Production and Transmission of Biblical Manuscripts

This chapter was a bit of more of the same from the last chapter. However, they included the many various materials that scribes used to write down scripture on. I found it interesting how when Christians started adopting and utilizing Jewish texts like the Septuagint to further substantiate the claim that Jesus Christ is Messiah, Jews subsequently discontinued their use of said texts. What challenges me, after reading all of this information about how biblical text has been passed through so many translators, schools, and interpreters, it makes me think to myself “just how far away are we from the original meanings of these texts?”. The fact that Cosby highlights variables such as substituting synonyms, getting words and letters out of order, making mindless mix-ups, and attempting to correct grammar, can be very discouraging. The Bible is an extremely old text, and seeing the painstakingly long journey that it has taken from being jumbled Hebrew letters on stone tablets, papyrus, parchment, and what have you, can make it very difficult to just believe in the accuracy and infallibility of the Bible. Especially since Cosby highlighted how Jews were more concerned with the overall message, rather than “minute details”. With all this in mind, it really leads me to believe that the Bible is in fact, not infallible. This challenges my faith a lot because if the Bible truly is the word of God, wouldn’t he have not allowed human error to obstruct meaning? I think through all this doubt, it’s important to stay steadfast on the idea that he is bigger than us and knows all. Sometimes when I attempt to rationalize God or say something like “I can’t believe in a God who ______” is just me being arrogant. If one thinks they are truly to understand God completely, then they are saying that they should be on the same intellectual level as Him. This, I think cannot be the case, since he is vastly superior to us. We must have faith in a God we cannot comprehend. I think addressing this topic of the Bible’s lack of infallibility would be interesting to discuss in class.