Wednesday, October 08, 2008

The Oldest Bible

It is good to see Codex Sinaiticus still making the news and on Monday, Radio 4 (which most right thinking Brits, and many others too, love with passion) broadcast a half hour documentary:

The Oldest Bible
Roger Bolton tells the story of the Codex Sinaiticus bible, found in 1844 in a monastery in the Sinai Desert and then split between Egypt, Russia, Switzerland and the British Library. It is soon to be digitised for world-wide viewing, and poses a significant challenge to the Bible as we know it.
You can listen again from the link above, or by going straight to the iPlayer. It will be available for the next few days. Once I've listened, I will comment here. Meanwhile, an article related to the programme has drawn heavy criticism and helpful correction from Dirk Jongkind on Evangelical Textual Criticism. I would be interested to hear Dirk's and others' comments on the programme too when they have listened.
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2 comments:

  1. Anonymous13 October 2008 at 04:26

    I've read, and I've listened, and I am wondering if it is possible to sue the BBC for journalistic malpractice. What sort of clumsy, false, anti-accurate kind of reporting is this?

    Roger Bolton gets his facts mixed up constantly! Taking his report about Mark 1:41 as an example: in the radio report, he said that the incident in which Jesus is said to be angry in Codex Sinaiticus involves a blind man. No, it's a *leper.* Mr. Bolton's fact-checking did not even extend to picking up the New Testament. Maybe he doesn't have one. But the real error here is that the whole deal about Mark 1:41 is a complete miscitation, because Codex Sinaiticus does not have the "angry Jesus" variant; the only early Greek manuscript that has "orgisqeis" (angry) in Mark 1:41 is the heavily-influenced-by-the-Diatessaron Codex Bezae.

    And the inaccuracies just keep raining down as fast as Mr. Bolton can find the words to express them! One fact after another is mauled and misrepresented throughout Mr. Bolton's reports. The BBC should apologize and Mr. Bolton should be fined for imitating a journalist.

    Yours in Christ,

    James Snapp, Jr.

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  2. Anonymous14 October 2008 at 23:42

    Roger Bolton gets his facts mixed up constantly. Taking his report about Mark 1:41 as an example: in the radio report, he said that the incident in which Jesus is said to be angry in Codex Sinaiticus involves a blind man. One fact after another is mauled and misrepresented throughout Mr. Bolton's reports. The BBC should apologize and Mr. Bolton should be fined for imitating a journalist.
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