Fun with #Omicron
I once noted a variant in a New Testament verse while engaging with some online Christian missionaries. As always I gave them the name of the fragment I was using. They soon figured that I had made up the reference because no search result referred to it..
1/x
I once noted a variant in a New Testament verse while engaging with some online Christian missionaries. As always I gave them the name of the fragment I was using. They soon figured that I had made up the reference because no search result referred to it..
1/x
See, NT manuscripts are given a reference # based on the type of script, majuscule (upper case) or minuscule (lower case) letters, the form & type of material factors into the system known as the Gregory-Aland system.
So p52 refers to a papyrus (material) with the p.
2/x
So p52 refers to a papyrus (material) with the p.
2/x
Sometimes (in the past), manuscripts (any hand written document) are given Greek upper case letters, Latin or Hebrew letters to refer to them. So codex Sinaiticus is referred to as alef (Hebrew letter), sometimes you'll see Greek like Δ (delta) for codex Sangallensis.
3/x
3/x
Most folks don't know that even pottery used to contain NT passages, they're referred to as ostraka (plural) or ostrakon (singular). When they're catalogued, they are referred to with the upper case Greek letter omicron, which looks like this: Ο
They have many variants.
4/x
They have many variants.
4/x
Now omicron looks a lot like the capital letter O in the English alphabet, or like the number 0 (zero). So when I gave them the reference, unless they used the Greek letter omicron (Ο), it wouldn't have turned up results for what I had claimed.
They searched for 2 weeks...
5/x
They searched for 2 weeks...
5/x
Finally they publicly declared I was a liar and had made up a variant with a fake reference just to win in debating them. I let them parade around for some time without saying anything. They thought they had finally exposed me!
An entire apologetics team worked on this...
6/x
An entire apologetics team worked on this...
6/x
When I pointed out to them that the reference was correct, they checked it and blamed me for not making it easier for them! What a joke.
Either you have the knowledge of the topic or you don't. They claimed to understand New Testament textual criticism.
Don't test me.
7/7
Either you have the knowledge of the topic or you don't. They claimed to understand New Testament textual criticism.
Don't test me.
7/7
@threadreaderapp unroll
Loading suggestions...