An Introduction to the New Testament Manuscripts and their Texts

402 Pages·2008·2.59 MB·English

by  D. C. Parker

AN INTRODUCTION TO
THE NEW TESTAMENT MANUSCRIPTS
AND THEIR TEXTS
This is the first major English-language introduction to the earliest
manuscriptsoftheNewTestamenttoappearforoverfortyyears.An
essentialhandbookforscholarsandstudents,itprovidesathorough
grounding in the study and editing of the New Testament text
combined with an emphasis on dramatic current developments in
the field. Covering ancient sources in Greek, Syriac, Latin and
Coptic, it
* describesthemanuscriptsandotherancienttextualevidence,and
the tools needed to study them
* dealswithtextualcriticismandtextualediting,describingmodern
approaches and techniques, with guidance on the use of editions
* introduces the witnesses and textual study of each of the main
sections of the New Testament, discussing typical variants and
their significance.
A companion website with full-colour images provides generous
amounts of illustrative material, bringing the subject alive for the
reader.
d.c. parker is Edward Cadbury Professor of Theology in the
Department of Theology and Religion and a Director of the
Institute for Textual Scholarship and Electronic Editing, University
of Birmingham. His publications include The Living Text of the
Gospels(1997)andCodexBezae:anEarlyChristianManuscriptandits
Text (1992).

AN INTRODUCTION
TO THE NEW TESTAMENT
MANUSCRIPTS AND
THEIR TEXTS
D.C. PARKER
UniversityofBirmingham
CAMBRIDGEUNIVERSITYPRESS
Cambridge, New York, Melbourne, Madrid, Cape Town, Singapore, São Paulo
Cambridge University Press
The Edinburgh Building, Cambridge CB28RU, UK
Published in the United States of America by Cambridge University Press, New York
www.cambridge.org
Information on this title: www.cambridge.org/9780521895538
© D. C. Parker 2008
This publication is in copyright. Subject to statutory exception and to the provision of
relevant collective licensing agreements, no reproduction of any part may take place
without the written permission of Cambridge University Press.
First published in print format 2008
ISBN-13 978-0-511-41419-0 eBook (EBL)
ISBN-13 978-0-521-89553-8 hardback
ISBN-13 978-0-521-71989-6 paperback
Cambridge University Press has no responsibility for the persistence or accuracy of urls
for external or third-party internet websites referred to in this publication, and does not
guarantee that any content on such websites is, or will remain, accurate or appropriate.
Contents
List of plates page xi
Links to URLs xv
Acknowledgements xvi
List of abbreviations xvii
Introduction 1
11
PART I THE DOCUMENTS
1 The study of the manuscripts 13
1.1 The Christian book 13
1.1.1 The codex 13
1.1.2 The development ofthe Christian book 20
1.2 An introduction topalaeography 30
1.3 Greek manuscripts 35
1.3.1 Classifying Greek New Testament manuscripts 35
1.3.2 The Liste 38
1.3.3 Richard 46
1.3.4 The Bibliography 47
1.3.5 TheLeuven Database ofAncient Books 47
1.3.6 Reproductions 47
1.3.7 Catalogues 49
1.3.8 Text undTextwert 50
1.3.9 Which edition uses which manuscripts 51
1.3.10 Resources referring toparticular categories of manuscript 52
1.4 Latin manuscripts 57
1.4.1 Introductory 57
1.4.2 Tools for the studyof Latinmanuscripts 58
1.4.3 A briefguide toLatin palaeography 60
1.4.4 Tools for the studyofOld Latinmanuscripts 61
1.4.5 Tools for the studyof Vulgatemanuscripts 62
1.5 Syriac manuscripts 64
v
vi Contents
1.6 Coptic manuscripts 66
1.7 Manuscripts in morethan one language 68
1.8 Manuscripts containing the entire NewTestament 70
1.8.1 Ancient Greek manuscripts 71
1.8.2 Ancient Latinmanuscripts 75
1.8.3 Ninth-century LatinBibles 76
1.8.4 Byzantine Greek NewTestaments 77
1.8.5 Syriac manuscripts 78
1.8.6 Copticmanuscripts 79
1.8.7 The medievalwest 79
1.8.8 The Renaissance andthe printing press 80
1.8.9 Conclusion 80
1.9 Using the materials: atest case 81
2 Practical skills in the study of manuscripts 88
2.1 Introduction 88
2.2 Visiting alibrary 89
2.3 How todescribe amanuscript ofthe Greek NewTestament 90
2.4 How tomakeapaper collation ofamanuscript 95
2.5 How tomake anelectronic transcription ofamanuscript 100
2.6 How tomake apapertranscription of amanuscript 106
3 Other types of witness 108
3.1 Introduction 108
3.2 Patristic citations 108
3.2.1 Editions ofpatristic writings 108
3.2.2 Evaluating citations 110
3.2.3 Tools for the studyof patristic writings 113
3.2.4 Three special cases 117
3.3 The study ofthe versions 118
3.3.1 Introduction 118
3.3.2 The Latin versions 120
3.3.3 The Syriac versions 121
3.3.4 The Coptic versions 122
3.3.5 The Armenian version 123
3.3.6 TheGeorgian version 123
3.3.7 The Ethiopic version 124
3.3.8 The Arabicversions 124
3.3.9 The Slavonic version 124
3.3.10 The Gothic version 125
3.3.11 Other versions 125
3.4 New Testament texts inother documents andmedia 126
3.4.1 Greek manuscripts excludedfromthe Liste 126
3.4.2 Inscriptions 128
Contents vii
131
PART II TEXTUAL CRITICISM AND EDITIONS
4 Manuscripts as tradents of the text 133
4.1 Introductory 133
4.2 Twocopying events 135
4.2.1 Codex Mediolanensis andits copy 135
4.2.2 The supplementary Latin leavesin CodexBezae 136
4.3 Afamilyof manuscripts 137
4.4 Corrections in manuscripts 141
4.5 Isthere less variation intextswith fewermanuscripts? 149
4.6 Didscribes revisethe text they werecopying? 151
4.7 Did scribes writetodictation? 154
4.8 Conclusion 157
5 Textual criticism 159
5.1 Twohundred yearsoftextual criticism 159
5.1.1 Introduction tothe topic 159
5.1.2 Lachmannian stemmatics 161
5.1.3 Methods ofquantititative analysis 163
5.1.4 Coincidental agreement between witnesses 166
5.1.5 Evolution,genetics andstemmatics 167
5.1.6 The Coherence-Based Genealogical Method 169
5.1.7 Whatis atext-type? 171
5.1.8 Majority Texttheory 175
5.1.9 Textual criticisms? 176
5.2 The historyof thetext andediting the text 179
5.2.1 The concept oftextual history 179
5.2.2 Editing thetext 180
5.3 The role oftextual criticism 181
5.3.1 Textual criticism andhistory 182
5.3.2 Textual criticism andexegesis 183
5.3.3 Textual criticism andtheology 185
5.3.4 Textual criticism andthe world 189
6 Editions and how to use them 191
6.1 The historyof editions 191
6.1.1 Why wehave criticaleditions 191
6.1.2 Thetransition frommanuscript toprinted book 193
6.1.3 Editionswhich present the textofone or more
witnesses infull 194
6.1.4 Editionswhich present thetext ofmore than one witness
inacompressed form 196
6.1.5 Editionsof theReceived Text, the Majority Textand
the Byzantine Text 198
viii Contents
6.1.6 Editions which movefrom printtowards theelectronic edition 200
6.1.7 Conclusion 202
6.2 The purposes ofeditions 203
6.2.1 The printed scholarly edition,major, minorandin hand 204
6.2.2 The printed reading edition 206
6.3 Theprincipal print editions andhow touse them 207
6.3.1 Tischendorf’s eighthedition 207
6.3.2 Von Soden’s editio maior 210
6.3.3 TheInternational Greek NewTestament Project’s edition
ofLuke 210
6.3.4 The Nestle–Aland 27thedition 212
6.3.5 TheVetus Latina 213
6.3.6 The Editiocriticamaior 214
6.3.7 Synopses 214
6.3.8 Someother hand editions 215
6.4 Critical electronic editions 216
6.4.1 Their purpose anddefinition 216
6.4.2 Case studies 217
6.4.3 Advantages anddisadvantages ofthe electronic edition 221
6.4.4 Conclusion 223
225
PART III THE SECTIONS OF THE NEW TESTAMENT
7 The Book of Revelation 227
7.1 Introduction 227
7.2 The history ofresearch 227
7.3 The manuscripts 232
7.4 The versions 236
7.4.1 The Latinversions 236
7.4.2 The Syriac versions 237
7.4.3 The Coptic versions 238
7.5 The commentaries 238
7.6 The text forms 240
7.7 Textual criticism 241
7.7.1 Generalconsiderations 241
7.7.2 The numberof thebeast 242
7.7.3 Other readings 244
8 Paul 246
8.1 Introduction 246
8.2 Thewriting ofthe letters 247
8.3 The growth ofthe Paulinecorpus 249
8.4 Themanuscripts 256
8.5 The versions 264