Friday, February 19, 2010

Funds available for TC Research

18
Yesterday I received an email from a missionary in Nigeria who wanted to give me £10,000,000 to fund Textual Criticism research from an ETC perspective. Apparently she just found it in the basement of an old church. All I had to do was send £967 to help ship the cash to a bank, and give her my bank details and passwords. Brilliant, of course I sent her all this stuff instantly. Who wouldn't? What a provision.
So what do you think we should do with this money once it arrives? Any ideas?

18 comments

  1. It is great that Nigerians can make such a contribution to the academic and Christian world.

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  2. Brings a new meaning to 'textual corruption'...

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  3. ONLY TRUST NIGERIAN EMAILS WHEN THE ENTIRE MESSAGE IS WRITTEN IN CAPITAL LETTERS. THERE SHOLD ALSO BE AT LEST A CUPLE OF MISSPELLINGS. YOU HAVE TO BE CAREFUL BECAUSE THERE ARE ALOT OF FRAUDS OUT THERE ON THE INTERNET THESE DAYS. YOU SHOULD ONLY TRUST REPUTABLE NIGERIAN EMAILERS.

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  4. I think this is all naive. What makes you think that 'Nigerian' e-mails come from Nigeria? Isn't that like thinking the Alexandrian text comes from Alexandria?

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  5. A few suggestions:

    1. Photograph all important mss and put the images into the public domain. And I mean important, not all that Byzantine noise.

    2. Finance research on the common errors in these manuscripts along the lines of James R. Royse. Analysis of the mss IED (in every detail).

    3. Offer 2 Mio. to the one (in Egypt or elsewhere) who brings you the most complete manuscript (codex or scroll), so far unknown to the scholarly world.

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  6. This one definitely had capitals. I took that as emphasis. And she is sending me all that money. ... Although to be fair they've had a bit of trouble in the transportation of it, so I've sent some more to cover the expenses of guards and such things.

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  7. It said it was from Nigeria. She said it, I believed it. I'm conservative after all. Where else could it come from?

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  8. More naivete. You even believe 'she' is female.

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  9. Without naivete there is only cynicism.

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  10. No. Not in this context. Only dichotomies.

    PS. I like your picture, is that new?

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  11. Just recently I was announced by email that I inherited a few million dollars. I usually don't pay much attention to this kind of messages, but this time I replied, wishing to find out just how much money I was supposed to pay before receiving the too-good-to-be-true inheritance. I pretended to be J. K. Chesterton, living on Father Brown Street. Guess what, the other party took me a lot more seriously than I took it. I guess that if the swindler had read one line by Chesterton, he would have known that his actions were rather unorthodox. It turned out I was supposed to send 3 thousand dollars.
    P.S. I replaced G with J trying to be more subtle!

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  12. HAHAHA!

    Brilliant!

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  13. In case it is a real fund, I think no other institution deserves except CSNTM, from ETC perspective.

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  14. Andrew Wilson2/20/2010 4:17 am

    Wieland: 'Analysis of mass IED'

    Maybe the email is from a Taliban front organisation.

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  15. Andrew Wilson2/20/2010 4:21 am

    Whoops! Not one, but two scribal errors there:

    It was not 'mass IED' but 'mss IED', plus there was the omission of the article, a common scribal slip

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  16. My Nigerian e-mail was from a dear Christian sister dying of "esophagial cancer." she has 9 million dollars to give to worthy charities. Any takers? Well met. I've lurked her for a whlie. thought I'd say hello.

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