Wednesday, May 30, 2012

Passages in Atlanta

I'm about to get back on a plane this morning with Jerry Pattengale and head back to Indiana.  I had a great time in Atlanta yesterday and gave a presentation last night entitled, "Are Differences in Manuscripts a Problem for Christian Faith."  The visit started with a very long taxi ride by a young man from Ethiopia who was on his third day or so. I knew Atlanta better than he did.

Then I got to see the amazing collection the Green Foundation (owner of Hobby Lobby) has here.  They have on display everything from the oldest Greek manuscript of Samuel (200s) to a strip of p39 (part of John from 200s) to copies relating to Luther, original Erasmus Greek New Testament, the Wicked Bible ("thou shalt commit adultery"), Stephanus, original KJV...  If I were teaching a course on the text of the Bible in Atlanta, this would be on the schedule to be sure.  The exhibition is off to Charlotte at the end of the month.

The paper went well, I thought, not least because I decided to paraphrase the second half of it.  I had initially assumed the audience would be something along the lines of Dan Wallace, who is fairly mainstream when it comes to textual criticism. But I began to sense I would probably have some King James supporters in the room, so decided to move my sensitivity lines a little.

If you're a Bible scholar and in the Atlanta area, come up to Dunwoody and see the exhibit (it's within walking distance of the Marta stop). Thanks to the Green Foundation for a fun night!

No comments: