One of the challenges for those of us who study and write about Church history is the way certain narratives become a "consensus" view that becomes quasi-canonical among scholars. This is a common problem in academia generally, of course, but it can be overcome when scholars have a commitment to the pursuit of clarity, charity and understanding.
An outstanding example of this was described in an article in the Deseret News. A BYU professor discovered a significant error in translations of the Bible that was perpetuated for centuries.
A BYU researcher has conclusively recovered the name of the woman who received the New Testament letter known as 2 John, according to a new book.
Meet Electa, an early Christian woman whose identity was concealed for nearly 2,000 years due to corrupted Greek texts and centuries of New Testament commentaries that mistakenly believed the original writer called her only “an elect lady.”
Her name has been considered a mystery because scribes copying original Greek texts accidentally dropped two letters, says Lincoln Blumell, associate dean of research in the BYU Department of Ancient Scripture.
Part of the problem was that every study of the past 150 years universally accepted the mistake without questioning the manuscript texts. (emphasis added)
Everyone should read the full article.
We can learn several lessons from this example. One was explained in the article.
The lesson is that scholars should avoid repeating what others write without testing it, Blumell said.
Another lesson is the value of reassessing the evidence behind long-held beliefs and narratives.
The article pointed out how this error had led to speculation.
Whatever the cause, scribes copied the mistake again and again, and Electa’s identity was lost for hundreds of years.
In fact, the mistake is perpetuated today in the standard text in the field, Nestle-Aland’s 28th Edition of the Greek New Testament.
The mistake also led to centuries of wild theories in biblical studies, Blumell said. Some argued the unnamed elect lady might be Mary, the mother of Jesus, or Martha, the sister of Lazarus and Mary.
One said it might be a love letter. Some even argued the letter was fictional.
“No,” Blumell said, “the Greek just got corrupted. I give dozens of examples of the same kind of error occurring in early Christian manuscripts or papyri, where two are duplicated letters get dropped.”
We can all see the parallel to today's situation in which Latter-day Saint scholars have (i) erased what Joseph and Oliver taught about the origin and setting of the Book of Mormon and (ii) developed "wild theories" about the origin and setting of the Book of Mormon.
The explicit, unambiguous teachings of Joseph and Oliver are absent from the Gospel Topics Essays, the Church History Museum, the visitors centers (including at the Hill Cumorah itself!) and in the curriculum and media resources.
New and young Latter-day Saints never learn what Joseph and Oliver actually taught.
Some future historian will rediscover what Joseph and Oliver taught and announce the discovery with as much acclaim as this discovery about Electa.
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| Elders' Journal |
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