| roger.pearse@googlemail.com 2008-01-30, 6:56 pm |
| On Jan 30, 8:23=A0pm, Alistair <alist...@ld50macca.demon.co.uk> wrote:
> On 30 Jan, 20:00, "roger.pea...@googlemail.com"
> <roger.pea...@googlemail.com> wrote:
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
of[color=darkred]
>
>
and[color=darkred]
>
>
>
[color=darkred]
>
> I will admit that the Q manuscript does not exist but is a putative
> document preceding two gospels and providing the source of common
> texts in those gospels.
It's a bit more complex than that, but that's more or less correct.
(I ought to indicate at least one of the possible complexities: it is
not in fact *necessarily* the case that it ever existed or is in the
fact the reason why the two texts have portions which are not from
Mark and are identical verbatim, but it's a useful placeholder for the
'common source material').
Be wary of hearsay online, incidentally. There seem to be little men
around somewhere who are actually *inventing* nonsense about all these
things, and we get to see their productions at fifteenth hand. On
matters of controversy, political or religious, always ask to see the
ancient source texts that say whatever is being alleged (they tend to
be online these days anyway). It can be pure fiction. This is from
experience with stories about Mithras, for instance; or the Council of
Nicaea, which is where I came in.
Disclaimer: I have no special knowledge or interest in the various
modern theories around the process of composition of the canonical
gospel texts. This is because the material that I *have* read
suggests to me that these theories don't seem to be derived as closely
as they might from solid ancient data; and fiction and speculation
bores me. (I *have* read all the ancient evidence on the subject
which exists, which is little enough. On the other hand it's splendid
that we have any; most ancient literary texts just appear, without any
real indications as to how they came to be composed. Some of Cicero's
have details of the process, tho, in his letters).
None of this stuff has any real bearing on whether Christianity is
true, IMHO, or why people do or don't believe in it.
All the best,
Roger Pearse
|