Bible Drafts

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Do you think, as the writers of the Bible were writing that they crossed words out and replaced them with other words before they had the final copy of whatever book they were writing?

Thanks,
Terry
 
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TerryPaul:
Do you think, as the writers of the Bible were writing that they crossed words out and replaced them with other words before they had the final copy of whatever book they were writing?

Thanks,
Terry
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How can anyone answer that question? It would be sheer speculation.
 
I wondered if anyone knew anything from tradition, if there were “drafts” as a writer would do.

Love,
Terry
 
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TerryPaul:
I wondered if anyone knew anything from tradition, if there were “drafts” as a writer would do.

Love,
Terry
Click to expand...
As far as i know there are no original Old or New Testament documents still existing.
 
Thats what I’ve heard too but any glimpses of info from traditon? Anyone?

Terry
 
TerryPaul,

You are a thinker who thinks outside of the box. I like that! We have absolutely no autograph manuscripts of any book of the Bible, so I don’t know. And as far as I know there are no Church Fathers who have made mention of it. But ancient scribes who made copies of the Bible have left many places on their manuscripts where they corrected either their mistake or the mistake of a scribe before them. Here is a photocopy of a portion of Malachi from the Codex Sinaiticus. If you look really close at the end of line 1 you will see what looks like a tiny C which is actually a sigma or S. That is what is called a ‘correction.’ You will also find others on that page too. But throughout manuscripts you will even find more obvious ‘corrections.’

http://alpha.reltech.org:8083/Ebind/docs/BibleMSS/TischendorfSinv2/hi-res/a086a.jpg
 
I couldn’t see the link, can you send it again … [Mod edit: removed personal e-mail address - please use the e-mail link on the member’s profile name] thanks …
 
When the little box pops up for user name and password, type ‘any’ for both and it will allow you to see it.
 
My understanding with regard to the Old Testament is that over the centuries before Christ it was redacted and edited at least once and probably more times. A total rewrite was supposed to have taken place at about the time of the Babylonian Exile and return with new books also being added up until the Roman Occupation of Judea. After the detruction of Jerusalem and the temple, a council of Jewish rabbi’s reestablished the Jewish Canon for the OT at Jamnia on the coast just south of Syria. Cf: Testament by John Romer and the Oxford History of the Biblical World both still in print and available from Amazon. I have not run across any statements that would have involved a redaction and or rewrite of any of the New Testament. The Catholic Church did not adopt that Canon.
 
TerryPaul said:
Do you think, as the writers of the Bible were writing that they crossed words out and replaced them with other words before they had the final copy of whatever book they were writing?

Thanks,
Terry
Click to expand...

As thistle points out, this is speculation - and it is speculation, because there is no way of knowing; which is one if the reasons I don’t believe that the autographs of the Biblical texts were inerrant: to insist that they were, amounts to treating what is speculated about as fact of which we can be solidly certain; it’s to go beyond the evidence, by claiming certainty in a matter in which no certainty is available. To claim certainty where none can be had, is a form of intellectual incontinence.​

FWIW, there is evidence that the books went through several editions, which may have circulated at the same time: Jeremiah in the Septuagint is very different from Jeremiah in the Masoretic Text - a lot of the content is in a different order; and the same is true of 1 Samuel.

IMHO, it’s probably more accurate to think of the whole process of transmission of the books as inspired - it’s difficult to isolate a single writer for each book, and even more difficult to separate the uniquely inspired set of words from previous drafts, alternative editions, & so on.

ISTM that matters have been confused by applying to authors (and their amanuenses) an idea of inspiration which works fine for a spoken prophetic message, but is less applicable to writing and transmission in writing - a single message is one thing, a book wriiten over several years, with many interruptions, is something else. ##
 
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