live.
And then there are sometimes quarrels with the local authorities, may it only be a curator. Which permissions do I need? Can I see everything I need/want to see? May I touch or do I have to observe from a distance? May I take photographs or make copies? Will it cost me anything and how much? How much time can I spend?

This is such a relief for so many people working with these texts. Now at least the ones who don't need to see the medium first hand (for example to analyze the material) can work with much better conditions.

 

[Skyraider22]

This should be a very hot topic in the weeks to come I wonder how this will effect what we have learned from the Bible so far:dunno:

 

[BlueBalls]

Good for them.....



...... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sj7UBgVVew8









Well done Blue ... very well done.

 

[l.t.21378]

Who cares about these pages and religion for that matter. We just need God's word as guidance in our life not what man has written down.

 

[Dean Wormer]

What's the big deal about putting them online? Shouldn't they be the same as a bible printed yesterday?

 

[D-rock]

(No more tearing out of pages from the British Library :nono:

BlueBalls was sorry about that, but they were all out of toilet paper, it was an emergency, and that was the closest thing at hand.

 

[busenbust]

^^Hmmmm, must have been crispy! :eek:

 

[Petra]

These pages have more value than just about religion and insight into the early development of Christians. These pages can also give anthropologists and historians insight into how these ancient people lived. Imo...that makes them just as valuable as the hieroglyphs in an ancient egyptian pyramid.

 

[Shindekudasai]

These pages have more value than just about religion and insight into the early development of Christians. These pages can also give anthropologists and historians insight into how these ancient people lived. Imo...that makes them just as valuable as the hieroglyphs in an ancient egyptian pyramid.

Yes, absolutely correct. Thank you.
Everything is history, even if it's only a receipt. Because it gives us information about the contemporary world and it's life and people. A good and thorough historian is even happy with a stock list from an ancient Greek corn dealer who lived in the middle of nowhere. Imagine the value of a source like this, that's not only an early testimony of a now worldwide religion, but reveals so much about people's beliefs, lifestyles and mindsets.

 

[Baill Inneraora]

Actually the bible of today bares little resemblance to the original books that were written in late first and early second centuries.

Of course you have translation problems in going from Coptic to Greek to Latin to English, but since each book had to be transcribed by hand, before Gutenberg, you have many variations each time a book was copied. Also many phrases were changed, deleted and added through the years.

A good read is Misquoting Jesus: Who Changed the Bible and why.

 

[mrtrebus]

True, it was William Tyndale who is commonly known as being responsible for the first great English translation. Phrases we use today were coined by him, such as let there be light & my brothers keeper.

 

[Shindekudasai]

Actually the bible of today bares little resemblance to the original books that were written in late first and early second centuries.

Of course you have translation problems in going from Coptic to Greek to Latin to English, but since each book had to be transcribed by hand, before Gutenberg, you have many variations each time a book was copied. Also many phrases were changed, deleted and added through the years.

A good read is Misquoting Jesus: Who Changed the Bible and why.

I wouldn't say "little resemblance", but it's not too much, yes, you're right, of course. Not to mention the Apocrypha, the parts that were simply left out later, because the church for example or some too faithful christians thought they wouldn't fit the "message".
Nobody knows the story, where kid Jesus pushed another kid off the roof. But it's there and it exists.

But that's one reason more for underlining the value of these transcriptions for historians.

 

[BlueBalls]

A good read is Misquoting Jesus: Who Changed the Bible and why.

Here you go Baill one to put on the amazon wish list: Misquoting Truth: A Guide to the Fallacies of Bart Ehrman's "Misquoting Jesus"

:1orglaugh