16 causes of Sweden’s migration crisis

Many people ask: “Why did they do this to us?” and “Why couldn’t they just accept that we didn’t want any more immigration?”

It would be nice to have an answer to point them to, even though in some cases the question is meant to be “rhetoric” in the sense that they would prefer if everybody pretend that it is too difficult to answer.

I picked the 16 most effective causes I could think of and I will not call them “reasons” because reason speaks against this country’s policies. The list is probably not perfect and as usual, I welcome feedback.

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Was Wulfila’s Exemplar of Luke’s Gospel Marcionite?

We have seen in two previous articles that sometimes the Gothic bible uses one synonym consistently for a number of verses and then switches to using another synonym for a few verses. How about studying synonyms and orthographic variants to see if we can isolate an older textform? I do, and even though I am only halfway through, I dare say it correlates with the text reconstructed for Marcion’s gospel of Luke, to a certain extent.

How can that be?

Map of Black Sea area in the 3rd century
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Culture and Anticulture

When both sides of the political debate agree on something, it is often time to reconsider it with a contrarian spirit. Today everyone seem to agree that culture is good. Is it? It depends on what culture is. It is very easy to agree on something that can have lots of definitions.

The word `culture´stems from Latin cultura, meaning something that is cultivated. The farming-and-vegetables-sense can be unambigously expressed as `agriculture´, so that the culture without agri- could take a new meaning.

One reasonable definition is to say that the culture of a human society is that which humans within that society choose to do and produce spontaneously. This mirrors the agro- definition because, if you sow tomato seeds, add water and sunshine, you still don’t decide how that plant will look but the plant decides for it self based on its genes and what building blocks it finds in the soil.

People who don’t care to pick a definition tend to default to defining culture as that which government decides is culture. This is very much in contrast with the previous definition which required spontaneity on the part of individuals.

The figure below illustrates how two persons can misunderstand each other by using the two definitions above, respectively.

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A trail on 1 Corinthians 14:34

Let us compare the handed down text of 1 Corinthians 14:31-40 with my reconstruction of the ausgangstext translated to English King James style, and a suggestion for how to render it in a modern bible!

v. KJV Reconstruction Suggestion
31 For ye may all prophesy one by one, that all may learn, and all may be comforted. For ye may all prophesy one by one, that all may learn, and all may be comforted. For ye may all prophesy one by one, that all may learn, and all may be comforted.
32 And the spirits of the prophets are subject to the prophets. And the spirits of the prophets are subject to the prophets. And the spirits of the prophets are subject to the prophets.
33 For God is not the author of confusion, but of peace, as in all churches of the saints. For God is not the author of confusion, but of peace, as in all churches of the saints. For God is not the author of confusion, but of peace, as in all congregations of the saints.
34 Let your women keep silence in the churches: for it is not permitted unto them to speak; but they are commanded to be under obedience, as also saith the law.
35 And if they will learn any thing, let them ask their husbands at home: for it is a shame for women to speak in the church.
36 What? came the word of God out from you? or came it unto you only? What? came the word of God out from you? or came it unto you only? What? came the word of God out from you? or came it unto you only?
37 If any man think himself to be a prophet, or spiritual, let him acknowledge that the things that I write unto you are the commandments of the Lord. If any man think himself to be a prophet, or spiritual, let him acknowledge that the things that I write unto you are the commandments of the Lord. If any man think himself to be a prophet, or spiritual, let him acknowledge that the things that I write unto you are the commandments of the Lord.
38 But if any man be ignorant, let him be ignorant. But if any man be ignorant, let him be ignorant. But if any man be ignorant, let him be ignorant.
39 Wherefore, brethren, covet to prophesy, and forbid not to speak with tongues. Wherefore, brethren, covet to prophesy, and forbid not to speak with tongues. Wherefore, brethren, covet to prophesy, and forbid not to speak with tongues.
40 Let all things be done decently and in order. Let all things be done decently and in order. Let all things be done decently and in order.
41 [Let the women keep silence in congregation: for it is not permitted unto them to speak; but they are commanded to be under obedience, as also saith the law.
42 And if they will learn any thing, let them ask their husbands at home: for it is a shame for women to speak in congregation.]

The verses 34-35 exist in all manuscripts, however in the Book of Armagh (ca year 808) and in Codex Claromontanus (mid 5th century), they appear at the end of chapter 14. These two are also supported by Ambrosiaster’s commentary. How do I know?

A grant from the European Union enabled Brill to release for free a digital copy of a collation of Old Latin witnesses to Paul’s letters. You can download it here.

The word that KJV translated “church” is Greek εκκλησια. Liddel & Scott’s dictionary says:

An assembly of the citizens summoned by the crier, the legislative assembly: at Athens, the ordinary assemblies were called κύριαι ἐκκλησίαι, four in each πρυντανεία […]

The word εκκλησια can mean church, but doesn’t necessarily refer to a Christian congregation, so translating it with ‘church’ in 1 Cor 14:34 involves some unnecessary speculation.

At the end of the verse we read: “… as also saith the law.” When “the law” is mentioned in Paul’s letters it is usually understood to mean the Mosaic law. However, in this case it becomes farfetched to try to find something in the Mosaic law that forbids women from speaking in assemblies. It would also be anachronistic to try anhave this bronze-age law collection talk about Christian churches.

The Greek-English lexicon BDAG provides some pointers that may be relevant. Under headword λαλέω, it mentions in connection with 1 Corinthians 14:34, Plutharch’s Moralia 142 D, which reads:

Τὴν Ἠλείων ὁ φειδίας Ἀφροδίτην ἐποίησε χελώνην πατοῦσαν,
οἰκουρίας σύμβολον ταῖς γυναιξὶ καὶ σιωπῆς.
Δεῖ γὰρ ἢ πρὸς τὸν ἂνδρα λαλεῖν ἢ διὰ τοῦ ἀνδρος,
μὴ δυσχεραίνουσαν εἰ δι ἀλλοτρίας γλώσσης ὥσπερ αὐλητὴς φθέγγεται σεμνότερον.
— Moralia 142 D.

They also reference Inscriptiones Graecae 1369, so let’s quote it as well:

Α Γ Λ Α Υ Ρ Ο Υ Ι Ε Ρ Ε Α Φ Ε Ι Δ Ο Σ Τ Ρ Α Τ Η
Ε Τ Ε Ο Κ Λ Ε Ο Υ Σ Α Ι Θ Α Λ Ι Δ Ο Υ Θ Υ Γ Α Τ Η Ρ
… normalised …
Ἀγλαύρου ἱέρα Φειδοστράτη
Ἐτεοκλέους Αιθαλίδου θυγάτηρ.

It is considered bad practice to omit a portion of text from a bible if that text is in all manuscripts, even if we believe it is not original. In this case, verses 34-35 may have been original in their position at the end of chapter 14, or they may originate in the very first letter that Paul sent to the Corinthians, for he had addressed them previously (1 Cor 5:9). If so, it becomes easy to understand why Paul doesn’t provide us with context to his advice or specify which law he refers to, since his first letter wasn’t intended to circulate as scripture.

Words for 'white'

The Hebrew word for white is laban — לבן. A figure with this name occurs in Genesis chapter 29 and onwards.
When Jacob was sent to Haran in search of a wife, it was not because a white one would be better, as we can see in chapter 28:

Now Esau saw that Isaac had blessed Jacob and sent him away to Paddan-aram to take a wife from there, and that as he blessed him he directed him, “You must not take a wife from the Canaanite women,” and that Jacob had obeyed his father and his mother and gone to Paddan-aram. So when Esau saw that the Canaanite women did not please Isaac his father, Esau went to Ishmael and took as his wife, besides the wives he had, Mahalath the daughter of Ishmael, Abraham’s son, the sister of Nebaioth. — verses 6-9, ESV.

A related name is the place name Lebanon, commonly thought to refer to the whiteness of that snow-covered mountain range.
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Words for ‘black’

In an attempt to reduce disorder in the universe, let’s have an overview of the words that various languages use to name the colour black.
Hebrew: shechor- שחר > Aramaic chrthutha ‘darkness’ חרתותא
Galilean: ʔaikum איכום
The Syriac word for ink: dyw ܕܝܘ looks similar to Welsh du/tywyll ‘black’. I don’t know if they are relatives.
Greek: μέλαν
— Latvian: męlns ‘black’, mellene ‘blueberries’
— Lithuanian: mėlynas ‘blue’, mėlynė ‘blueberries’
— (?) Telugu: nallani (looks related but who knows)
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Book review: God’s Library — Brent Nongbri


Brent Nongbri became my favourite papyrologist after he argued for 𝔓75 being 4th century. Its earlier date-range in the 2nd-3rd centuries had puzzled me.
Now we read about this new book, modestly named “God’s Library — the archeology of the earliest Christian manuscripts”, that “Brent Nongbri […] demonstrates that much of what we thought we knew about these books and fragments is mistaken”.
Surely that depends on what we were thinking.
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Exodus and Exit everywhere and look at Matthew 6:19

I was transcribing some Gothic and noticed that Codex Argenteus has two different words for stealing in verse 19 and verse 20 respectively of Matthew chapter 6. These verses aren’t particularly known for textual variants. Here’s ESV to give you an idea what we’re talking about:

19“Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal, 20but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal.

Confused flower

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Immigration in Sweden and in Swedish bibles

Will you, dear reader, excuse another vain post about this wretched country?

There are elections upcoming scheduled 9 September (2018) and the all-eclipsing issue is migration. The two largest parties used to be Socialdemokraterna (the Socialists) and the Moderates (moderate socialists). These two parties have led one political bloc each, and have taken turns accepting more and more immigrants into the 10-million-inhabitant state, against some fierce popular resistance.

Now as it happens, Socialdemokraterna is also the party which has the most influence over the church which was until year 2000 run by the government, and which has, for a legacy, more than half the population as members. Year 2000 is also the year when a government commission released a bible paraphrase which was intended to become the “leading bible-text for the Swedish language area”. It is called Bibel2000.

One of its many features is it renders MT: גר/ LXX: προσήλυτος as ‘immigrant’, in Swedish ‘invandrare’.

A consequence is it becomes hard for Christians to argue in favour of a more restrictive migration policy, since the burden of loving the גר/προήλυτος as commanded in Torah is substantial, and whereas Christians aren’t bound by the law, it teaches them the principles and reasoning of God, so it cannot really be ignored.

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