I can't speak of the texts divorced from their historical
contexts. Maybe if they were unknown to humans before, dropped
down from the sky from an alien spaceship and then we had to
compare them side by side, knowing nothing else... sure. But we
know more than just what's in the texts. == Textual comparison
divorced from sociohistorical context is, to me, intellectual
dishonesty perpetuated by our education systems which divorce
texts from the realities within which they are formed. That's
why I can't say "what's worse or better". Again, you can if you
like. But it's not how I think. == You're honest within the
context you are working from within. But I believe the _process_
you are following is dishonest. YOU, on the other hand, are NOT
being dishonest. You are honest from within the system you're
working with. == The interpretations of the text change over
time. Texts are living documents as they are being used by a
people. HOW the texts are being used can be compared. How the
texts were once used can be compared. How the texts -could- be
used can be compared. The key thing for me about textual
comparison is this: The People who are interpreting. The people
who are using them. How they are using it. Why are they using it
that way. A text by itself is nothing without the people.
Meaningless without the people. == Surely, I do _not_ believe
two texts can be compared side by side, unless they were created
in same environment by the same people for the same purposes and
interpreted by the same people in the same environment for the
same purposes. == If you want to ask me, "Which one do I like
better?" I can do that. == Do you want me to give a book
recommendation? Which one I like better, or which one would make
a better document to present to a people to follow as an
ideology without preparation? I suppose I could do that,
although it seems odd. Even people who evangelize to people who
never heard of a document before come with their prejudices
towards the texts that they carry with them. = If I try to tell
you, Which One Is Objectively Better? I am doing so from my OWN
cultural bias, utilizing my 20th/21st century assumptions about
"The Way Things Should And Shouldn't Be" and comparing them from
the light of my prejudices. == I cannot compare them properly
because I do not KNOW all of my cultural biases as of yet. I'm
not saying NOBODY CAN. I'm saying that _I_ can't yet, not
without leaving some large gaping holes in my interpretation. ==
