Should the Bible be Copied Like Links in a Chain?
February 22nd, 2020 Paul Gibson
What Media has the Bible been Written On? (1 of 27)
What is a Manuscript? (2 of 27)
Why were the Early Christians More Likely to Write on a Codex Rather than a Scroll? (3 of 27)
Do I Need a Dictionary to Study Ancient Manuscripts? (4 of 27)
Where are Biblical Manuscripts Found? (5 of 27)
What is the Kurzgefasste Liste der griechischen Handschriften des Neuen Testaments? (6 of 27)
What is the Gregory-Aland Numbering System? (7 of 27)
How Many New Testament Manuscripts Exist? (8 of 27)
How does the Quantity of New Testament Manuscripts Compare to Other Ancient Manuscripts? (9 of 27)
How does the Quality of New Testament Manuscripts Compare to Other Ancient Manuscripts? (10 of 27)
What's the Difference Between an Autograph and an Original? (11 of 27)
How Long did the Autograph or Original New Testament Manuscripts Last? (12 of 27)
Why Didn't God Preserve the Autographs of the Bible? (13 of 27)
What is Scriptio Continua? (14 of 27)
What are Nomina Sacra? (15 of 27)
What Symbols has the Church Used to Refer to Christianity? (16 of 27)
What are Diglots and Polyglots? (17 of 27)
Was the Bible Copied Like Links in a Chain or a Tangled Ball of String? (18 of 27)
Should the Bible be Copied Like Links in a Chain? (19 of 27)
How are New Testament Manuscripts Dated? (20 of 27)
What is Paleography? (21 of 27)
What is Boustrophedon? (22 of 27)
What is "First Century Mark"? (23 of 27)
Do Fake or Forged Biblical Manuscripts Exist? (24 of 27)
What are Illuminated Manuscripts? (25 of 27)
What is Skellig? (26 of 27)
Why did I Study Biblical Manuscripts? (27 of 27)
My last article was Was the Bible Copied Like Links in a Chain or a Tangled Ball of String?. Here's a joke I found showing the dangers of the links-in-a-chain method of copying. There are several versions of this joke on the Internet, so I don't know who at attribute it to.
A new monk arrives at the monastery. He is assigned to help the other monks in copying the old texts by hand. He notices, however, that they are copying copies, and not the original books.
So, the new monk goes to the head monk to ask him about this. He points out that if there was an error in the first copy, that error would be continued in all of the other copies. The head monk says, "We have been copying from the copies for centuries, but you make a good point, my son."
So, he goes down into the cellar with one of the copies to check it against the original. Hours later, nobody has seen him. So, one of the monks goes downstairs to look for him. He hears sobbing coming from the back of the cellar and finds the old monk leaning over one of the original books crying. He asks what's wrong.
"The word is celebrate not celibate," says the old monk with tears in his eyes.
FILED UNDER: Manuscripts
In Theaters Tuesday, Feb 18 – Patterns of Evidence: The Red Sea Miracle (Part 1)
How are New Testament Manuscripts Dated?
The whole earth is filled with His glory
— Isaiah 6:1 (ESV) / I See the Lord (Chris Falson)