Secrets of Mount Sinai

The other reviews on this page to-date do not touch on what Bentley considered the major impact of the world's oldest complete Bible. That finding was that Mark, which was the oldest gospel, ended at verse 8 and that the additional 11 verses after verse 8 that indicated Jesus was physically resurrected were inserts. These verses were considered fake by the scribe who wrote this bible in the year 340AD. The scribes put three dots in the margins by verses they either knew or suspected as being not authentic. (Even today in Richard LAtimore's contemporary translation these verse are marked off in square brackets).The significance of course, is that even the world's oldest bible was being manipulated to produce a theologically and politically correct version.In today's terms you could say this is actually historical support for some of the contentions in the Da Vinci Code. The other conclusion is that probably the earlist Christians considered the resurrection to be a spiritual event and that like St Paul, the devout Christian could (and should)encounter Jesus in the spirit.PRS

Constantin Tischendorf's 19th century find of the Codex Sinaiticus at St. Catherine's Monastery in Sinai was an absolute milestone in the study of Textual Transmission - the history of the Bible's text. The circumstances leading up to the find are fascinating, and constroversy still surrounds the methods Tischendorf may have used to secure the long-lost codex, in order to present it to the scholarly community.Bentley does an admirable job of painting a picture of the historical context of the monastery, and of the incredible nature of Tishendorf's find, making the book well worth reading, and the only contemporary account readily available (although now out-of-print). In it, he acknowledges Tishcendorf's remarkable intellect and drive.The problem with the book is that one gets the feeling that the writer doesn't really understand the internal forces behind the drive, and seems to harbor an enormous resentment toward the man and his memory. It seems like a more neutral view could have been presented, without sacrificing an honest appraisal of his detractor's claims.Yes, there are some who feel that Tischendorf wrongly removed the Codex from the ancient monastery where he discovered it. But no one today can state with any real certainty that an injustice was intentionally perpetrated. And history has shown the Codex's importance to the study of the Bible text, for which Tischendorf is responsible, as the monks of St. Catherine had made no such effort to share their treasure with the scholarly world, if indeed they did have any indication of it's value.And as to the monetary gain they may have forfeited - they did receive a substantial sum for the manuscripts, and at any rate, the matter took on a life of its own, and outgrew Tischendorf's ability to direct it, once the codex was out. The author plays up Tischendorf's vanity, which no doubt was a factor, but shouldn't be the focus of the story. Tischendorf's disparaging comments about the monastic life which he found devoid of scholarship should be viewed in the context of his genius and passion for scholarship - much like Mozart might likely have disparaged the musical tastes of a contemporary musician like Antonio Salieri.Overall, a good read, but there's still an opening for an unbiased look at this fascinating chapter of the Bible text's checkered past.

The main idea of this book revolves around the oldest new testament manuscripts known to man. Those manuscripts have the complete record of the New Testament from the year 340 AD and on...One of the chapters is totally dedicated to the history of the monastery of St. Catherine where the manuscripts were found by one of the pillars of biblical studies, Constantine Tischendorf in 1859...Daringly constructed...Excellently done...Extremely challenging...Amazingly informative...Beautifully satisfying...Tremendously comprehensive...Gigantically convincing...Bravo...