Week 39 Acts
When Luke wrote Acts it was an original one-&-only document. Ever-afterwards every Acts of the Apostles was a handwritten copy. Some copies were perfect. Some weren’t. Both kinds survived.
Knowing that the bible has these manuscript glitches means that there can be a dilemma for readers. And different readers deal with glitches differently.
One way to think of it is that there’s a bible reader’s Manuscript Glitch-Management Continuum. The continuum has a succession of many points where a bible reader can land. Here’s three:
• Out at one end of the line are readers who decide that the textual snags make the bible unacceptably imperfect. So the bible lands in the Mythology & Legend category.
• At the other end are readers who accept the bible pretty much unquestioningly. They’re unfazed by manuscript puzzlers and might pay no attention to them at all.
• Somewhere in the middle are readers who accept that a) there are uncertainties or inconsistencies but that b) the bible conveys the big ideas the original writer was driving at. Reliable accuracy.
I admit that it simplifies things if I’m out on one of the continuum’s end points where I can be in an unruffled state of mental certainty. It’s no surprise when a reader gravitates toward the ends of the continuum. It’s the middle ground that’s a challenge. I lose some certainty there and I have to be prepared to mentally recalibrate. But it’s my preferred spot.