Why did Rabulla make his own Aramaic gospels?

[yuku]

Does anyone grasp what I'm getting at?

Yes, Dave, I understand what you're saying, and I'm glad to see that you've decided to investigate the history of the Diatessaron. It's a fascinating although very difficult subject.

Of course, in my view, Tatian was _not_ the author of the Diatessaron.

The basic question that you're raising is, Which came first, variability or standardisation? This is one of the most fundamental questions in biblical studies.

Let's look at our 3 Synoptic gospels (Mt, Mk, Lk) in any version. Regardless of which version we're examining, we often see the same story from the life of Jesus told in two or even three different ways. I can cite dozens of examples here... And sometimes, a story can even be told differently again in the same gospel! (These are the so-called "doublets" in Mt, for example.)

Thus, I submit that even if we compare the Peshitta texts of these stories, still we see variability at the very heart of the gospels.

I conclude that textual variability was definitely present in early Christianity.

Shlama,

Yuri.