Codex Argentus is a sixth-century Gothic MSS. It is unique in that the vellum(?) is purple, and the lettering is silver and gold.

There's a facsimile online. There are a few pages representative of the actual color of the MSS; but the facsimile edition has its contrast such that the letters can actually be read ... well, if you know Gothic.

Kudos to Hypotyposes for the link to the Codex Argentus page at Uppsala University.

While we're on the topic of Gothic, my colleague Eli Evans has designed a Gothic font called Gotisch (bottom of the page). If you're at all interested in Gothic you may be interested in the font.

A few weeks back, I had some comments about 2 Clement and 'double'. These are the passages that say something like “to yourself and your hearers”. 1Ti 4.16 uses language like this.

Well ... let's add Ignatius to the Ephesians to the list. Here's IgEph 16.1-2:

¹ Be not deceived, my brethren. Corrupters of houses shall not inherit the kingdom of God. ² If then they which do these things after the flesh are put to death, how much more if a man through evil doctrine corrupt the faith of God for which Jesus Christ was crucified. Such a man, having defiled himself, shall go into the unquenchable fire; and in like manner also shall he that hearkeneth unto him. (IEp 16)

The language in Lightfoot is somewhat archaic, it's the last bit of v. 2 I'm concerned with. Here's how Ehrman translates it: 

 ... Such a person is filthy and will depart into the unquenchable fire; so too the one who listens to him.

Of course, the logical explanation for all of this is that the listener has a responsibility to critically evaluate what he is being taught. And this is true, for what it is worth.

But still, teachers have an increased responsibility precisely because those being taught are more likely to rely on the teachings of a few. If a sincere, well-meaning person puts his trust in the snake-oil of an insincere teacher, then the insincere teacher is responsible for them both. Likewise, if a teacher is well-intentioned but misguided, that teacher is still responsbile for the content of his teaching. And if the sincere listener is caught up, then there are consequences.

I'm going to be keeping my eyes open for more of this sort of stuff.

Stories about customer service may well become a running feature on ricoblog. Or not.

Anyway, this is more of the white board story. On my white-board search I also went to Home Depot. Hey, why not check, right? They might have had the super-groovy 4x8 sheets of white board material, which would've been really awesome.

As I was wandering in the lumber section with 'nary an orange apron to be seen, I heard at least two people mutter, “now if I could only find someone to help me”. There was an older lady fighting with some lumber trying to get it into her cart. There was nobody around. As I walked by I asked her if I could help. Unfortunately I was about five minutes too late — she'd just managed to get what she needed in her cart. “Oh, do you work here?!” she said. “No, but you looked like you could use some help. Are you sure I can't help you with that?” “No”, she said, “I just need to get to the place where they cut lumber now, I've got what I need. But thanks for asking!”

What is it about providing good customer service that is so hard? I saw small groups of orange-aproned Home Depot employees milling about other sections, but the lumber section — you know, the one with the really big bulky stuff — was almost totally void of any employees. I did see one employee in that section; he looked frazzled and was in the process of helping an older gentleman with some stuff. Too bad there weren't three more employees in that area to help folks out.

If you're interested, see BobPritchett.com for other customer service stories.

Went to Wal-Mart today to look for a white board. I remembered how much I dislike that place. Too many people, stuffed in a store with too much stuff and aisles that are too narrow. There's no way to get in & out quick; the aisles are so narrow that you can't get around the folks who are simply meandering about. They've got too much junk in the middle of aisles and it clogs the place up. So when the family of four stops to check out something stuffed in the middle of the aisle, the only place they can stop to look at it is to just stop in the middle of everything ... and in-and-out-quick guy (that's me) is stuck.

I hate Wal-Mart.

And their white boards are too small. 3'x2' was the biggest they had. I want 3'x4', at least.

Since I'm studying the Pastoral Epistles, and since I'm interested in the Apostolic Fathers, and since Paul wrote 1 Timothy to Timothy while he was in Ephesus ... it makes sense to at least look at Ignatius to the Ephesians, right?

So, during lunch today, that's exactly what I did. I'm not going to comment in-depth on the material, just point to some interesting passages.

First, IgEph 9.1:

¹ But I have learned that certain persons passed through you from yonder, bringing evil doctrine; whom ye suffered not to sow seed in you, for ye stopped your ears, so that ye might not receive the seed sown by them; forasmuch as ye are stones of a temple, which were prepared beforehand for a building of God the Father, being hoisted up to the heights through the engine of Jesus Christ, which is the Cross, and using for a rope the Holy Spirit; while your faith is your windlass, and love is the way that leadeth up to God.

The italics are mine. I find this interesting in light of 1Ti 1.3-11, where Paul instructs Timothy to deal with those in Ephesus who are teaching false doctrine. Apparently Timothy (and his successors) did the job if Ignatius' testimony has any merit. Considering the date of Ignatius' martyrdom to be anywhere from 98-117 AD (Holmes' range, though he quotes another who offers a range of 118-137 AD), and doing some backwards math ... the traditional date of the Pastorals (63-65 AD) makes sense. After all, if the Ephesians were in the shape that First Timothy leads us to believe (false teachers as prominent and needing to be dealt with), then that leaves some time (30-50 years) to completely turn the church around and establish them on a strong footing ... and establish a reputation as far away as Antioch (Ignatius' episcopate).

Of course, that is a stretch. But it is an interesting thought (to me) nonetheless. 

More on Ignatius to the Ephesians later.

I changed a few things with the Apostolic Fathers Lookup.

It still works exactly as it did before. However, instead of defaulting to English when no language (or an invalid language) is supplied, it now defaults to a two-column presentation, with English on the left and Greek on the right.

There are a few cases where this is problematic (e.g. MPoly 22.1-4, where the English has four verses but the Greek has three), but overall it should not be noticeable.

So, if you use the tool to display readings from the Apostolic Fathers, you shouldn't have to change a thing. If you'd like to display the two-column text, simply remove the “lang” attribute from your jump string. For instance, like this:

http://www.supakoo.com/rick/af.asp?af=MPoly+22.1-4

Enjoy!

I'm going to be playing around with the Apostolic Fathers Lookup tool, so if you use it, you may end up with some strange results. I'll post here again when things are back up ... along with any news on added features.

Thanks!

Thanks to the generosity of a Logos Bible Software user (thanks!) I now have a Gmail address. I'll use it for blog contact; the contact address on the email link in the column on the right has already been updated.

The address? textgeek@gmail.com. So let's test that Google spamfilter as well as the one gigabyte storage limit.

Yeah, I probably should've made it 'ricoblog' instead of 'textgeek', but it's too late now.

Cheers!