The Hyperetai: The Bible in Shorthand? We take for granted the ease with which we can make copies of documents today. Even before the revolution of our copiers and fax machines, it was the invention of Johannes Gutenbergs movable type in 1454 that ushered in the printing techniques that we also have come to take for granted today. In the ancient world, all copies had to be accomplished painstakingly by hand. Thus, the term manuscript, manu-script. It was quite natural that these manual methods would also be accompanied by special shortcuts, aids, and techniques to facilitate the drudgery with which the scribes were faced. And, like all the Greeks and Romans of the period, the Christian authors and their scribes employed trained secretaries or amanuenses, trusted helpers who were well-versed in contemporary literary techniques and scribal methods. Some of them are mentioned by name in the New Testament, and Luke refers to them generally at the beginning of his Gospel. Notable is the importance he attributes to the eyewitnesses behind the written records, including those preceding his own.
Posted on: Sun, 21 Dec 2014 23:21:20 +0000
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