Last Saturday evening those in attendance at the dialogue in Queens know that I asked a number of direct questions of Imam Sayeed relating to Surah 4:157. One of the reasons I did so was because I knew there were Muslims in the audience who take a different view of the text, and I wanted to illustrate that simply taking the Qur’an as the final authority without recognizing that it is not mubinun, “clear” or “perspicuous,” on so many points (and this is one of the most vital assertions it makes, in denying the atonement of Christ!) leads to irrationality. I was able to pursue that line of inquiry because I have confidence in the study I have done of the text of the Qur’an at this point, thanks to those who have helped provide the opportunity of studying Arabic, and have provided the often expensive and difficult to obtain resources that are part of A&O’s library through the Ministry Resource List.
I am placing an item on the ministry resource list today that would truly add to the depth and breadth of a very important aspect of the library. Nothing sells today like Gnosticism. Atheists and secularists join with a wide range of Muslim apologists in utilizing any claim they can dig up from the Gnostic sources, and especially from Nag Hammadi, to promote their attacks upon the New Testament and the Christian faith in general. So when I saw a sale today that extends only till the end of the year on the 5,148 page authoritative Coptic Gnostic Library, which contains the complete texts of all of the Nag Hammadi codices, I was ecstatic. How often these very texts are cited, yet, one almost never has access to the original languages so as to check for editorial bias or to examine context. How vital that is in examining any other ancient text, and yet these oft-cited sources are almost always presented only in English translation in the flood of books that have come out promoting Gnosticism over the past few decades. This resource is normally tremendously expensive, listing just over $700.00. But till the end of the year, with a special discount code, it is obtainable for 50% off that price, which, given the rarity of the original language material, is actually reasonable for once! I have included the code in the description on the Ministry Resource List. There is another item on the list as well that is quite important, a resource that would provide the original language texts of the Dead Sea Scrolls along with textual variants! Once again, my deepest personal thanks to all who have helped our work in this important manner in the past.
