I can't speak of the texts divorced from their historical
   contexts. Maybe if they were unknown to humans before, dropped
   down from the sky from an alien spaceship and then we had to
   compare them side by side, knowing nothing else... sure. But we
   know more than just what's in the texts. == Textual comparison
   divorced from sociohistorical context is, to me, intellectual
   dishonesty perpetuated by our education systems which divorce
   texts from the realities within which they are formed. That's
   why I can't say "what's worse or better". Again, you can if you
   like. But it's not how I think. == You're honest within the
   context you are working from within. But I believe the _process_
   you are following is dishonest. YOU, on the other hand, are NOT
   being dishonest. You are honest from within the system you're
   working with. == The interpretations of the text change over
   time. Texts are living documents as they are being used by a
   people. HOW the texts are being used can be compared. How the
   texts were once used can be compared. How the texts -could- be
   used can be compared. The key thing for me about textual
   comparison is this: The People who are interpreting. The people
   who are using them. How they are using it. Why are they using it
   that way. A text by itself is nothing without the people.
   Meaningless without the people. == Surely, I do _not_ believe
   two texts can be compared side by side, unless they were created
   in same environment by the same people for the same purposes and
   interpreted by the same people in the same environment for the
   same purposes. == If you want to ask me, "Which one do I like
   better?" I can do that. == Do you want me to give a book
   recommendation? Which one I like better, or which one would make
   a better document to present to a people to follow as an
   ideology without preparation? I suppose I could do that,
   although it seems odd. Even people who evangelize to people who
   never heard of a document before come with their prejudices
   towards the texts that they carry with them. = If I try to tell
   you, Which One Is Objectively Better? I am doing so from my OWN
   cultural bias, utilizing my 20th/21st century assumptions about
   "The Way Things Should And Shouldn't Be" and comparing them from
   the light of my prejudices. == I cannot compare them properly
   because I do not KNOW all of my cultural biases as of yet. I'm
   not saying NOBODY CAN. I'm saying that _I_ can't yet, not
   without leaving some large gaping holes in my interpretation. ==