Faith, Evidence and History
The three pillars every person and story is told by, and how Scrollwork shows the questions on which faithful scholars differ.
Scrollwork is a Christian work, made for readers of Scripture. It tells each person and each story by three pillars, and it is honest about the places where the record leaves a question open.
But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts: and be ready always to give an answer to every man that asketh you a reason of the hope that is in you with meekness and fear:
The three pillars
On the lineage, a person's Drawer opens on At a glance, then the three pillars, then Integrity.
Faith
What Scripture itself says: where they appear, who is named with them, their words, the miracles, Matthew Henry's comment, the cross-references, the words in their verses, and, for Jesus, the two genealogies of Matthew and Luke.
Evidence
What has been found outside the Bible: inscriptions, objects and records that name or bear on them. Each says what it is, its date, where it is held and where it was published, with a mark of how it stands: Confirmed, Contested, and whether it is a primary source. Many people of Scripture have left no such trace, and their Evidence says plainly that nothing is gathered for them yet; an empty pillar is not a judgement on them.
History
The life around them: their family, a king's reign, those who lived at the same time, pictures, places and events.
Integrity: where the record leaves a question
Integrity gathers the questions on which careful readers differ: a date, a reading of the text, how two accounts fit together. Each entry is tagged Disputed, Data or Undated, and sets out each position with who holds it, the verses it rests on and the works it cites. No position is declared the winner; where a matter is a question, it is shown as one. When a person has none, it says No dispute is recorded. A disputed detail elsewhere in the Drawer carries a small ⚑ Integrity link to its entry.
The stories behind the gold coins carry the same parts, headed History, Evidence and Integrity.
How uncertainty is marked
- A date marked c. is approximate: on The Story in Gold, taken from the passage's place in the chronology; on Biblical Art, inferred from the work's subject, and never shown as a recorded date.
- A lifespan reads about so many years, unless Scripture states the age.
- A name marked ? on the lineage has no recorded date, and stands between its dated kin.
- Era boundaries that scholars place differently (the Exodus, the division of the kingdom, the return from exile, the birth and the crucifixion of Jesus) are drawn with soft, hatched edges and a flag that opens the positions.
- A place whose identification is disputed is drawn hollow on a card's small map and labelled site uncertain.
- The kings' reigns can be read by two chronologies, Thiele and Ussher, with the switch in the kings' lane. The rest of the scroll follows one chronology, named at its foot.
Sources
Every claim names its source, and every source says what kind it is and the tradition it comes from. On the Megiddo Mosaic, each source says whether it was read directly. How the work is made, and the standard every source is held to, is set out on How this is made.
If you find an error, write and say so.