Evolutionary biology could help biblical scholars reconstruct the early form of the Bible’s text, according to the winner of Australian Catholic University’s Three Minute Thesis Final.
Joey McCollum, a PhD candidate with ACU’s Institute for Religion and Critical Inquiry, was named overall winner at ACU’s 3MT Final, claiming a $3000 prize.
The former software engineer, who learned New Testament Greek as a hobby, will represent ACU at the 3MT virtual Asia-Pacific Semi-Final showcase on October 8.
Mr McCollum’s research aims to revolutionise the practice of textual criticism, which aims to restore handwritten works to their earliest forms in the absence of the original manuscripts.
This discipline informs how our printed editions and translations of works like the Bible look, providing a direct impact on the scholarship, preservation, and exegesis (or interpretation) of the Bible.
As part of his research, Mr McCollum has adapted software typically used to analyse genetics to revolutionise how scholars relate to available manuscript data for the Book of Ephesians from the New Testament.
“My methodology can be applied to any written work subject to human errors, not just the New Testament,” Mr McCollum said.
“So much work relevant to the reconstruction of textual histories has already been done in evolutionary biology, and the textual criticism and digital humanities communities should be aware of how valuable it is to our work.”
Representing the Faculty of Theology and Philosophy in ACU’s 3MT Final, Mr McCollum hoped to show the practical application of biblical studies.
“For a long time, biblical studies has had a reputation for being disconnected from other areas of study and distracted with impractical questions like how many angels can dance on the head of a pin,” Mr McCollum said.
“In shaping my 3MT presentation, I wanted to show that biblical studies not only can have practical ramifications for things as important as the text of scripture and how we can read it more carefully, but also can have productive interactions with the sciences – even evolutionary biology – towards these ends.
The Three Minute Thesis (3MT®) is an academic research communication competition developed by The University of Queensland.
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Research uncovering the origins of Biblical texts using science wins ACU 3MT final (ACU)
