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corpus-paul - Re: Paul and the Gospels

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  • From: "David C. Hindley" <DHindley AT compuserve.com>
  • To: corpus-paul
  • Subject: Re: Paul and the Gospels
  • Date: Sun, 4 Apr 1999 22:27:11


Yonder stated:

>>Do source critics fabricate "seams" in texts and
"evidence" of redactional activity because beyond all else they wish the
texts to be compilations of sources? Or do theories last because they are
enduringly useful and convincing descriptions of what we have before us?
I would venture the latter ... <<

Your comment may very well be applied to our list topic. Researchers
propose hypothetical sources because they -do- see evidence that makes them
question what appears in the existing text. Since many, even some of the
radical, proponents of such theories were and are sincerely devout
individuals, I would suppose that most of them would not have offered them
unless it seemed unavoidable and necessary. The Pauline corpus is no
exception to this phenomenon.

Would we automatically accept Soviet history as presented in a textbook of
the old USSR, just because it is what the text plainly says? Of course not.
It may be presented coherently, even believably, but there will be internal
inconsistencies and other evidence that sources have been utilized and
modified. Whole generations of foreign intelligence analysts learned to
read between the lines of official statements and accounts originating in
the USSR, and I think we have to do that same kind of thing with the
Pauline records as well.

Just my opinion ...

Dave Hindley
DHindley AT compuserve.com




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