--- i think christians miss a lot by not having a tradition of commentary the way the Jews, do-- we might have avoided the whole roman/protestant thing, if there had been some organized way to discuss, word by word, biblical meaning...

I don't see how, Helen - it hasn't saved the Jews from some very bitter sectarianism - and thats not including, of course, two sects which broke away completely and which have both, over the past few centuries, persecuted the religion to which they owe their very existence.