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[TC-Alternate-list] The Oldest Known Lectionary

A while ago, J Borland asked a question about what was the earliest known lectionary. I was going to answer by saying that P62 (I think it's P62, anyway) is possibly from a lectionary. But I remembered that Jost Gippert and others are working on one of the "new finds" ("New" in the sense that they were found in 1975): a lectionary containing text from Matthew, Luke, and John in the otherwise nearly extinct language of Udi.
This is probably the earliest known lectionary MS. You can learn more about it at
http://titus.fkidg1.uni-frankfurt.de/armazi/sinai/prelacc.htm
including pictures.
Yours in Christ,
James Snapp, Jr.

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A Circle Of Logic In Reality: ORIGINS: UNIVERSE, LIFE, HUMANKIND, AND DARWIN

A message from Kiema Inc to all members of ORIGINS: UNIVERSE, LIFE, HUMANKIND, AND DARWIN on Atheist Nexus!
Please join me at http://xcircle.ning.com a platform i just launched the anti faith, god, church & religion.
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RE: Superconsciousness Skeptic Mangles ZEITGEIST (and Religious History) - Again!

Posted by: "John F. Felix DIAGroup" jffelix61@
Date: Thu Jun 25, 2009 8:57 am ((PDT))

Dispraxis writes:

I hate when my e-mail address is in the subject line! Anyway...

Unfortunately (?) I don't subscribe to the Skeptic mag, only the e-newsletter. Back when Acharya posted a link to the original Callahan article (http://www.skeptic.com/eskeptic09-02-25#feature), her rebuttal (http://stellarhousepublishing.com/skeptic-zeitgeist.html) and Callahan's re-rebut here: (http://www.runboard.combiblicalprophesyandmythology.f22.t91), I was assaulted by such statements from Callahan as:

'Of course I avoid the "Testimonium Flavianum," bacause I know it's a forgery. You're faulting me for this?
As far as I know, there is no reason to see the James passage as a forgery, while there is every reason to see the so-called "Testimonial" as a forgery.'

Would you trust a document with an admitted forgery in one place, in any other place? And there *is* "reason to see the James passage as a forgery," from two other source besides me, but I won't bore the group with my own theories, yet Earl Doherty thought of it as a possibility (see also Suns of God), because in the very same section of Josephus, the (ex) high priest Jesus is mentioned, so either "the one called Christ" is an interpolation, or it is a reference not to any Messiah, but to Jesus the high priest who was removed from office, and who could be seen as the one "annointed," or the true high priest, in contrast to the new one seen as an illegitimate pretender. Or maybe Christians have been unknowingly worshipping Jesus the ex-high priest for two millenia!

And after seeing Tim debate Christians on video, I'd say that his problem, IMO, with Acharya is that he is not knowlegable enough to debate such issues as the dying-resurrecting god motif with a Christian scholar, and she no doubt in my mind is, so she is perhaps seen both a rival and as an object of envy. since he's promulgating basically the same ideas, but lacks the in-depth knowledge to present a coherent and evidence-based case. One point he was asked to provide scholarly-accepted evidence for Dionysus' resurrection pre-dating Christianity. I thought I could almost tell he wanted to quote sources that probably Acharya is the only one ever to cite, but he just couldn't do it. :)

After listening to Acharya speak and reading a great deal of her books and posts, I know that she can get worked up, but Callahan accuses her of savagely attacking people who don't agree with her, but I can honestly say, this is a misinterpretation. What irks her, I believe, is how people seem to hold on to a belief or opinion or factual interpretation in the face of such overwhelming evidence in support of the mythicist position, not even mentioning the prominence of astrotheological sources at the basis of all religions. So, to me, it seems more frustration than anything else, especially when I can clearly detect from her many posts how tiring it must become to possess such erudation and have to argue against the same uninformed attacks everyday.

Now, concerning the Jesus Project, of which I knew nothing about, I read on their website that they expanded their focus into Quranic studies, and since I don't know all the details of the unfortunate abduction of your kid, I was thinking that their move was motivated because of your apparent anti-Islamic public positions, i.e., for political rather than any other stated "official" reasons they may have offered, but I'm speculating.

John F. Felix

____________________________________
Sic gorgiamus allos subjectatos nunc

Dispraxis was edited

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Page Damascus Document Sneak Peek

edited by John F. Felix (diagroup@)

The Dead Sea Scrolls interlinear
The "sneak peek" is now available here in .pdf format:
(Use your browser back button to return here.)
The Damascus Document (CD)
The Damascus Document (Covenant of Damascus) was known from the Cairo geniza before the discovery of the DSS in the caves of Qumram. Considered by the supposed Qumram sect as extremely important to their religious way of life, it probably began as a religious treatise expanded to include rules and commentary for the group over a span of time.
This new interlinear
Fortunately there are e-texts available for the DSS sectarian documents. I am eagerly awaiting the release of an e-text of the Dead Sea Scrolls Bible, due sometime soon (I hope). However, there is as yet no good electronic wedding of the DSS to an English interlinear or translation, although there are two popular print English translations recommended:
The Dead Sea Scrolls, A New Translation, Revised Edition by Michael O. Wise, Martin G. Abegg, Jr., and Edward M. Cook, HarperSanFrancisco, 1996, 2005.
The Complete Dead Sea Scrolls in English, Revised Edition by Geza Vermes, Penguin Books, 1962-2004.
Each version above is represented in this interlinear sneak peek, which are for my own use. The third column is my own translation.
About the sneak peek PDF file
The DSS are not arranged into chapter and verse, but rather column and line, so the system has been altered in the Excel file used to produce this text. The Hebrew or Aramaic is unpointed, but pointed lexical entries are given, as well as the GK numbers, if applicable, and I am also disambiguating the Louw-Nida numbers.
This interlinear is literally pressing the limits of what I am capable of as an amateur Biblical scholar!
The CD Interlinear and this page Copyright (c) 2009 by John F. Felix. All rights reserved.

Edited at 1:37 PM on June 25, 2009

Re: Superconsciousness Link shared by dispraxis

If you get that article by Callahan, send it. Acharya's recent "nemesis" gets front-page coverage; ironic, since IMO THE classic case in skeptical thinking is the entire biblical-critical school, using scientific rationality to reveal the non-historicity of Tim's "apologetic. " http://www.skeptic. com/the_magazine / [Message sent by dispraxis@ via AddThis.com. ]

__._,_.___

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Re: Superconsciousness Skeptic Mangles ZEITGEIST (and Religious History) - Again!

As many know, I rebutted this article months ago. It is my understanding that, although he read my rebuttal, Callahan made next to no relevant changes and repeats the same tired and refuted canards.
Here's my rebuttal:
http://stellarhousepublishing.com/skeptic-zeitgeist.html
With such shallow - and UN-skeptical - commentary, it seems to me that Skeptic is quickly making itself irrelevant.
In the same regard, as I suspected, the Jesus Project - which unceremoniously removed me as Fellow after I informed these "humanists" that I had security issues because of my son's abduction - has likewise fizzled.
--- In superconsciousness@, jffelix61@... wrote:
>
> Acharya's recent "nemesis" gets front-page coverage; ironic, since IMO THE classic case in skeptical thinking is the entire biblical-critical school, using scientific rationality to reveal the non-historicity of Tim's "apologetic."
>
> http://www.skeptic.com/the_magazine/
>
> [Message sent by dispraxis@... via AddThis.com.]
>

------------------------------------
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Superconsciousness Link shared by dispraxis

Dispraxis writes:

Acharya's recent "nemesis" gets front-page coverage; ironic, since IMO THE classic case in skeptical thinking is the entire biblical-critical school, using scientific rationality to reveal the non-historicity of Tim's "apologetic."

http://www.skeptic.com/the_magazine/

[Message sent by dispraxis@ via AddThis.com.]

------------------------------------

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Randigram for June 19, 2009

Become a Member | About the JREF | About James Randi | Contact the JREF June 19, 2009

Unsubscribe info at the bottom JREF Activities & Events http://www.amazingmeeting.com THERE IS STILL TIME! Though our block of rooms at South Point has expired, you may still find rooms at their site. TAM 7 is not sold out. You will be able to register at the door, if need be. Captain Disillusion Meets His Match Faced with an apparently unsolvable challenge, the perennial Captain Disillusion is ready to give up, and until a familiar force offers a helpful hand. Do not miss this! Direct link to YouTube video here. SWIFT Digest The official blog of the JREF, here are this week's entries: This week's topics include: Bats in the Bellfry from Jeff Wagg What is it with Baseball players? They're big, strong, well-paid... and yet some of them are afraid to sleep in a hotel alone. No, I'm not making this up. Others sleep with a baseball bat by their side. Are they afraid of paparazzi? Jealous wives and girlfriends? No. They're afraid of ghosts. WISN in Milwaukee reports that a local hotel, the newly remodeled Pfister, is scaring ballplayers from many visiting teams. You can check out their video report here. Read more SAPS at TAM from Alison Smith You might've noticed that SAPS has, lately, fallen off the grid a little while I sat around contemplating the wisdom of being on a television show called Door to the Dead. With The Amaz!ng Meeting coming so fast, though, I've been forced out of my funk and into participating in a big way. SAPS is involved in a lot of events at TAM 7, and here are some of them, if you'd like to be involved too. Read more Book Review: Science Under Siege from Harriet Hall A new book has just come out that will be of interest to skeptics everywhere. Science Under Siege: Defending Science, Exposing Pseudoscience. Edited by Kendrick Frazier, it is a collection of some of the best writing from Skeptical Inquirer from the last few years: Some of the gems it contains: Carl Sagan's last Q & A on science and skeptical inquiry. A paean to the wonder and awe of real science by Sagan's wife, Ann Druyan. An article explaining Ray Hyman's Categorical Directive: "before we try to explain something, we should make sure it actually happened." John E. Jones, III's eloquent decision in the Dover "Intelligent Design" case. An article on AIDS denialism by Nicoli Nattrass, who is director of an AIDS research unit in South Africa and can testify to the incalculable harm denialism has caused her compatriots. Read more "Psychic" Rosemary Altea Scammed from Jeff Wagg Sometimes you have to ask: what good is it being psychic? As I'm not psychic, I will probably never know the answer to that question, but being psychic apparently doesn't protect you from having your accountant run off with $200,000 of your "hard-earned" money. Such a fate has befallen self-proclaimed psychic Rosemary Altea, who was exposed on Penn & Teller's Bullshit! as having a stacked audience for her reading. From the Rutland Herald article: Denise Hall of East Arlington faces one count of wire fraud and one count of filing a false tax return after investigators with the U.S. Attorney's office say she stole money from self-proclaimed spiritual medium Rosemary Altea - using four credit cards to obtain cash advances, forging checks and giving herself unauthorized electronic paychecks all under Altea's name for the past seven years, according to court records. So, for seven years, a bookkeeper was able to swindle money from Rosemary in ways that most of us would detect simply balancing our checkbooks. Read more Zicam Removed From Shelves by FDA from Jeff Wagg In a far too infrequent moment of proaction (or is that proactivity?), the FDA announced that they have issued Matrixx Initiatives, maker of these Zicam products, a warning letter telling it that these products cannot be marketed without FDA approval. What's the problem? Oh, nothing much… it just seems that using their product even once can permanently remove your sense of smell. And while we're not canines, and rely mostly on our visual sense, losing your sense of smell is a great way to increase your risk of death through fire, food contamination, or the over-consumption of durian. Read more MSNBC Jumps on the Anti-Alt Med Wagon from Jeff Wagg In the latest of a series of articles critical of "alternative" medicine, MSNBC proclaims that Zicam is not the only remedy that may harm your health. From the article: an Associated Press analysis of the Food and Drug Administration's side effect reports found that more than 800 homeopathic ingredients were potentially implicated in health problems last year. Complaints ranged from vomiting to attempted suicide. So once again, we're happy to see alternative medicine getting negative press. But hold on... homeopathy has no ingredients. How can they be harmful? Well, they can't. Read more Talking to the Dead - I Mean FoxNews from Jeff Wagg This week, beacon of truth FoxNews had an interview with two champions of reason: John Edward and Sean Hannity. Removing tongue from cheek, I present to you an interview that demonstrates two things: 1) it's still cool to be "the skeptic" and 2) to quote Southpark, "John Edward is the biggest douche in the universe." Note that the article is entitled "Medium John Edward Explains Ability." Really? Did whoever titled this piece actually read or see the interview? John Edward, when asked why he doesn't defend what he does, had this to say: Because as soon as — as soon as you have to defend something, then you're admitting that something needs defense. So I kind of, like — I come from a place of I'm a spiritual person. I believe in God. I would never defend my belief in God. People either do believe or they don't believe, and that's OK. That's their choice. So I feel the same way about this. As soon as I go to a place I have to defend it, I feel like you immediately lose. I have no problem explaining it, though, or trying to teach about it. Well, guess what John… if you want us to believe that you can TALK TO THE DEAD, yes, you're going to have to defend it. Do so succesfully, and we'll give you $1,000,000. This "non-answering" is a favorite technique of so-called psychics and mediums, as it puts all the pressure on the person who has questions, and make them feel guilty for somehow doubting such an esteemed individual. Alas, we skeptics are like that. Read more Darwin's Dangerous Idea: Evolution and the ... by Daniel C. Dennett $14.04 $4.00 Quantity: JREF Tastefully-Bent Stainless Steel Fork Impress your friends with this mystically bent fork! [Product Details...] $19.00 The James Randi Educational Foundation (www.randi.org) is a not-for-profit organization that promotes critical thinking, science education, and skeptical inquiry by providing the public and the media with reliable information about paranormal, supernatural, and pseudoscientific claims. Randigram is the weekly e-bulletin of the JREF. Contents © 2006-2009 James Randi Educational Foundation.

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edited by John F. Felix

Welcome to DIAGroup - Digital Interlinear Analysts Group wiki!
Just added:
→ Louw-Nida Sneak Peek
Scriptures → Greek → Christian → TRC → Mark → 1 Sneak Peak Peek 2 Supplement
Scriptures → Greek → LXX → Genesis → Sneak Peak Peek
General → Science Fiction → Kubrick 2001 →MoreRuminationsonKubrick's2001-Part1
General → Science Fiction → Battlestar Galactica → Ruminations on the BSG series - Part 1

Edited at 7:53 AM on June 20, 2009

Page TRC Mark Supplement

edited by John F. Felix (diagroup@)

Supplement to the Mark Sneak Peek main article.
The Excel file as it is constructed fulfills multiple project needs at once. One sub-project is to create a "resultant Greek" version of Mark, based on the three major codexes, namely, Sinaiticus (Aleph), Vaticanus (B) and Alexandrinus (A), in the tradition of Weymouth and the dreaded (by some) Concordant Greek New Testament. If anyone knows of an e-text of Weymouth's Resultant Greek Text, I would appreciate the information. The e-text that is actually available for the CGNT is NA 26/27 and/or Westcott-Hort, although a digitized eclectic text based on A. E. Knoch's work may be in the works.
will not quite meet up to the standards of this project. Meanwhile, much more will be included in brackets (i.e., italics) than Scrivener ever dreamt of, as well as a real attempt to "reverse engineer" a Greek text to match the English translation, which is merely an academic exercise, i.e., for "fun.". "fun.".
Louw-Nida Update - 06/20/2009!
Additional resources will be adapted for the main, or primary, project, specifically the use of "Louw-Nida" numbers for the TRC, which are numbers that map the Greek to their "semantic domains." This information will be very useful in deciding the text of the TRC.
As of 06/20/2009, the LN numbers have been added to the TC (Textus Criticus) collation, to form the basis for adding them to the TRC. Having the numbers is not enought, though, or else they would be no more useful than Strong's numbers. The process begun with Matthew is continuing, i.e., the numbers will be expanded into a hierarchical system, where the two-part LN number is broken into three parts:Domain, Sub-domain and Gloss, based on the Louw, J. P., & Nida, E. A. (1996, c1989). Greek-English lexicon of the New Testament : Based on semantic domains (electronic ed. of the 2nd edition.). New York: United Bible societies. Here is a link to a peek at a small section of Mark 1:6-7.
Louw-Nida Sneak Peek
However, I decided that though LN numbers are two-part, to add a sub-domain for each number, regardless of whether such exists in the 2nd edition of the lexicon, but I felt no need to create a new numbering system, i.e., one that has three parts. Thus, I am extending the lexicon based on my own semantic studies. The entries will look something like this eventually:
LN15.66→Movement (Linear)→Leave/Depart/Flee/Escape/Send→send→ αποστελλω
RGNT2009
Mark's "resultant Greek NT" (RGNT2009) text, based on א, A and B, Phase 1 is also complete, and can be seen in the sneak peek PDF file link!
Finally...
More texts are to be collated; I hope to include a version of the Peshitta in square Aramaic (which was done experimentally for Matthew, another project that I work on from time to time), rather than Syriac, for more detailed use with such software programs as Logos Bible Software's Libronix Library System, to interact with its rich Aramaic resources. Of course, the new collation entitled the Textus Receptus Criticalis is the main goal, but the collation that is finalized will go on to be a project of its own. This spreadsheet will continue as a separate tool once all resources are finished, because of the concordancing properties described in the main article.
The Textus Receptus Criticalis (TRC) and this page copyright (c) 2009 by John F. Felix. All rights reserved.

Edited at 7:48 AM on June 20, 2009

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[TC-Alternate-list] A censored location in Vaticanus

According to standard depictions of the Tabernacle, the only article of furnishing in the Holy of Holies was the ark of the covenant. On the other side of the veil, in the Sactuary, were the golden lampstand, gold-plated table of shewbread, and gold-plated altar of incense. But in the rundown in Hebrews 9:2-5, the golden censer appears INSIDE the Holy of Holies--definitely the harder reading.
There are a lot of theories as to what was behind this move, but one striking fact is that in Codex Vaticanus, the censer is put back where it belongs!
According to the CA at LaParola.net, only B cop(sa(mss) cop(fay eth(ro read:
2. . . the setting forth of the loaves *and the golden censer*; which is called Holy. 3 And after the second veil, a tabernacle being called Holy of Holies, 4 [*]having [*] the ark of the covenant . . .
In other words, the passage was re-ordered in order to conform to the standard layout of the Sanctuary. But when we actually go to the remote parallel in Exodus 30:6, we find it to have a textual problem of its own!
Adam Clarke observes:
Verse 6. [Before the mercy-seat that is over the testimony]
"These words in the original are supposed to be a repetition, by mistake, of the preceding clause; the word happarocheth, the veil, being corrupted by interchanging two letters into haccapporeth, the mercy-seat; and this, as Dr. Kennicott observes, places the altar of incense before the mercy-seat, and consequently IN the holy of holies! Now this could not be, as the altar of incense was attended every day, and the holy of holies entered only once in the year. The five words which appear to be a repetition are wanting in twenty-six of Kennicott's and De Rossi's MSS., and in the Samaritan. The verse reads better without them, and is more consistent with the rest of the account."
To recap: The reconstructed Hebrew would then read:
"put it before the veil, which is by the ark of the testimony."
Vaticanus appears to read almost exactly thus:
"KAI QHSEIS AUTO APENANTI TOU KATAPETASMATOS, TOU ONTOS EPI THS KIBWTOU TWN MARTURIWN"
So, B's archetypal scribe of Exodus 30 is to be commended for having avoided a dittography. But what possessed him to so brazenly alter Hebrews 9, when the wording of Exodus 30 seems ambiguous enough to have allowed the altar on either side of the veil?
Daniel
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[TC-Alternate-list] The Ethiopic Didascalia - Old Readings in Young Clothes

In 1920, J.M. Harden published the text and translation of The Ethiopic Didascalia. It contains many quotations from the Old Testament and the New Testament. Harden's book can be found and downloaded intact at Google Books.
The Ethiopic Didascalia, Harden explains, is contained in five manuscripts of the Oriental Collection of the British Museum (752, 793, 797, 798, and 799), and "All these date from the early part of the eighteenth century." Harden's English translation is based on MS #752.
Harden does not go into detail about the age of the composition. He states in his Introduction that the Ethiopic Didascalia "is one of the least known of a number of more or less similar documents that have come down to us from comparatively early times." He states that it is commonly believed that such documents are historically related, and that their earliest descendants are the Didache and Hippolytus' Apostolic Constitutions. He also mentions that the documents titled "Didascalia" are descended from a lost Greek work "which belongs in its original form probably to some part of the third century A.D." and that this Greek work's earliest extant descendant is the Syriac Didascalia.
Harden also mentions the existence of two editions of the Didascalia in Arabic. Regarding one MS of the Arabic Didascalia (belonging to the Museo Borgia and discovered by Baumstark, Harden says), "The recension in this manuscript follows the Apostolic Constitutions exactly as to order of subject-matter, containing the six books complete, and also the whole of the seventh book with the exception of chapters 47 and 48. It lacks the six extra chapters found in the other recension but, like it, contains the "preface." It is divided into 44 chapters. This manuscript is also important because it contains at the end the information that the Didascalia was translated from Coptic into Arabic by Abu Ishaq in the year 1295 A.D. As some of the manuscripts of the other recension are known to have been in existence shortly after this date, it is probable that we have to do with two independent versions of a COPTIC Didascalia."

Hmm. The plot thickens! Before 1295, the Didascalia existed in Coptic.
Harden mentions that in 1834, T. P. Platt had published the text of a single MS of the Ethiopic Didascalia, but Platt's MS was defective: "Not only is a leaf lost in the middle of its sixteenth chapter, but also it breaks off abruptly in the middle of a word in Chapter xxii." Thus Platt's text contained only a little more than half of the Ethiopic Didascalia's contents.
Harden also mentions in his Introduction that, if one makes a few logical deductions, it appears that "The Ethiopic Didascalia runs almost exactly parallel with the first seven books of the Apostolic Constitutions. The only addition is the "preface," found also, as already stated, in both of the Arabic and one of the Syriac versions." He presents a table which shows, among other things, that Apostolic Constitutions 5:8-7:17 runs parallel to the Ethiopic Didascalia, chapters 26-35.
Harden also mentions that it seems likely to him that the Ethiopic Didascalia descends from the Greek ancestor of the Apostolic Constitutions, rather than directly from the Apostolic Constitutions, because the Ethiopic Didascalia contains no part of Book VIII.
Harden also states, "The enigmatic word "nipilobanos," which is found in the "preface," points to the fact that a Coptic version lies somewhere behind the Ethiopic, and the same may probably be said of the equally strange word "'abibolosawi," which is found in the title of Chapter xii."
The NT text displayed in the Ethiopic Didascalia is interesting. One example: on page 150 of Harden's book, in the course of chapter 33 of the Ethiopic Didascalia, an interesting form of Acts 15:29 is used: "Men should abstain from anything sacrificed to (false) gods, and from that which dieth of itself, and from blood, and from fornication; and that what they hate for themselves they should not do to their neighbours. Take heed to these things and peace to you." That's the Ethiopic – and Western – form of that verse.
Now, here is an excerpt from the beginning of Apostolic Constitutions 15, compared to an excerpt from the beginning of Ethiopic Didascalia 33:
ApCon 6:15: "Be ye likewise contented with one baptism alone, that which is into the death of the Lord; not that which is conferred by wicked heretics, but that which is conferred by unblameable priests, `in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost,' and let not that which comes from the ungodly be received by you.'"
EthDid: "Make no repetition of baptism: The first baptism which you have received sufficeth for you, for ye were buried into the death of Christ; (a baptism) which hath not been given to the ungodly and unbelieving, but to holy priests who have bestowed it upon you into the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Receive not baptism at the hands of apostates from the faith."
The translation is a tad loose, but clearly we are looking at two descendants of the same ancestor. Let's keep looking at these two texts side-by-side:
ApCon 6:15: "Nay, he that, out of contempt, will not be baptized, shall be condemned as an unbeliever, and shall be reproached as ungrateful and foolish. For the Lord says, `Except a man be baptized of water and of the Spirit, he shall by no means enter into the kingdom of heaven.' And again, `He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned.' But he that says, `When I am dying I will be baptized, lest I should sin and defile my baptism,' is ignorant of God, and forgetful of his own nature. For `Do not thou delay to turn unto the Lord, for thou knowest not what the next day will bring forth.' Do you also baptize your infants, and bring them up in the nurture and admonition of God. For says He, `Suffer the little children to come unto me, and forbid them not.'
EthDid 33: "Those who believe not, and are not baptized into the right faith, are transgressors of the law and condemned, for they reproach Him, and give Him not thanks. Our Lord saith, `He that is not born again of water and the Holy Spirit cannot enter into the Kingdom of heaven,' but `He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved, and he that believeth not shall be condemned.' And he who says, `Afterwards I will be baptized,' and maketh light of baptism, the same shall be condemned and be far from God. Delay not to turn to the Lord for man knoweth not that which shall come upon him. And baptize your children, when they are babes, and feed them with spiritual food, and bring them up with admonition and wisdom, for it is said, `Suffer the little children and forbid them not to come unto Me.'"
One thing to observe here is that Apostolic Constitutions and the Ethiopic Didascalia both present a loose rendering of John 3:5 - - both inserting "Holy" before "Spirit" and both replacing "kingdom of God" with "kingdom of heaven" - - and they both quote Mark 16:16. It seems immensely improbably that the producer of Apostolic Constitutions, c. 380, *and* a later Coptic or Ethiopic translator, would independently make identical alterations to the text of John 3:5. So there are two possibilities: the Ethiopic Didascalia descends from the Apostolic Constitutions here, or else the Apostolic Constitutions and the Ethiopic Didascalia both descend here from a source earlier than the Apostolic Constitutions. As I already mentioned, Harden suspected that because the Ethiopic Didascalia does not contain any part of Book VIII of Apostolic Constitutions, it seemed more likely to him that the Ethiopic Didascalia echoes a Greek ancestor-document earlier than the Apostolic Constitutions.
Now let's see if anything can be discovered by comparing the Ethiopic Didascalia to the Syriac Didascalia Apostolurum, which is assigned a date c. 250 or a tad earlier.
At http://www.bombaxo.com/didascalia.html Kevin Edgecomb has provided an English translation of the Syriac Didascalia Apostolorum. Chapter 24 of the Syriac Didascalia parallels the part of the Ethiopic Didascalia that mentions that the apostles gathered in Jerusalem. All that Didascalia Apostolorum says here about baptism that seems connected to what the Ethiopic Didascalia says there about baptism is:
"And as for baptism also, one is enough for you, even that which has perfectly forgiven you your sins. For Isaiah said not (only) `Wash,' but `Wash, and be cleansed.'"

Near the end of Didascalia Apostolorum 24, when Acts 15:29 is used, the Silver-rule Western reading ("That which is hateful to you, do not do to others") is not found; instead the Didascalia Apostolorum has the normal text there.
Despite the late date of the Ethiopic MSS which contain it, the Ethiopic Didascalia is probably a valuable witness; its readings probably echo a NT text -- possibly a Coptic NT text -- that is earlier than what is displayed in most Ethiopic MSS of NT books.
It would be interesting to attempt to discern the exact relationship between the Ethiopic Didascalia, Books 1-6 of Apostolic Constitutions, and the Syriac Didascalia. It is practically a reflex to assume that the Ethiopic Didascalia is descended from the Apostolic Constitutions, but two problems with that assumption are (a) the Ethiopic Didascalia does not use Book VII, and (b) the Ethiopic Didascalia uses the Western form of Acts 15:29. This second objection might be overcome by reckoning that the Ethiopic translator (or a Coptic translator of a text used by the Ethiopic translator) adopted a text of Acts 15:29 familiar to him.
One more thing: in a footnote near the end of the book, Harden explains the word "nipilobanos." He notes that in an edition of the Arabic Didascalis by Funk (Vol. 2, p. xxxii), we find testimony that "the original Greek was FILOPONOI or FILOPONWS. This agrees with the Syriac version, and would explain the reading of the Ethiopic, i.e., as "ni," the Coptic definite article, and FILOPONOS. The reading is important as showing probably a close connection between the Ethiopic and Coptic versions."
Indeed! The presence of a Coptic loan-word (or an invented word based on a Coptic word) in the Arabic Didascalia and in the Ethiopic Didascalia, in a passage not attested in the Apostolic Constitutions, but found in the Syriac MS of the Didascalia Apostolorum transcribed and translated by Gibson (her book about it is also online), would seem to guarantee that the Ethiopic Didascalorum -- at least, that part of it -- does not descend (solely) from the Apostolic Constitutions but has, somewhere in its genealogy, a Coptic Didascalia which descended from an older source-document which also begat the Syriac Didascalia.
Yours in Christ,
James Snapp, Jr.

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