Date: Fri, 27 Mar 1998 07:36:42 From: Bob Schacht To: Paul Miller Cc: crosstalk@info.harpercollins.com Subject: Re: Original GThomas At 01:30 AM 3/27/98 -0600, Paul Miller wrote: >> How can you tell an orally transmitted collection (as above) from >> a redactional stratified text? By realizing that a redactional >> stratified text will be adding consistent material to make some >> consistent points... and yet if you subtract the supposedly >> redactional material you just get a hodgepodge. >> >> Steve >> > >In a sayings gospel, consistent material could be 50 proto-gnostic >sayings to make "wisdom", points. > > Paul Miller > Seems to me that we have examples of more than one kind of "redactional stratification." Isaiah is probably a good example of the kind of stratification Steve has in mind. But we also have Proverbs and Psalms, which may be more pertinent genres. At the risk of confusing categories (with apologies to Bill Arnal), both of these "books" have a very different kind of editorial history than Isaiah (resulting in "hodgepodge"), and their editorial history may provide a better model for GThomas than what Steve has in mind. Perhaps, Paul, you are refering to a model like Proverbs & Psalms? Bob **************************************** Robert Schacht Northern Arizona University Robert.Schacht@nau.edu "There is nothing that I do not dare to doubt; There is nothing true that I am afraid to know; There is nothing false that I would wish to believe." Sidney Lovett Chaplain, Yale University