The Science of Textual Criticism

Here's a brief explanation of the theory behind textual criticism.

Textual criticism doesn't have anything to do with making negative statements about texts (eg. criticizing). Instead, it's the technical term for the scientific art of reconstructing ancient texts - it's a hard science (eg. really smart PhD types), whose principles are rigorous (eg. always favor the harder reading), it's practitioners are diverse (eg. more unbelievers and skeptics in this field than believers), and it works for both secular and religious texts.

Fundamentally, what makes textual criticism work is that humans don't typically make random errors; they make common errors, for common reasons. Which means if you study enough texts, you can actually learn how to identify an error and reconstruct how it happened. Some are obvious (mispellings). Others are less so (intentional changes). But here's the point, the better you can understand why the change occurred, the better you can figure out what the original text was.

Here's the key - there are two things that make textual criticism work:

1. lots of source manuscripts (eg. many 'eyes'), and
   
2. the older they are the better (because older gets you closer to the original).
   

Suddenly, what seemed to be a weakness of Scripture actually turns out to be a strength - there are dramatically more ancient witnesses for the biblical texts than for any other documents out there!

For example, let's consider some famous texts which scholars rely on to learn about history...

Text	Date Written	Oldest surviving copy	Gap from original	Copies in existence today
Thucydides' History of the Peloponnesian War	400 BC	AD 900	1300 years	73
Caesar's Gallic War	50 BC	AD 825	875 years	10
Tactitus' Histories and Annals	AD 100	AD 850	750 years	2
New Testament	AD 40 - AD 100	AD 350	310 years	14,000 (5000 Greek, 8000 Latin, and 1000 in other languages)

Did you catch those numbers for the NT documents? They are amazing! Scholars have HUGE numbers of texts to work from. And even though the oldest manuscript is from AD 350, we actually have many fragments from the second and third centuries AD, with the earliest being a portion of the Gospel of John dating AD 120-140 (that's within 40-60 years of the autograph!).

No other works of antiquity come close to this. To state it another way, your average New Testament down at Barnes & Noble is translated from a Greek text that rests on far better historical evidence than your college history books on ancient Greece and Rome. No modern textual scholar (secular or otherwise) will dispute this.

Are we saying that you shouldn't trust your college history books? Of course not! We're saying that you CAN have a high degree of confidence that the New Testament on your bedstand is very close to what was originally written back in the 1st c. AD. Wow. That's kind of cool!

Vision Workshop

VISION - It's nice to know where you're headed.

This coming Saturday, January 17 we'll be hosting an All Souls Vision Workshop from 8:45 AM - 1 PM at the Cryder's (2307 River Road).

This is probably one of the most important things we've done thus far. The Vision Dinners painted a picture for the kind of community we'd like to create; the Vision Workshop will unpack our strategy for getting there. After all, it's nice to know where you're headed. :-)

We'll flesh out our understanding of what a church is (and isn't!), we'll share specific goals for the next 6-12 months, and we'll work together to figure out the best way to get there. This is a great opportunity to see how the vision plays out - to study the roadmap, kick the tires, ask questions, and offer feedback. It will be very hands on. And you'll go away with a clear picture of who we are, where we're headed, and how you can be more involved.

If you consider All Souls your church home it's extremely important for you to attend if at all possible - it'll help you know how to move deeper in our community, and it'll help us know you want to do so.

If you're simply curious about All Souls, this will be a great way to evaluate us - to peer beneath the surface and find out what we're really up to here in Missoula.

Even if you're skeptical about All Souls (or Jesus!), you're still welcome too - this is a great way to see the dirt. We desire to be open and honest, even if that means you end up going somewhere else.

So regardless of where you're at in your spiritual journey, we really hope you will join us for this special event. If you are at all interested in this thing called All Souls, we think you'll be glad you came. Breakfast and lunch will be provided. Childcare will be available at the Sutherland's (1601 W Kent). What we need from you is an RSVP.

For more information, please contact Christian (529-5568) or Ryan (529-2468).

The Night Before Christmas

"The Newborn" - Georges de la Tour (1593-1652)

This Christmas Eve, we'll be hosting our very first Midnight Service, beginning at 11:30 PM in our downtown space (147 W Broadway). This will be a small, intimate gathering to celebrate the coming of Christ through music, Scripture, and friends. Come participate in a tradition that is at least 1500 years old. Your kids will love it, and so will you. We hope you will join us this Christmas Eve!

All Souls Christmas Party

Come join us this Saturday, December 13 at 6 PM at Lake Missoula Cellars as we team up with Andrea Harsell & Friends to throw a killer Christmas party and raise money for Big Brothers & Big Sisters' "Families in Need" this holiday season.

For a suggested donation of $15 per person (more if you'd like!), you'll get to experience fabulous food, great local wine, amazing music, and a whole lot of fun. Plus, you'll be contributing to a great cause and making our community a better place too.

Interested? Here's how you can help:

1. please buy a ticket as soon as possible (at Rockin Rudy's or Lake Missoula Cellars) or RSVP (and pay at the door) so we can know how much food to prepare. Even if you can't make it to the party, please consider purchasing tickets to help support the cause.
   
   
2. please help us spread the word by inviting your friends and announcing the event on any mailing lists you are connected with.
   

We need your help to get the word out! If you like great food, great wine, great music, and a great time, you're going to love this event! Hope to see you this Saturday!

Vision Dinner

We've been here in Missoula for over two years now, and a LOT has happened in that time. We've asked a lot of questions, built a lot of friendships, and we've worked hard to create a community of faith where people are welcome even if they don't share our convictions. Slowly but surely it's beginning to happen. We think that's pretty cool.

Many of you have played a vital role in this process (thank you!). Some of you are still checking us out. And some of you might be wondering where to begin. We think that's cool too, and we look forward to helping you evaluate us.

Fundamentally, All Souls Missoula is a community in motion - we're on a mission, we're headed somewhere - and a big part of our job is to be upfront and honest about who we are and where we're going. After all, how else are you going to figure out whether we're a place worth investing in?

Vision dinners are a chance for us to share a great meal, talk about our vision, and answer any questions you might have. We hope to paint a clear picture of where we're going over the next six months, how we hope to serve this community, and how we hope to be a community that works for the good of the city.

If you are at all curious about what's going on here at All Souls - whether a little or a lot - you really won't want to miss this. Here's the skinny...

• WHERE: The Cryder's place (2307 River Road).
• WHEN: Sat, Dec 6, from 6:30 - 9 PM.
• WHAT: A great evening of food and friends!
  

So there you have it. If you're interested in coming, please RSVP so we know how much food to prepare. If you have questions, call Christian (529-5568) or Ryan (529-2468).