aa5874

It cannot be that scribes trained or experienced in the art of copying were making alterations and interpolations without being authorised to do so.

There is no evidence that any scribe had any authority to add or remove words from a document that was to be copied by using his own initiative.

Trained or experienced scribes must have had methods to make sure that their copies were 100% accurate.

The document to be copied was NOT the property of the scribe, nor was the scribe the original author, therefore it is implausible that a scribe hoping to be PAID, would have interpolated the very document that he was asked to copy.

aa5874

But, your view of scribes may be the result of "Chinese whispers".

Can you name a scribe who made errors in copying any document of antiquity?

Beware of "Chinese whispers" and those who propagate them. Always ask for a source.

mountainman

Can anyone name a scribe responsible for the copying of any NT related document of antiquity -- including the Pauline Letters? As far as I know (and I could be wrong here) Eusebius does not actually advise in his "history" whether the "original manuscripts of the new testament" were preserved intact in the "archives" from the 1st to the 4th century, or - if they were copied by successive generations of "christian scribes". Or did the elite lineage of educated letter and "apology writing" Christian bishops carry the torch? Who kept the original Paul? Who kept the original Mark? Etc? Who tracked standards and revisions> Etc


So the story goes, the NT was "supposed to be read in multiple churches" and thus it seems reasonable to suspect copyists must have been employed in successive generations to "copy the original manuscripts". Yet Eusebius does not appear to mention the use of scribes and/or copyists before the 4th century, or who it was that "made copies" or was responsible for standards and procedures. Or have I missed something? Perhaps Marcion copied "original manuscripts of the new testament" ?

aa5874

But, before the printing press was invented virtually all copying of manuscripts of antiquity were done by scribes. There was no alternative.

Virtually all manuscripts for sale or distribution were done by scribes.

Scribes were basically PAID "human photo-copying machines". They had no authority to remove, add or alter chapters, passages, or any word without the express permission of their EMPLOYER.

Scribes must have had excellent writing skills and must have been extremely accurate and fast.

It is expected that there were many many scribes and their names would have been insignificant, only the end product, the copy, would be remembered.

Minimalist

And we should assume that there are errors in all of them.

Ehrman deals with this entire issue in Misquoting Jesus.

aa5874

Not at all.

Scribes MUST HAVE METICULOUSLY proof-read their work for 100% accuracy. How do you expect a scribe to get PAID if he can't make accurate copies?

It is just absurd to think that scribes would just write whatever they chose and did not care about accuracy.

There must have been techniques used by scribes to maintain 100% accuracy.

Toto

Scribes were not paid. They were slaves.

Even people who are paid to be accurate know that there are limits on human abilities.

aa5874

It cannot be shown that all scribes were slaves.

It cannot be shown that no slave was paid.

What you have posted is most likely false and the product of "Chinese whispers".

aa5874

For more information on scribes see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scribe

It must be noted that Ancient Egyptians scribes were of the "middle class elite" and were not required to pay taxes or join the military.

Minimalist

Who is going to read every line copied by every scribe for accuracy? Do you think they had a "quality control" division? You really need to re-think this idea, aa.


More to the point, you need to read Ehrman.