Dear Rolf,
I have heard these arguments before, and am utterly unconvinced by them. The fact is, there is not a single shred of manuscript evidence for the theory as far as the NT itself is concerned - it is a whole lot of clever conjecture and supposition based on a couple of LXX fragments, but that conjecture flies in the face of the most concrete evidence of all: the NT MSS themselves.
On top of that, I find any conspiracy theory saying that the NT MSS were "tampered with" (and there are several such apostasy / conspiracy theories out there on different topics, with different theological agendas) very difficult to swallow, given the historical reality of the way in which the NT texts were copied and propagated. There simply was no centralised control of a set of canonical "Scripture" documents, since the NT canon was a long way off being established, and the early Christian church was not a homogenous, tightly organised body. And the process of copying did not happen through official ecumenical bodies which could control their contents. It was a much more ad hoc process of people making rough (often rushed) copies of their known/favourite letters etc. as they moved from one place to another. I simply cannot see how such a thorough and comprehensive "tampering" was possible - especially since the evidence suggests that a large percentage of the early Christian church would have been very unhappy with such a change anyway. So the idea that such a theological rewriting could have occurred without leaving any evidence of the original is, in my mind, impossible.
I am aware that this discussion is outside the scope of the list. I felt it was appropriate to reply once (albeit briefly), but I personally will not continue this branch of the discussion.
(And Yigal, thank you for the note about the vocalization "Adonai" for YHWH in the Second Temple period. I think this is correct, and is a perfect fit with the substitution of "kurios" in the NT.)
Regards,
Stephen Shead
Sydney, Australia
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