I’m not sure exactly when Mike first began to talk about certain signals
of systematic arrangement that he has identified in CGth, but I confess
that I was initially skeptical about the whole business. Eventually I
conceded that, yes, perhaps there **is** some evidence of an orderly
compositional structure in the text. At that time I hypothesized that **
if** the text **was** assembled according to some preconceived design
concept, that perhaps the text was used for ceremonial purposes by some
particular community. I suggested that a careful examination of at least
the syllabic (or rhythmic) structure of the text, and perhaps combined
with a tonal analysis, might yield evidence to support my hypothesis. I
very quickly discovered that there were enormous technical challenges in
such an investigation and so more or less abandoned the project due
primarily to time constraints.

Lately, however, I have renewed my interest in determining the degree to
which CGth exhibits evidence of a systematic design structure. While the
time constraints that led me to postpone my inquiry have not subsided all
that much, Mike’s ongoing remarks on the matter (in addition to some
fairly extensive reading about gematria and other kinds of Isopsephy in
the literatures of late aniquity) have motivated me to revive the project.

Of particular interest to me is what seems to be the almost irrefutable
chiastic structure that Mike has identified in CGth’s incipit (aka,
“prologue”). In spite of the near certainty of this being an intentionally
composed sequence of words, it seems to me that a preliminary question
that should be addressed is whether similar structures exist elsewhere in
the document. I have devised my own (computer aided) strategy for
conducting the analysis, but honestly I am not sure how well it will work
or even if it will work at all. After all, the same technical challenges
exist now that were present when I gave up earlier- perhaps all that has
changed is my level of determination.

No doubt there are other correspondents on the forum who have the
expertise and/or interest in such an analysis so I invite you comments,
suggestions or criticism in whatever manner you see fit.

Thanks,

Rick Hubbard