The Bible, Grammar and a Question of Syntax

This is one of the most fascinating aspects of the Bible's transmission and it's a shame that so few people have given it any thought. 

As you may or may not know, Greek and Latin (the languages in which our earliest New Testament manuscripts were written) contain no punctuation or grammar marks of any kind. Everything produced at the time was was written out in capital letters, without spaces, in what is known today as scriptio continua ("continuous script"). It took roughly 1000 years before spacing was first introduced, and while the first known punctuation marks were introduced in ancient Greece, none of them served the purpose of what we now recognize today as the comma or the full stop. Indeed, the earliest punctuation marks were made for actors, with notches indicating suggested times in a speech in which an actor should draw his breath. Most of our matters of grammar and syntax have been the product of the past 500 years. 

With that being said, how trusting are you of the grammar and punctuation in your bible? I myself have a collection of roughly 30 variations and all of them differ on these matters of syntax. Now, you may not think this is a big deal, but the entire meaning of a sentence can change with remarkably little effort. Observe: 

GODISNOWHERE can be read as "God is now here" or "God is nowhere" depending on the inclination of the reader. 

Let's try the same practice with a biblical verse. 

ANDJESUSSAIDUNTOHIMVERILYISAYUNTOTHEETODAYSHALTTHOUBEWITHMEINPARADISE (Luke 23:43) This is a well known passage where Jesus informs the good thief that he will go to paradise. The interesting thing however, is that this sentence syntax has been interpreted in two significantly different ways by two major sects (Protestants & Catholics), with both sides using it as proof of their doctrine. 

Protestant's read the critical part of this sentence as "Verily, I say unto thee, This day thou shalt me with me in Paradise", which they use as proof that there can be no purgatory because Jesus sent the thief straight to paradise, with no delay. 

Catholic doctrine however reads it as, "Verily I say unto thee this day, Thou shalt be with me in Paradise". See the difference? In the first sentence Jesus' words mean that the thief will go straight to heaven, in the second sentence the time of the thief joining him in paradise has not been set. This technicality is used by Catholics as proof that the thief's judgement did not necessarily occur on that given day, and so they are justified in their doctrinal belief in the concept of purgatory. 

Yet both sides are reading from the exact same sentence. All that has changed in the syntax, courtesy of grammar and punctuation. 

This occurs literally thousands of times throughout the Bible. Granted, many of these instances are not important to matters of doctrine--Is it "Comfort ye my people" (please go out and comfort my people) or "Comfort ye, my people" (hey guys, cheer up)? 

I guess what I want to ask you all is, how do you know that the syntax of the bible is correct? It varies heavily among different versions and translations throughout history, and nobody can be certain of the original authors' intentions because the original documents were all written in scriptio continua. 

What if some of your beliefs about the bible have come from reading incorrect syntax? How would you know? And more importantly, how do you determine what is and is not correct? If this is God's holy book shouldn't this be a matter of some importance?

PS: While I've studied this subject for a few years, the inspiration for this post was drawn from a reading of Eats, Shoots & Leaves (in which these same bible verses are used as examples to demonstrate the power and importance of the comma).You can expect a review in the near future.

10 Literary Works Used by Controversial Artist Marilyn Manson

1. Venus in Furs by Leopold von Sacher-Masoch

Source: Doll-Dagga Buzz-Buzz Ziggety-Zag, a blend of dirty swing beats and hard rock off of the 2003 album The Golden Age of Grotesque.

The album, greatly influenced by the "degenerate" art of 1930's Weimar Berlin, references the book in the following verse:

Say, all you pin-down girls
and bonafide ballers, so manically depressed
and manically dressed
We've got our Venus not in furs
but in uniforms
If you're not dancing, then you're dead

2. Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov

Source: The novel's controversial nature, as well as the iconic heart shaped glasses worn by Sue Lyon on the poster for its cinema adaptation were used by Manson and his thentime girlfriend Evan Rachel Wood as a tongue-in-cheek statement of their relationship (ERW is approximately half Manson's age). A single off of the 2007 album Eat Me, Drink Me--Heart Shaped Glasses--ran with this concept further.

Evan Rachel Wood in the
Heart Shaped Glasses music video

Poster for 1962
Edition of Lolita

3. The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde

Source: Manson has spoken on numerous occasions about his love of Oscar Wilde:

Among the inspirations for the thematics in The Golden Age of Grotesque, you also have to mention Oscar Wilde or the Marquis de Sade, artists that were unfortunately persecuted in their everyday life simply because of their imagination or thought. Their lifestyle, as well as the fact of putting so much of themselves in their art, have always fascinated me.

- MM, D-Side Magazine, 2003

Both Manson and Wilde also reputedly share a love for the green fairy--otherwise known as absinthe. Additionally, part of the visual persona he adopted for the "Arch Dandy" in The Golden Age of Grotesque was largely a visual amalgam of the dandyism made famous by such figures as Oscar Wilde and Aubrey Beardsley.

4. Justine, Philosophy in the Bedroom and Other Writings by Marquis de Sade

Source: MM is an outspoken fan of Quills (a bio-pic of the Marquis de Sade). He has also described one of his albums as "the Marquis de Sade with a drum machine". Pressed about his connection to the author in an interview he stated:

I relate to how he was a person who had a very vivid imagination that scared a lot of people. (...) He was using his mind and his art to exorcise his demons and he was punished for that. I feel that a lot of times I get myself into similar circumstances

5. Les Fleurs du Mal by Charles Baudelaire

Source: Manson has spoken of his admiration for Baudelaire in numerous interviews. He also painted a watercolour entitled Les Fleurs du Mal, as well as displaying it as a backdrop during his live performances. He went one step further and named his art exhibition in Zürich, Switzerland from 2007-2008 by this title as well.

Les Fleurs du Mal
a watercolour by Marilyn Manson

6. The Lottery by Shirley Jackson

Source: The Lottery was quoted as being an influence of Manson's for his album Antichrist Superstar, particularly for the music video Man That You Fear, which depicts a scene heavily reminiscent of the book.

7. Perfume: The Story of a Murderer by Patrick Suskind

Source: Referenced off hand on a number of occasions, particularly during his early years. He also made mention of this book a few years ago when he was debating entering the fragrance market.

8. The Holy Bible (KJV) by Dozens of Jews and Christians over a Period of Several Hundred Years

Source: Marilyn's triptych of Antichrist Superstar, Mechanical Animals and Holy Wood  contains, somewhat ironically, the most concentrated amount of biblical references of any popular artist of the 90's. To date, The Holy Bible is the single most referenced piece of literature that Marilyn Manson is inspired by (on a side note, when I met him I gave him The Gospel of Judas. It seemed appropriate.)

For God So Loved the World He Gave
His Only Begotten Son.
Mixed medium by Marilyn Manson
 The bible pages are taken from II King,
Chronicles I and II, and Revelation

From dressing as the pope in live concerts, to burning bibles, Christ and Antichrist allusions in countless videos, touring with a giant flaming cross made out of televisions, more than half a dozen watercolour paintings with religious iconography, his cover of the song Personal Jesus, and the endless variety of lyrical references--the most recent being a lyrical allusion to John 1:5 in the song I Have to Look Up Just to See Hell-- it is evident that Manson is no stranger to religion (or controversy).

Manson as the Pope

And in the midst of the seven candlesticks one like unto the Son of man, clothed with a garment down to the foot, and a girt about the paps with a golden girdle. His head and hairs were white like wool, as white as snow; and his eyes were as a flame of fire - Revelation 1:13-14

Trismegistus, a three headed christ painted by Manson
onto a 19th century embalming table; the title also
references Hermes-Trismegistus, the combination of the Greek
deity Hermes and the Egyptian deity Thoth

9. The Golden Game: Alchemical Engravings of the Seventeenth Century by Stanislas Klossowski de Rola

Source: Many of the alchemical engravings, figures and diagrams contained within have made it into the album artwork of Manson's albums, especially Holy Wood, which thematically employed no less than a dozen of these obscure 17th century illustrations.

10. The Fall by Albert Camus

Source:  The track listing for Marilyn Manson's album Holy Wood was subdivded into several sections, one of which was The Fall, a two part reference, both to the biblical understanding of the fall of man, and additionally as a literary reference to Camus.

After the fallout of Columbine, when Manson was (erroneously) declared by every major news network to be Dylan and Eric's favourite musician, he found himself the scapegoat for the perennial bullshit lobbied by politicians and ignorant Americans that always manages to resurface, blaming any act of youth-violence upon musicians. Manson used much of this fodder to write Holy Wood, but he also responded to the accusation directly in an essay for Rolling Stone titled Columbine - Whose Fault Is It? (Is Adult Entertainment Killing Our Children or is Killing Our Children Entertaining Adults?) Give it a read if you haven't, because it is simply astounding.

Manson closes the essay with "Don't expect the end of the world to come one day out of the blue — it's been happening every day for a long time", which is a nod to Camus' work-- "Don't wait for the Last Judgment. It takes place everyday."

For more on Manson's references (be it literary, cinematic, or theological) please visit The Nachtkabarett (an encyclopedia of perversions created by my brother, which I have also been known to write for)