In poking around finding an URL for RelTech's facsimile editions, I noticed this link to the Institut fur neutestamentliche Textforschung's Bibel-musem.

I was mystified at first, but just use the drop-down boxes at the top-left of the page to navigate. MS 676 (a 13th century MS) has content for much of the NT.

I believe many of these MSS are also at the CSNTM web site.

In a recent post on the Logos Bible Software newsgroups (the news://news.logos.com/greek newsgroup), someone asked about using Tischendorf's apparatus.

I'd be remiss if I didn't mention where you could purchase these tools. There are two primary tools discussed below. The first is the Stuttgart Electronic Study Bible (SESB), available from my employer, Logos Bible Software, in the US. The second is the Novum Testamentum Graece Apparatum Criticum, also available from my employer. A third helpful tool (not discussed below) is Bruce Metzger's Textual Commentary on the Greek New Testament.

I also need to state that I'm not a text critic, simply an interested amateur. I may very well misinterpret (particularly if it requires translating Latin); if you have corrections for the below please drop a comment or an email to let me know what to fix.

The first thing one needs to realize when beginning to consult an apparatus to determine textual evidence is that these things have their own language, and until you take the time to learn that language, you'll wonder how anyone ever uses the things. The LDLS edition helps out because the wacky symbols are all self-defining via popup or context, and of course the MS sigla (and abbreviations) are defined via popup as well.

Anyway, I thought it might be helpful to look at one entry in both Tischendorf (hereafter simply 'T' unless context demands otherwise) and NA27 and see how they both say the same thing (yet, in this case, draw different conclusions). The verse in question is 1Ti 3.14. The verse is:

Ταῦτά σοι γράφω ἐλπίζων ἐλθεῖν πρὸς σὲ ἐν τάχει·

In T's text, the verse is:

Ταῦτά σοι γράφω ἐλπίζων ἐλθεῖν πρὸς σὲ ἐν τάχιον·

The NA27, of course, displays the text with apparatus sigla in red in the graphic below. Note that we're only discussing the variant for ἐν τάχει, not any of the other sigla.

You can see the replacement containment indicators around ἐν τάχει. If you hovered your mouse cursor over these in the LDLS edition, the variant content (see below) would show in a popup. And here's the text in T:

Tischendorf's text does not have any indicators around the variant. In order to know if there is a variant, you must scan the apparatus to see if there are any readings that T lists variant readings for. But before we get to T's apparatus, let's check out the NA27 apparatus. In the LDLS, the below green text would hover the MS information (content, century, location of MS).

There's so much going on here it isn't even funny. The degree to which the apparatus packs data is something that one just needs to get used to. First is the replacement indicator itself, reminding the user that this variant replaces the text under discussion. After that is a dagger, which indicates that the following variant was actually the primary reading in the NA25 edition. So we also know that for some reason the editors changed their minds on this one in the past 40 years or so.

So, "ταχιον" replaces "ἐν τάχει" for uncials Aleph, D (hand of the second corrector), F, G. Minuscules 1739 and 1881 also support the variant reading, as does the "Majority text".

NA27 lists the variants first, and at the end (the 'txt' reading) lists the MSS that support the reading that the NA27 editors agree with. In this case, they go with uncials A, C, D (original hand), P and Psi. Minuscules 33 and 81 as well as a "paucity" (small number) of other MSS support the NA27 preferred reading.

Where this gets interesting is to go back and track the dates of the MSS, to research their provenance, and to get familiar with their content and their reliability. There is no easy guide to this (wait ... check both Metzger The Text of the New Testament and Early Versions of the New Testament as well as Aland & Aland's Text of the New Testament), it just takes time and interest. But I'm guessing that the NA27 editors went with ἐν τάχει because they would rather rely on A C and D (original hand) instead of Aleph and D's second corrector.

Tischendorf surveys largely the same information but comes to a different conclusion (of course, he is somewhat partial to Sinaiticus (Aleph), and who could blame him?) Here's T's apparatus entry.

The first difference to note is that T lists his preferred reading (and support) first, and lists the variants after that. This actually makes T a little easier to use outside of his NT (that is, as a scrolling resource in the LDLS next to a non-Tischendorf Greek NT, like the NA/UBS text). For uncial support, he lists Aleph, D (corrected, no corrector number noted), F, G, K and L. So he's listed two uncials that NA27 didn't list. He also notes that uncials F, G and K have an orthographic variant (difference in spelling, not in meaning). They have ταχειον instead of ταχιον. Tischendorf also cites some supporting evidence from citations of the Church Fathers (Chrysostom, Euthalius, Theodoret and John Damascene (sorry, don't quite know that English translation).

For evidence against his reading, T lists the uncials A, C and D (original hand) just like NA27 does. He also adds P. Then a few miniscules. Note that 17 is equivalent with NA27's 33 (this information is available in the descriptive popup in the LDLS edition). 71 and 73 are other MSS that NA27 does not cite.

More interesting, T also cites other Greek editions. You can get this information in the print NA27 in the Editonem Differentiae appendix, but that's not in the electronic edition offered by the SESB. And it's a pain to look up in the print. But T informs us that both Greisbach and Lachmann use ἐν τάχει, the same reading that NA27 prefers. Of course, these two editions were pre-Sinaiticus so they didn't have that evidence to consider. My guess is that T went with ταχιον because he weighed the Sinaiticus (Aleph) readings as more reliable/important than successive editors (NA27) did; perhaps also the citations from the Fathers carried some weight in his mind. 

So, there you have it. Two different critical editions, two different apparatuses. They weigh much the same information (for this particular variant, anyway) and come to different conclusions. But, importantly, they've listed their evidence and allowed the reader to consider the same basic information that they had to hand. We don't have easy access to facsimiles of the actual MS to consult (though some are available and Comfort & Barrett's The Text of the Earliest New Testament Greek Manuscripts is coming), but we can see at large what evidence the editor weighed and the decisions made.

I noticed a mention-in-passing of the "new Rhapsody 3.0" over on the Rhapsody Radish.

I thought, "huh? Why didn't I know about it? I'm a subscriber who actually gives them money, after all." So I hit Help->Check For Updates, and it was true.

The interface is completely different. This will take some getting used to (but that's good, I thought their old interface blew chunks).

There are two massive improvements that I can see. First, you can now incorporate the music you have on your hard drive (i.e., MP3s you've legally ripped from your own private collection) and the stuff you have access to via Rhapsody. The player plays all types of files, and the integration seems pretty seamless. That is, I've got a playlist of both Rhapsody subscription-based content and my own local MP3s playing on random.

The second improvement has to do with transferring content to portable devices. This is now supported. The basic support (I think) is to enable this for your own media, but there is an additional subscription level that allows subscription-based content to be transferred to portable players. Watch out, though, the list of players that support adding subscription-based content is small. Chances are if you have a player it probably won't work with Rhapsody. But I'd read this support was being added, so I've held off on purchasing a portable MP3 player. Now that I have a target, I'll consider it a little more.

Enjoy!

Illuminated Manuscripts are cool.

I was searching around for some (I like to use stuff like this as the background on my portrait-oriented monitor) and happened across the British Library's Digital Catalogue of Illuminated Manuscripts.

For instance, they've got some cool images from the Lindisfarne Gospels, like this image of St. John.

The easiest way I've found to browse the collections is to just go to the Manuscript Search page and use the drop-down to select a collection ("Cotton MS" for Lindisfarne) and leave the "MS Number" field blank. Then hit "Search".

Enjoy!

Since Bob posted a notice to Logos' newsgroups (at news://news.logos.com/general, if you're interested) I figured I'd pop a notice here too.

Logos Jobs Page

There are some cool job openings at Logos that some folks out there in biblioblogdom (bloggers, readers, whomever) may be interested in or may be able to point out to friends and colleagues. All jobs require relocation to Bellingham, WA (70 degrees and clear today, BTW ... it's so nice I rode the motorcycle in to the office). Familiarity with Logos Bible Software is, of course, a plus.

Caspar Olevianus, A Firm Foundation, Question 132 (translated by Lyle D. Bierma [more info])

Q. What do you believe when you confess, "I believe a holy catholic church"?

A. I believe that the Son of God, out of the entire human race, which is mired in sin and eternal death, gathers unto Himself from Adam to the end of the world a people chosen for eternal life by grace and not by merit, whom He through the preaching of the Word and power of the Holy Spirit here in this life regenerates from eternal death through faith in Him. As He Himself testifies in Jn 5.25: "Most assuredly, I say to you, the hour is coming and now is, when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God, and those who hear will live." See also Eph 2.

He also makes an eternal covenant with and betrothes Himself to this people as if they were a bride (Hos 2, Isa 54), that they might be His body in true faith through the testimony of the Holy gospel and covenant sign of Holy Baptism. He promises his church that he will remember her sins no more (Jer 31.34) because he has given Himself for her, will sanctify her daily, until He finally presents her to Himself holy, pure, and spotless in body and soul, and she lives and reigns with Him forever. All of this He does out of grace, because He loved her and gave Himself for her (Eph 5.25).

I believe that I am and always will be a member of this church or people of God (Jn 10.28-29), since I believe in Christ, have been baptized into His name, and trust the promise, "Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved" (Mk 16.16). I believe and am baptized; therefore I shall be saved. That is the only way, for Christ promised it.

[Question & answer Copyright 1995 Lyle D. Bierma]

First, many protestant-types get all afluster when they read this article of the creed due simply to the word "catholic". Even though they intellectually understand that this article does not refer specifically to the Roman Catholic Church, it's a stumbling block. More important is to notice Olevianus' phrasing "I believe a holy catholic church" instead of what some folks must actually think/read (and what is most definitely not meant), "I believe in the Holy Catholic church". See the difference? The creed has the indefinite article "a", not the definite article "the". Olevianus discusses this in question 133, which I won't reproduce here.

Some folks like to replace "catholic" with words like "universal" or even "Christian". But the word in the received Greek and Latin forms of the creed is obvious:

Latin: sanctam ecclesiam catholicam
Greek: ἀγίαν καθολικὴν ἐκκλησίαν

This word was used to describe the church "at large" long before it was used to describe a particular (albeit large) body with a particular doctrinal stance. So I like to keep it in the creed when I recite it, even though it may confuse some. But I'm more of a traditionalist and a bit of a stickler when it comes to using the proper word in the proper situation despite the perception of the word's meaning by the masses.

Second (though primarily) this is an awesome description of the church. Olevianus says that the church (that is, Christians in the world) are provided for by God, who has gathered His church together throughout all time. He provides for the primary need of His chosen through the provision of salvation in Jesus Christ, our Lord, Savior and Mediator. He provides not only the faith for belief; but also the daily needs, encouragement and comfort for his chosen through the provision of the Holy Spirit. Amazingly, Jesus Christ is bound to the church in a manner similar to the way a husband is bound to his wife. He ministers to us, and we follow His leadership. All in all, it reminds me of Titus 2.11-15:

¹¹ For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation for all people, ¹² training us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives in the present age, ¹³ waiting for our blessed hope, the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ, ¹⁴ who gave himself for us to redeem us from all lawlessness and to purify for himself a people for his own possession who are zealous for good works. (ESV)

Even though Olevianus hasn't quoted this passage, this is basically what he is saying. Through the sacrifice and resurrection of Jesus Christ, God has acted to provide salvation for His people. This salvation and the grace upon which it is founded is transforming. It brings His people closer to Him in prayer, worship and obedience. It also brings people closer to Him through renouncement and repentance of vices and vanities. This transformed (and transforming) people eagerly await the triumphant return of Jesus Christ, our redeemer. This expectant group -- those who by the grace of God and who through the work of the Holy Spirit have claimed Jesus Christ as their Lord, Savior and Redeemer -- lives according to His will. Through the continual work of the Holy Spirit this group is in the process of being sanctified, being brought closer to Him and being cultivated to live lives of worship in praise and thankfulness to the One who has provided salvation.

This is the "holy catholic church". When we recite the creed, we are not simply professing belief that a body of some sort exists, we are professing that a specific body exists for a specific purpose, and that God acts to gather and assemble this group, as He has promised, and that His wishes and desires for this group will come to pass.

Sometime today (Saturday), if trends hold, ricoblog will receive its 10,000th vistor.

The sitemeter stats indicate each visitor hits an average of 1.9 pages, so that means ricoblog has served up close to 20,000 pages since it went live in mid-August 2004.

Here's the first non-test post, which was posted on Friday, August 13 2004.

Thanks to all who visit regularly, those who read via aggregator, and to those who happen to find things via search engines (typically Google).

And especially thanks to those who link to ricoblog and mention it on their own blogs. Y'all are awesome.

Here's hoping for another 10,000!

Update: We're over the mark. At 1:28 AM PDT (Sunday morning) someone, most likely from Sweden, accessed ricoblog via google while searching for "greek language structure programming computer". Now that's a google hit I'm proud of. Anyway, here's the current view of ricoblog hit history via sitemeter:

It was such a nice evening, I took off for a motorcycle ride. I packed my camera along thinking I'd find a cool sunset picture. Instead of heading south, I decided to head north up Marine Drive and into the Lummi Indian reservation.

I was on Lummi Shore drive, twisting along the coastline when I realized I'd be too late for a sunset. So I stopped, thinking the light was good in the area. Then I saw what was behind me: Mount Baker and some surrounding mountains, a full moon, and lots of water. If you click the photo, you'll get a little larger version (800x600)

Needless to say, I stopped and took a gob of photos. I only took one with the moon in it, and I think it turned out the best. Other photos available on my photo pages.

Update: Responding to my Mom's comment, the black items are rocks. You can see some plants too. I wasn't super-excited about them being in the shot, but I wanted the moon in the upper-right corner and the horizon with the mountains in the middle of the vertical frame.