Page 306 - History of The Quranic Text | Kalamullah.Com

286 THE HISTORY OF THE QUR'ANIC TEXT

is particularly worrying, given that these manuscripts belong to the period
between the 9th and the 15th centuries. Innumerable generations of Chris-
tians must have lived and died without even laying eyes on a complete
copy of their own Scriptures."

Figure 17.2: Example of Greek Minuscule script. Source: Metzger; The Text of
the New Testament) p. 11. Reprinted with the copyright holder's kindpermission.

One notable quality of the Greek uncial script was itslack of a separator,
between adjacent words as wellas sentences, even though separation between
words had been used previously in Hebrew writings, and was therefore not
unknown. This flaw resulted in a divergence of meanings or rather inter-
pretations for certain verses. Among the most serious examples of this is
Manuscript V75 (Bodmer Papyrus xrv-xvi.vwherejohn 1:18 can be read
as either anonlY One) God, or God) the onlY begotten. There is clearly a profound
difference in the two choices; whilst the latter implies the existence of a

34 Of course these texts were not written in the vernacular, so that even the fortunate
layman who did come across a copy would be unable to benefit from it. But 58 complete
copies in a span of six centuries, and covering the entire Christian world, raises serious
questions about the percentage of priests in that era who were privy to a complete
edition of the very text they were preaching.
35 This papyrus codex - preserved at Foundation Martin Bodmer (near Geneva) -
with 51 surviving leaves now contains parts of Luke andJohn. Each page is written
in a single column of from 38 to 45 lines with each line having 25 to 36 letters. The
handwriting is in uncial script. It has been dated around 200 C.E.