Description

Was Codex sinaiticus Written In 1840

What the Newspapers Reported:

Worldwide newspaper coverage greeted the 1933 London arrival of Codex Sinaiticus. The following was from the Sidney Morning Herald.

CODEX SINAITICUS

On View at Museum.

INSPECTED BY 3500 PEOPLE.

LONDON, Dec. 27. 1933

The Codex Sinaiticus, within a red and gold enamelled box, wrapped in cotton wool and brown paper, arrived at the British Museum this morning.

Dr. Bell, Keeper of Manuscripts, spent two hours testing its authenticity, after which it was installed in the entrance hall, where a queue speedily formed. About people inspected the manuscript 3500, of them placing a contribution, sometimes a Treasury note, in the box alongside.

Visitors generally were amazed at the wonderful state of its preservation and the clearness of the script. Mr. Ernest Maggs, who negotiated the sale, says: "The at first asked 500,000, but when real discussions commenced the price was reduced to 200,000. At 100,000 it was a wonderful bargain."

Sir George Hill, director of the British Museum, says that sentimentally the Codex is beyond the value of the Elgin marbles, Which is placed at 1,500,000.

Note the amazement at its "wonderful state of preservation" and it being a "wonderful bargain" at 100.000. That today is about Seven Million Pounds. THEY PAID TOO MUCH

These are strange days, but for those who believe there are good reasons to hold to the King James Bible and the text upon which it is based, nothing is stranger than the account of a forgotten but now re-emerging debate that took place after the 1844 "discovery" of Codex Sinaiticus. It now appears that the HOUSE OF CARDS upon which the Modern Version d104 is based is far weaker than we could have imagined. Unlike other Biblical controversies, much of what we know about this one appeared in the British Press; mainly in 1862 and 1863.

J.A. Moorman