Leolaia,
I hesitate between "farfetched" and "desperate". Afaik apographè means a census, not a general census policy.
by chappy 13 Replies latest watchtower beliefs
Leolaia,
I hesitate between "farfetched" and "desperate". Afaik apographè means a census, not a general census policy.
LOL...It's interesting that this basic lexical point is not given much attention.
leolaia, thanks for the link. i already read some of these articles trying to explain the obvious away (this happens to each and every biblical inconsistency). but when put into context it simply doesn't work... at least not for me at the moment.
some believe, luke confused quirinius' time in galatia with his governing period in syria. that wouldn't explain away the census though. tertullian even changed the name "quirinius" to "saturnius" to make things straighter... which just proves, that even early christians had problems with it.
One distinct possibility is that the addition of prôtè (in different ways according to the mss) in Luke 2:2 is already a harmonising gloss into a pseudo-historical gloss, in view of Acts 5:37 which refers to the famous Quirinius census (cf. Josephus AJ 18:1ff).
Stage 1: In those days a decree went out from Emperor Augustus that all the world should be registered. All went to their own towns to be registered.
Stage 2 (historical gloss by someone who had read Josephus, for instance): In those days a decree went out from Emperor Augustus that all the world should be registered. This was the (well-known) registration taken while Quirinius was governor of Syria. All went to their own towns to be registered.
Stage 3 (harmonising gloss by someone who had better checked the synchronism and realised it couldn't be the same census): In those days a decree went out from Emperor Augustus that all the world should be registered. This was the first registration taken while Quirinius was governor of Syria. All went to their own towns to be registered.