1.
Biblical manuscript
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A biblical manuscript is any handwritten copy of a portion of the text of the Bible. The word Bible comes from the Greek biblia, manuscript comes from Latin manu, the original manuscript is called the autographa. The study of manuscripts is important because handwritten copies of books can contain errors. The science of textual criticism attempts to reconstruct the text of books. The Aleppo Codex and Leningrad Codex were the oldest Hebrew language manuscripts of the Tanakh, in 1947 the finding of the Dead Sea scrolls at Qumran pushed the manuscript history of the Tanakh back a millennium from the two earliest complete codices. Before this discovery, the earliest extant manuscripts of the Old Testament were in Greek in manuscripts such as Codex Vaticanus, out of the roughly 800 manuscripts found at Qumran,220 are from the Tanakh. Every book of the Tanakh is represented except for the Book of Esther, however, notably, there are two scrolls of the Book of Isaiah, one complete, and one around 75% complete. These manuscripts generally date between 150 BCE to 70 CE and these variations are not seen to affect the meaning or interpretation of NT scriptures and are usually given reference to as in-page footnotes in most of todays bibles. The difficulty is in where the manuscripts are coming from, the first was to simply wash the manuscript and reuse it. This was very common in the ancient world and even up into the Middle Ages, the most famous palimpsest is probably the Archimedes Palimpsest. If this was not done within a period of time after the papyri was made, then washing it was less likely since the papyri might deteriorate. The third option was simply to leave them in what has become known as a manuscript gravesite, in addition, texts thought to be complete and correct but which had deteriorated due to heavy usage or had missing folios would also be placed in these caches. Once in a cache, insects and humidity would often contribute to the deterioration of the documents. Complete and correctly copied texts would usually be placed in use and thus usually would wear out fairly quickly. Would be determined by the one commissioning the work and this is part of the reason why scholars are more likely to find incomplete, and at times conflicting, segments of manuscripts than complete and largely consistent works. Distribution of Greek manuscripts by century The task of copying manuscripts was generally done by scribes who were trained professionals in the arts of writing and bookmaking, some manuscripts were also proofread, and scholars closely examining a text can sometimes find the original and corrections found in certain manuscripts. In the 6th century, a room devoted to the practice of manuscript writing and illumination called the scriptorium came into use. Sometimes a group of scribes would make copies at the time as one individual read from the text
2.
Lacuna (manuscripts)
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A lacuna is a gap in a manuscript, inscription, text, painting, or a musical work. A manuscript, text, or section suffering from gaps is said to be lacunose or lacunulose, some books intentionally add lacunas to be filled in by the owner, often as a game or to encourage children to create their own stories. Weathering, decay, and other damage to old manuscripts or inscriptions are often responsible for lacunae—words, sentences, to reconstruct the original text, the context must be considered. In papyrology and textual criticism this may lead to competing reconstructions and interpretations, published texts that contain lacunae often mark the section where text is missing with a bracketed ellipsis. For example, This sentence contains 20 words, and nouns, or, Finally, a famous Old English example of a lacuna is in the manuscript British Library MS Cotton Vitellius A. xv, the poem Beowulf, hyrde ich thæt elan cwen. This particular lacuna is always reproduced in editions of the text, but many people have attempted to fill it, notably editors Wyatt-Chambers and Dobbie, among others, malone proposed the name Yrse for the unnamed queen, as that would alliterate with Onela. This is still debated amongst editors, however. Another notable lacuna is the eight-leaves-long Great Lacuna in the Codex Regius, parts of it survived in independent manuscripts and in prose form in the Völsunga saga. In Codex Leicester the text skips from Acts 10,45 to 14,17 without a break, possibly a scribe rewrote it from a defective manuscript
3.
Greek language
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Greek is an independent branch of the Indo-European family of languages, native to Greece and other parts of the Eastern Mediterranean. It has the longest documented history of any living language, spanning 34 centuries of written records and its writing system has been the Greek alphabet for the major part of its history, other systems, such as Linear B and the Cypriot syllabary, were used previously. The alphabet arose from the Phoenician script and was in turn the basis of the Latin, Cyrillic, Armenian, Coptic, Gothic and many other writing systems. Together with the Latin texts and traditions of the Roman world, during antiquity, Greek was a widely spoken lingua franca in the Mediterranean world and many places beyond. It would eventually become the official parlance of the Byzantine Empire, the language is spoken by at least 13.2 million people today in Greece, Cyprus, Italy, Albania, Turkey, and the Greek diaspora. Greek roots are used to coin new words for other languages, Greek. Greek has been spoken in the Balkan peninsula since around the 3rd millennium BC, the earliest written evidence is a Linear B clay tablet found in Messenia that dates to between 1450 and 1350 BC, making Greek the worlds oldest recorded living language. Among the Indo-European languages, its date of earliest written attestation is matched only by the now extinct Anatolian languages, the Greek language is conventionally divided into the following periods, Proto-Greek, the unrecorded but assumed last ancestor of all known varieties of Greek. The unity of Proto-Greek would have ended as Hellenic migrants entered the Greek peninsula sometime in the Neolithic era or the Bronze Age, Mycenaean Greek, the language of the Mycenaean civilisation. It is recorded in the Linear B script on tablets dating from the 15th century BC onwards, Ancient Greek, in its various dialects, the language of the Archaic and Classical periods of the ancient Greek civilisation. It was widely known throughout the Roman Empire, after the Roman conquest of Greece, an unofficial bilingualism of Greek and Latin was established in the city of Rome and Koine Greek became a first or second language in the Roman Empire. The origin of Christianity can also be traced through Koine Greek, Medieval Greek, also known as Byzantine Greek, the continuation of Koine Greek in Byzantine Greece, up to the demise of the Byzantine Empire in the 15th century. Much of the written Greek that was used as the language of the Byzantine Empire was an eclectic middle-ground variety based on the tradition of written Koine. Modern Greek, Stemming from Medieval Greek, Modern Greek usages can be traced in the Byzantine period and it is the language used by the modern Greeks, and, apart from Standard Modern Greek, there are several dialects of it. In the modern era, the Greek language entered a state of diglossia, the historical unity and continuing identity between the various stages of the Greek language is often emphasised. Greek speakers today still tend to regard literary works of ancient Greek as part of their own rather than a foreign language and it is also often stated that the historical changes have been relatively slight compared with some other languages. According to one estimation, Homeric Greek is probably closer to demotic than 12-century Middle English is to modern spoken English, Greek is spoken by about 13 million people, mainly in Greece, Albania and Cyprus, but also worldwide by the large Greek diaspora. Greek is the language of Greece, where it is spoken by almost the entire population
4.
Dublin
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Dublin is the capital and largest city of Ireland. Dublin is in the province of Leinster on Irelands east coast, the city has an urban area population of 1,345,402. The population of the Greater Dublin Area, as of 2016, was 1,904,806 people, founded as a Viking settlement, the Kingdom of Dublin became Irelands principal city following the Norman invasion. The city expanded rapidly from the 17th century and was briefly the second largest city in the British Empire before the Acts of Union in 1800, following the partition of Ireland in 1922, Dublin became the capital of the Irish Free State, later renamed Ireland. Dublin is administered by a City Council, the city is listed by the Globalization and World Cities Research Network as a global city, with a ranking of Alpha-, which places it amongst the top thirty cities in the world. It is a historical and contemporary centre for education, the arts, administration, economy, the name Dublin comes from the Irish word Dubhlinn, early Classical Irish Dubhlind/Duibhlind, dubh /d̪uβ/, alt. /d̪uw/, alt /d̪u, / meaning black, dark, and lind /lʲiɲ pool and this tidal pool was located where the River Poddle entered the Liffey, on the site of the castle gardens at the rear of Dublin Castle. In Modern Irish the name is Duibhlinn, and Irish rhymes from Dublin County show that in Dublin Leinster Irish it was pronounced Duílinn /d̪ˠi, other localities in Ireland also bear the name Duibhlinn, variously anglicized as Devlin, Divlin and Difflin. Historically, scribes using the Gaelic script wrote bh with a dot over the b and those without knowledge of Irish omitted the dot, spelling the name as Dublin. Variations on the name are found in traditionally Irish-speaking areas of Scotland, such as An Linne Dhubh. It is now thought that the Viking settlement was preceded by a Christian ecclesiastical settlement known as Duibhlinn, beginning in the 9th and 10th century, there were two settlements where the modern city stands. Baile Átha Cliath, meaning town of the ford, is the common name for the city in modern Irish. Áth Cliath is a name referring to a fording point of the River Liffey near Father Mathew Bridge. Baile Átha Cliath was an early Christian monastery, believed to have been in the area of Aungier Street, there are other towns of the same name, such as Àth Cliath in East Ayrshire, Scotland, which is Anglicised as Hurlford. Although the area of Dublin Bay has been inhabited by humans since prehistoric times and he called the settlement Eblana polis. It is now thought that the Viking settlement was preceded by a Christian ecclesiastical settlement known as Duibhlinn, beginning in the 9th and 10th century, there were two settlements where the modern city stands. The subsequent Scandinavian settlement centred on the River Poddle, a tributary of the Liffey in an area now known as Wood Quay, the Dubhlinn was a small lake used to moor ships, the Poddle connected the lake with the Liffey. This lake was covered during the early 18th century as the city grew, the Dubhlinn lay where the Castle Garden is now located, opposite the Chester Beatty Library in Dublin Castle
5.
University of Michigan
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The University of Michigan, frequently referred to simply as Michigan, is a public research university in Ann Arbor, Michigan, United States. Founded in 1817 in Detroit as the Catholepistemiad, or University of Michigania,20 years before the Michigan Territory became a state, in 1821, the university was officially renamed the University of Michigan. It moved to Ann Arbor in 1837 onto 40 acres of what is now known as Central Campus, the University was a founding member of the Association of American Universities. Considered one of the foremost research universities in the United States, Michigans body of living alumni comprises more than 540,000 people, one of the largest alumni bases of any university in the world. Besides academic life, Michigans athletic teams compete in Division I of the NCAA and are known as the Wolverines. They are members of the Big Ten Conference, the University of Michigan was established in Detroit on August 26,1817 as the Catholepistemiad, or University of Michigania, by the governor and judges of Michigan Territory. Judge Augustus B. Woodward specifically invited The Rev. John Monteith and Father Gabriel Richard, Monteith became its first President and held seven of the professorships, and Richard was Vice President and held the other six professorships. Concurrently, Ann Arbor had set aside 40 acres in the hopes of being selected as the state capital, but when Lansing was chosen as the state capital, the city offered the land for a university. What would become the university moved to Ann Arbor in 1837 thanks to Governor Stevens T. Mason, the original 40 acres was the basis of the present Central Campus. The first classes in Ann Arbor were held in 1841, with six freshmen, eleven students graduated in the first commencement in 1845. By 1866, enrollment increased to 1,205 students, many of whom were Civil War veterans, Women were first admitted in 1870. U-M also became the first American university to use the method of study. Among the early students in the School of Medicine was Jose Celso Barbosa, who in 1880 graduated as valedictorian and he returned to Puerto Rico to practice medicine and also served in high-ranking posts in the government. In 1920 the university reorganized the College of Engineering and formed a committee of 100 industrialists to guide academic research initiatives. The university became a choice for bright Jewish students from New York in the 1920s and 1930s. Because of its standards, U-M gained the nickname Harvard of the West. During World War II, U-Ms research supported military efforts, such as U. S. Navy projects in proximity fuzes, PT boats, and radar jamming. After the war, enrollment expanded rapidly and by 1950, it reached 21,000, as the Cold War and the Space Race took hold, U-M received numerous government grants for strategic research and helped to develop peacetime uses for nuclear energy
6.
Alexandrian text-type
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The Alexandrian text-type, associated with Alexandria, is one of several text-types used in New Testament textual criticism to describe and group the textual character of biblical manuscripts. The Alexandrian text-type is the form of the Greek New Testament that predominates in the earliest surviving documents, most modern New Testaments are based on what is called reasoned eclecticism, such as that of the Nestle-Aland 27, in formulating a Greek text. This invariably results in a text that is strongly Alexandrian in character, up until the 9th century, Greek texts were written entirely in upper case letters, referred to as Uncials. During the 9th and 10th centuries, the new lower-case writing hand of Minuscules came gradually to replace the older style, most Greek Uncial manuscripts were recopied in this period and their parchment leaves typically scraped clean for re-use. Consequently, surviving Greek New Testament manuscripts from before the 9th century are relatively rare and these include the oldest near-complete manuscripts of the New Testament Codex Vaticanus Graecus 1209 and Codex Sinaiticus. It was used by Clement, Athanasius, and Cyril of Alexandria, according to the present critics codices P75 and B are the best Alexandrian witnesses, which present the pure Alexandrian text. All other witnesses are classified according to whether they preserve the excellent P 75-B line of text, with the primary Alexandrian witnesses are included P66 and citations of Origen. With the secondary witnesses are included manuscripts C, L,33, all extant manuscripts of all text-types are at least 85% identical and most of the variations are not translatable into English, such as word order or spelling. When compared to witnesses of the Western text-type, Alexandrian readings tend to be shorter, and are commonly regarded as having a lower tendency to expand or paraphrase. Some of the representing the Alexandrian text-type have the Byzantine corrections made by later hands.46,11,26,15,28, Luke 17,36. In Matthew 15,6 omitted η την μητερα — א B D copsa, In Mark 10,7 omitted phrase και προσκολληθησεται προς την γυναικα αυτου, in codices Sinaiticus, Vaticanus, Athous Lavrensis,892, ℓ48, syrs, goth. Mark 10,37 αριστερων instead of ευωνυμων, in phrase εξ αριστερων or σου εξ αριστερων, In Luke 11,4 phrase αλλα ρυσαι ημας απο του πονηρου omitted. Omission is supported by the manuscripts, Sinaiticus, B, L, f1,700, vg, syrs, copsa, bo, arm, the above comparisons are tendencies, rather than consistent differences. Hence there are a number of passages in the Gospel of Luke where the Western text-type witnesses a shorter text — the Western non-interpolations. in Mark 15,34, but as Eli, Eli. in Matthew 27,46. Most textual critics of the New Testament favor the Alexandrian text-type as the closest representative of the autographs for many reasons, one reason is that Alexandrian manuscripts are the oldest found, some of the earliest church fathers used readings found in the Alexandrian text. Another is that the Alexandrian readings are adjudged more often to be the ones that can best explain the origin of all the variant readings found in other text-types, nevertheless, there are some dissenting voices to this consensus. A few textual critics, especially those in France, argue that the Western text-type, in the United States, some critics have a dissenting view that prefers the Byzantine text-type, such as Maurice Arthur Robinson and William Grover Pierpont. Thus, it is not surprising that ancient Biblical manuscripts that are found would come mostly from the Alexandrian geographical area and not from the Byzantine geographical area
7.
Minuscule 1739
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Minuscule 1739, α78, is a Greek minuscule manuscript of the New Testament, on 102 parchment leaves. It is dated paleographically to the 10th century, the codex contains the text of the Acts of the Apostles, Catholic epistles, and Pauline epistles. The text is written in one column per page,35 lines per page, the Epistle to the Hebrews is placed before 1 Timothy. It contains scholia, lectionary markings were added by a later hand and it contains a large number of notes drawn from early church fathers, but none later than Basil, suggesting a relatively early date for 1739s exemplar. The text of this manuscript often agrees with p46 and Codex Vaticanus, a colophon indicates that while copying the Pauline epistles, the scribe followed a manuscript that contained text edited by Origen. At the end of the Second Epistle to Timothy it has subscription Τιμοθεον Β απο Ρωμης, the same subscription appears in manuscripts P,6,1881. The Greek text of this codex is a representative of the Alexandrian text-type, the Alands placed the text of the Epistles in Category I, but the text of the Acts in Category II. It was not examined by the Claremont Profile Method, together with manuscripts 323,630,945, and 1891 it belongs to the textual Family 1739. In the Pauline Epistles this family includes the manuscripts, 0121a, 0243/0121b,6,424,630. It contains Acts 8,37, as do the manuscripts Codex Laudianus,323,453,945,1891,2818, the other manuscripts have του θεου or του κυριου και του Θεου. In 1 Corinthians 7,5 it reads τη προσευχη along with P11, P46, א*, A, B, C, D, F, G, P, Ψ,6,33,81,104,181,629,630,1877,1881,1962, it vg, cop, arm, eth. Other manuscripts read τη νηστεια και τη προσευχη or τη προσευχη και νηστεια, in 1 Corinthians 15,54, along with Codex Sinaiticus,614,629, and 1877, the text lacks το φθαρτον τουτο ενδυσηται αφθαρσιαν και. Other manuscripts that lack this phrase are P46,088, 0121a,0243,1175,1852,1912, bart D. Ehrman says this reading is an Orthodox corrupt reading. The manuscript was copied by a monk named Ephraim and he copied 1739 from an uncial exemplar from the 4th century. It was discovered by E. von der Goltz in 1879 at Mount Athos and is known by his name. A collation was made by Morton S. Enslin, the codex is housed at the Great Lavra, in Athos. List of New Testament minuscules Biblical manuscripts Textual criticism M. -J, pages 470–471 in La Critique rationelle. Kim, K. W. Codices 1582,1739, journal of Biblical Literature 69,167
8.
Scribal abbreviation
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Scribal abbreviations or sigla are the abbreviations used by ancient and medieval scribes writing in Latin, and later in Greek and Old Norse. Modern manuscript editing employs sigla as symbols indicating the location of a source manuscript, thus, lapidaries, engravers, and copyists made the most of the available writing space. Scribal abbreviations were infrequent when writing materials were plentiful, but by the 3rd and 4th centuries AD, writing materials were scarce and costly. During the Roman Republic, several abbreviations, known as sigla, were in use in inscriptions. Additionally, in this period shorthand entered general usage, the earliest Western shorthand system known to us is that employed by the Greek historian Xenophon in the memoir of Socrates, and called notae socratae. This notation was akin to modern stenographic writing systems and it employed symbols for whole words or word roots and grammatical modifier marks, and could be used to write either whole passages in shorthand or only certain words. However the alphabet notation had an existence as it was often associated with witchcraft and magic. Sigla were mostly used in inscriptions, in some places. The identity and usage of abbreviations is not constant but changes from region to region, Scribal abbreviation increased in usage and reached its height in the Carolingian Renaissance. The most common abbreviations, called notae communes, are encountered across most of Europe, Scribal abbreviations can be found in epigraphy, sacred and legal manuscripts, written in Latin or in a vulgar tongue, either calligraphically or not. These two forms of abbreviation are called suspensions, according to Trabe, these abbreviations are not really meant to lighten the burden of the scribe but rather to shroud in reverent obscurity the holiest words of the Christian religion. Still, when occasion required referring to three or four persons, the doubling of the final consonant yielded to the simple plural siglum. To that effect, a vinculum above a letter or a letter-set also was so used, likewise the tilde, an undulated, curved-end line, came into standard late-medieval usage. These typographic abbreviations should not be confused with the abbreviations, i. e. loc. cit. viz. Moreover, besides scribal abbreviations, ancient texts also contain variant typographic characters, including ligatures, the s. The u and v characters originated as scribal variants for their respective letters, some ancient and medieval sigla are still used in English and other European languages, the Latin ampersand, replaces the conjunction and in English, et in Latin and French, and y in Spanish. The Tironian sign ⁊, resembling the digit seven, represents the conjunction et, and is only to the x-height, in current Irish language usage. Typographically, the ampersand, representing the word et, is a ligature of the letters e and t
9.
New Testament
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The New Testament is the second major part of the Christian biblical canon, the first part being the Old Testament, based on the Hebrew Bible. The New Testament discusses the teachings and person of Jesus, as well as events in first-century Christianity, Christians regard both the Old and New Testaments together as sacred scripture. The New Testament has frequently accompanied the spread of Christianity around the world and it reflects and serves as a source for Christian theology and morality. Both extended readings and phrases directly from the New Testament are also incorporated into the various Christian liturgies, the New Testament has influenced religious, philosophical, and political movements in Christendom and left an indelible mark on literature, art, and music. In almost all Christian traditions today, the New Testament consists of 27 books, John A. T. Robinson, Dan Wallace, and William F. Albright dated all the books of the New Testament before 70 AD. Others give a date of 80 AD, or at 96 AD. Over time, some disputed books, such as the Book of Revelation, other works earlier held to be Scripture, such as 1 Clement, the Shepherd of Hermas, and the Diatessaron, were excluded from the New Testament. However, the canon of the New Testament, at least since Late Antiquity, has been almost universally recognized within Christianity. The term new testament, or new covenant first occurs in Jeremiah 31,31, the same Greek phrase for new covenant is found elsewhere in the New Testament. Modern English, like Latin, distinguishes testament and covenant as alternative translations, John Wycliffes 1395 version is a translation of the Latin Vulgate and so follows different terms in Jeremiah and Hebrews, Lo. Days shall come, saith the Lord, and I shall make a new covenant with the house of Israel, for he reproving him saith, Lo. Days come, saith the Lord, when I shall establish a new testament on the house of Israel, use of the term New Testament to describe a collection of first and second-century Christian Greek Scriptures can be traced back to Tertullian. In Against Marcion, written circa 208 AD, he writes of the Divine Word, by the 4th century, the existence—even if not the exact contents—of both an Old and New Testament had been established. Lactantius, a 3rd–4th century Christian author wrote in his early-4th-century Latin Institutiones Divinae and that which preceded the advent and passion of Christ—that is, the law and the prophets—is called the Old, but those things which were written after His resurrection are named the New Testament. The canon of the New Testament is the collection of books that most Christians regard as divinely inspired, several of these writings sought to extend, interpret, and apply apostolic teaching to meet the needs of Christians in a given locality. The book order is the same in the Greek Orthodox, Roman Catholic, the Slavonic, Armenian and Ethiopian traditions have different New Testament book orders. Each of the four gospels in the New Testament narrates the life, death, the word gospel derives from the Old English gōd-spell, meaning good news or glad tidings. The gospel was considered the good news of the coming Kingdom of Messiah, and the redemption through the life and death of Jesus, Gospel is a calque of the Greek word εὐαγγέλιον, euangelion
10.
Manuscript
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A manuscript is any document written by hand or typewritten, as opposed to being mechanically printed or reproduced in some automated way. More recently, it is understood to be a written, typed, or word-processed copy of a work. Before the arrival of printing, all documents and books were manuscripts, manuscripts are not defined by their contents, which may combine writing with mathematical calculations, maps, explanatory figures or illustrations. Manuscripts may be in form, scrolls or in codex format. Illuminated manuscripts are enriched with pictures, border decorations, elaborately embossed initial letters or full-page illustrations. The traditional abbreviations are MS for manuscript and MSS for manuscripts, while the forms MS. ms or ms. for singular, and MSS. mss or mss. for plural are also accepted. The second s is not simply the plural, by an old convention, it doubles the last letter of the abbreviation to express the plural, just as pp. means pages. Before the invention of printing in China or by moveable type in a printing press in Europe. Historically, manuscripts were produced in form of scrolls or books, manuscripts were produced on vellum and other parchment, on papyrus, and on paper. In Russia birch bark documents as old as from the 11th century have survived, in India, the palm leaf manuscript, with a distinctive long rectangular shape, was used from ancient times until the 19th century. Paper spread from China via the Islamic world to Europe by the 14th century, when Greek or Latin works were published, numerous professional copies were made simultaneously by scribes in a scriptorium, each making a single copy from an original that was declaimed aloud. Manuscripts in Tocharian languages, written on leaves, survived in desert burials in the Tarim Basin of Central Asia. Volcanic ash preserved some of the Roman library of the Villa of the Papyri in Herculaneum, ironically, the manuscripts that were being most carefully preserved in the libraries of antiquity are virtually all lost. Originally, all books were in manuscript form, in China, and later other parts of East Asia, woodblock printing was used for books from about the 7th century. The earliest dated example is the Diamond Sutra of 868, in the Islamic world and the West, all books were in manuscript until the introduction of movable type printing in about 1450. Manuscript copying of books continued for a least a century, as printing remained expensive, private or government documents remained hand-written until the invention of the typewriter in the late 19th century. In the Philippines, for example, as early as 900AD, specimen documents were not inscribed by stylus and this type of document was rare compared to the usual leaves and bamboo staves that were inscribed. However, neither the leaves nor paper were as durable as the document in the hot
11.
Papyrus
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The word papyrus /pəˈpaɪrəs/ refers to a thick precursor to modern paper made from the pith of the papyrus plant, Cyperus papyrus. Papyrus can also refer to a document written on sheets of papyrus joined together side by side and rolled up into a scroll, the plural for such documents is papyri. Papyrus is first known to have used in ancient Egypt. It was also used throughout the Mediterranean region and in Kingdom of Kush, the Ancient Egyptians used papyrus as a writing material, as well as employing it commonly in the construction of other artifacts such as reed boats, mats, rope, sandals, and baskets. Papyrus was first manufactured in Egypt as far back as the fourth millennium BCE, the earliest archaeological evidence of papyrus was excavated in 2012 and 2013 at Wadi al-Jarf, an ancient Egyptian harbor located on the Red Sea coast. The papyrus rolls describe the last years of building the Great Pyramid of Giza, in the first centuries BCE and CE, papyrus scrolls gained a rival as a writing surface in the form of parchment, which was prepared from animal skins. Sheets of parchment were folded to form quires from which book-form codices were fashioned, early Christian writers soon adopted the codex form, and in the Græco-Roman world, it became common to cut sheets from papyrus rolls to form codices. Codices were an improvement on the scroll, as the papyrus was not pliable enough to fold without cracking. Papyrus had the advantage of being cheap and easy to produce. Unless the papyrus was of quality, the writing surface was irregular. Its last appearance in the Merovingian chancery is with a document of 692, the latest certain dates for the use of papyrus are 1057 for a papal decree, under Pope Victor II, and 1087 for an Arabic document. Its use in Egypt continued until it was replaced by more inexpensive paper introduced by Arabs who originally learned of it from the Chinese, by the 12th century, parchment and paper were in use in the Byzantine Empire, but papyrus was still an option. Papyrus was made in several qualities and prices, pliny the Elder and Isidore of Seville described six variations of papyrus which were sold in the Roman market of the day. These were graded by quality based on how fine, firm, white, grades ranged from the superfine Augustan, which was produced in sheets of 13 digits wide, to the least expensive and most coarse, measuring six digits wide. Materials deemed unusable for writing or less than six digits were considered commercial quality and were pasted edge to edge to be used only for wrapping, until the middle of the 19th century, only some isolated documents written on papyrus were known. They did not contain literary works, the first modern discovery of papyri rolls was made at Herculaneum in 1752. Until then, the papyri known had been a few surviving from medieval times. The English word papyrus derives, via Latin, from Greek πάπυρος, Greek has a second word for it, βύβλος
12.
Recto and verso
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The terms recto and verso refer to the text written on the front and back sides of a leaf of paper in a bound item such as a codex, book, broadsheet, or pamphlet. The terms are shortened from Latin rectō foliō and versō foliō, translating to on the side of the page and on the turned side of the page. The page faces themselves are called folium rectum and folium versum in Latin, in codicology, each physical sheet of a manuscript is numbered and the sides are referred to as rectum and folium versum, abbreviated as r and v respectively. Editions of manuscripts will thus mark the position of text in the manuscript in the form fol. 1r, sometimes with the r and v in superscript, as in 1r, or with a superscript o indicating the ablative recto, verso and this terminology has been standard since the beginnings of modern codicology in the 17th century. The use of the recto and verso are also used in the codicology of manuscripts written in right-to-left scripts, like Syriac, Arabic. However, as these scripts are written in the direction to the scripts witnessed in European codices. The reading order of each folio remains first recto, then verso regardless of writing direction, the distinction between recto and verso can be convenient in the annotation of scholarly books, particularly in bilingual edition translations. The recto and verso terms can also be employed for the front and back of a one-sheet artwork, a recto-verso drawing is a sheet with drawings on both sides, for example in a sketchbook—although usually in these cases there is no obvious primary side. Some works are planned to exploit being on two sides of the piece of paper, but usually the works are not intended to be considered together. Paper was relatively expensive in the past, indeed good drawing paper still is more expensive than normal paper. In some early printed books, it is the rather than the pages. Thus each folium carries a number on its recto side. This was also common in e. g. internal company reports in the 20th century. Book design Obverse and reverse in coins Page spread
13.
Chester Beatty Papyri
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The Chester Beatty Biblical Papyri or simply the Chester Beatty Papyri are a group of early papyrus manuscripts of biblical texts. The manuscripts are in Greek and are of Christian origin, most are dated to the 3rd century. They are housed in part at the Chester Beatty Library in Dublin, Ireland, the papyri were most likely first obtained by dealers in illegal antiquities. Because of this, the circumstances of the find are not clear. One account is that the manuscripts were in jars in a Coptic graveyard near the ruins of the ancient city of Aphroditopolis. Other theories have proposed that the collection was found near the Fayum instead of Aphroditopolis, the papyri were first announced on November 19,1931, although more leaves were acquired over the next decade. The papyri are usually cataloged as P. Chester Beatty followed by a corresponding Roman numeral between I-XII, one for each manuscript, most of the manuscripts dated to the 3rd century, with some as early as the 2nd. The manuscripts also helped scholars understand the construction of papyrus codices, there is significant variation between the construction of each manuscript. Page size ranges from about 14 by 24.2 cm to 18 by 33 cm, some of the manuscripts were constructed of a single gathering of papyrus sheets, while in others the gathering varies from a single sheet to five or seven. The largest codex is believed to have contained roughly 236 pages, one notable example is in P. VI which contains portions of the Old Testament. The name Joshua which relates linguistically to Jesus was considered a sacred name, the textual character is generally described as being eclectic, mixed, or unaligned. Originally, there were believed to be eight manuscripts in the Chester Beatty collection that contained portions of the Old Testament, P. IV and V – Two manuscripts that contain portions of Genesis, one dated to the late 3rd century, and one the early 4th century. These manuscripts are significant because the next oldest Greek Old Testament texts of Vaticanus and Sinaiticus have extensive lacunae in Genesis. P. VI – A manuscript of the Book of Numbers and Deuteronomy, consisting of around 50 partial leaves out of 108 and many small fragments. It is the earliest manuscript in the collection, but is predated by two other less extensive Greek papyri manuscripts of books, P. Fouad 266 and P. Rylands 458. P. VII – A manuscript of the Book of Isaiah, heavily deteriorated, with Coptic marginal notes, dated to the 3rd century. P. VIII – Two fragmentary leaves from the Book of Jeremiah, c.200 P. IX/X – A manuscript of the Books of Ezekiel, Daniel, and Esther, dated to the 3rd century. What remains is 50 out of an original 118 leaves,29 of which are in the Chester Beatty Library, the bottom portions of the leaves are missing
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University of Michigan Papyrology Collection
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The Papyrology Collection of the University of Michigan Library is an internationally respected collection of ancient papyrus and a center for research on ancient culture, language, and history. The papyri span nearly two millennia of history, dating from about 1000 BC to AD1000, with the majority dating from the third century BC to the seventh century AD, many of the papyri in U-Ms collection were written by Greek-speaking people living in Egypt. Their use of common Greek, known as koine, is instructive as to how the ancient dialects gave way to a standardized language. The Michigan Papyrus Collection was initially developed by Professor Francis W. Kelsey, while in Italy in 1915, Professor Kelsey learned of the possibility of purchasing papyri from dealers. But, since World War I was in progress, any purchasing had to wait until after the armistice of 1918, Kelsey then traveled to Egypt to acquire papyri. In February 1920, he arrived in Cairo and secured the codex of the Minor Prophets, all these papyrus documents provide a unique insight into the ancient world, the social structure of ancient life in general and in detail. Among the most intriguing texts to have unearthed are passages from sorcerers handbooks that disclose magic spells. The collection of papyri is augmented by the Universitys collection of ostraca, other ancient materials in the Collection include wood and wax tablets. From July 29-August 4,2007, The U-M Papyrus Collection hosted the XXV International Congress of Papyrology, the Congress is an important gathering of international scholars and researchers. The U-M Papyrus Collection also produces the Bulletin of the American Society of Papyrologists, the University of Michigan Papyrus Collection has for many years been involved in digitizing its papyrology collection. New technology has aided the study of the materials, making it more easily accessible. The first digital scanner purchased by the U-M Library was used to begin digitizing its papyrus holdings, according to the Winter 2007 issue of Search and Discovery, Research at Michigan. The Michigan APIS database currently has over 35,000 records with images, searchable in a variety of fields including date, language, origin, type of text, author, names of persons, and many more. Also included are detailed electronic images of the papyrus, publication info, and even a link to the Greek text on the Perseus Project website
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Pauline epistles
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The Pauline epistles, Epistles of Paul, or Letters of Paul, are the 13 New Testament books which have the name Paul as the first word, hence claiming authorship by Paul the Apostle. Among these letters are some of the earliest extant Christian documents and they provide an insight into the beliefs and controversies of early Christianity and as part of the canon of the New Testament they are foundational texts for both Christian theology and ethics. The Pauline epistles are usually placed between the Acts of the Apostles and the epistles in modern editions. Most Greek manuscripts, however, place the General epistles first, in the order they appear in the New Testament, the Pauline epistles are, This ordering is remarkably consistent in the manuscript tradition, with very few deviations. The evident principle of organization is descending length of the Greek text, the only anomaly is that Galatians precedes the slightly longer Ephesians. In modern editions, the formally anonymous Epistle to the Hebrews is placed at the end of Pauls letters and this practice was popularized through the 4th century Vulgate by Jerome, who was aware of ancient doubts about its authorship, and is also followed in most medieval Byzantine manuscripts. With hardly any exceptions, though, the manuscripts do include Hebrews somewhere among Pauls letters. The placement of Hebrews among the Pauline epistles is less consistent in the manuscripts, omitted, F and G In all of these epistles besides Epistle to the Hebrews, Paul does claim to be the author and writer. However, the letters may have been forgeries, as that seems to have been a problem among the early church as a whole. “The Problem of Anonymity and Pseudonymity in Christian Literature of the First Two Centuries. ”Journal of Theological Studies 12, bahr, Gordon J. “Paul and Letter Writing in the First Century. ”Idem, “The Subscriptions in the Pauline Letters. ”Journal of Biblical Literature 2, 27–41. Journal of Biblical Literature 107, 469–94, craig A. Evans and Stanley E. Porter. Dan O. Via, Jr. Philadelphia, Fortress,1988, “‘Girls Trained in Beautiful Writing’, Female Scribes in Roman Antiquity and Early Christianity. ”Journal of Early Christian Studies 6.4, 629–46. A Theological Introduction to Pauls Letters, “Ancient Amanuenses and the Pauline Epistles. ”New Dimensions in New Testament Study. Richard N. Longenecker and Merrill C, idem, “On the Form, Function, and Authority of the New Testament Letters. ”D. A. Carson and John D. Woodbridge. Paul the Letter-Writer, His World, His Options, His Skills, the Secretary in the Letters of Paul. Idem, “The Codex and the Early Collection of Paul’s Letters. ”Bulletin for Bulletin Research 8, idem, Paul and First-Century Letter Writing, Secretaries, Composition, and Collection. “Composition and Dictation in New Testament Books. ”Journal of Theological Studies 18, wall, Robert W. “Introduction to Epistolary Literature. ”The Marcionite Prologues to the Pauline Epistles Chronological Order of Pauls Letters Chronology of Pauls Letters
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Epistle to the Romans
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The Epistle to the Romans or Letter to the Romans, often shortened to Romans, is the sixth book in the New Testament. Biblical scholars agree that it was composed by the Apostle Paul to explain that salvation is offered through the gospel of Jesus Christ and it is the longest of the Pauline epistles and is often considered his most important theological legacy and magnum opus. N. T. Wright notes that Romans is. neither a systematic theology nor a summary of Pauls lifework and it dwarfs most of his other writings, an Alpine peak towering over hills and villages. Not all onlookers have viewed it in the light or from the same angle. Not all climbers have taken the route up its sheer sides. What nobody doubts is that we are dealing with a work of massive substance. The scholarly consensus is that Paul authored the Epistle to the Romans, cranfield, in the introduction to his commentary on Romans, says, The denial of Pauls authorship of Romans by such critics. Is now rightly relegated to a place among the curiosities of NT scholarship, today no responsible criticism disputes its Pauline origin. The evidence of its use in the Apostolic Fathers is clear, every extant early list of NT books includes it among his letters. The external evidence of authenticity could indeed hardly be stronger, and it is borne out by the internal evidence, linguistic, stylistic, literary. The letter was most probably written while Paul was in Corinth, probably while he was staying in the house of Gaius, There are a number of reasons why Corinth is considered most plausible. Paul was about to travel to Jerusalem on writing the letter and this probably implies Corinth as it was the location of Paul’s greatest missionary success in Greece. Erastus, mentioned in Romans 16,23, also lived in Corinth, being the commissioner for public works and city treasurer at various times. The majority of writing on Romans propose the letter was written in late 55/early 56 or late 56/early 57. Early 55 and early 58 both have some support, while German New Testament scholar Gerd Lüdemann argues for a date as early as 51/52, following on from Knox, Lüdemann is the only serious challenge to the consensus of mid to late 50s. For ten years writing the letter, Paul had traveled around the territories bordering the Aegean Sea evangelizing. Churches had been planted in the Roman provinces of Galatia, Macedonia, Achaia and Asia, Paul, considering his task complete, wanted to preach the gospel in Spain, where he would not build upon another man’s foundation. This allowed him to visit Rome on the way, an ambition of his
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Epistle to the Hebrews
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The Epistle to the Hebrews, or Letter to the Hebrews, or in the Greek manuscripts, simply To the Hebrews is one of the books of the New Testament. Scholars of Greek consider its writing to be polished and eloquent than any other book of the New Testament. The book has earned the reputation of being a masterpiece and it has also been described as an intricate New Testament book. Scholars believe it was written for Jewish Christians who lived in Jerusalem and its purpose was to exhort Christians to persevere in the face of persecution. The theme of the epistle is the doctrine of the person of Christ, the epistle opens with an exaltation of Jesus as the radiance of Gods glory, the express image of his being, and upholding all things by his powerful word. The epistle presents Jesus with the pioneer or forerunner, Son and Son of God, priest. The epistle casts Jesus as both exalted Son and high priest, a unique dual Christology, Hebrews uses Old Testament quotations interpreted in light of first century rabbinical Judaism. Although the author of Hebrews was not directly influenced by Qumrans Messiah of Aaron, to conceive Jesus similarly as a priest making atonement and eternal intercession in the heavenly sanctuary. By the end of the first century there was not a consensus over the author’s identity, Clement of Rome, Barnabas, Paul the Apostle, and other names were proposed. Others later suggested Luke the Evangelist, Apollos and Priscilla as possible authors, though no author is named, the original King James Version of the Bible titled the work The Epistle of Paul the Apostle to the Hebrews. However, the KJVs attribution to Paul was only a guess and its vastly different style, different theological focus, different spiritual experience, different Greek vocabulary—all are believed to make Pauls authorship of Hebrews increasingly indefensible. At present, neither modern scholarship nor church teaching ascribes Hebrews to Paul, because of its anonymity, it had some trouble being accepted as part of the Christian canon, being classed with the Antilegomena. Eventually it was accepted as scripture because of its theology, eloquent presentation. In antiquity, certain circles began to ascribe it to Paul in an attempt to provide the work an explicit apostolic pedigree. Scholars argued that in the 13th Chapter of Hebrews, Timothy is referred to as a companion, Timothy was Pauls missionary companion in the same way Jesus sent disciples out in pairs of two. Also, the states that he wrote the letter from Italy. The difference in style is explained as simply an adjustment to a distinct audience, many scholars now believe that the author was one of Pauls pupils or associates, citing stylistic differences between Hebrews and the other Pauline epistles. Recent scholarship has favored the idea that the author was probably a leader of a predominantly Jewish congregation to whom he or she was writing
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Epistle to the Ephesians
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The Epistle to the Ephesians, also called the Letter to the Ephesians and often shortened to Ephesians, is the tenth book of the New Testament. The main theme of Ephesians is “the Church, which is the Body of Christ. ”As a prisoner for the Lord, then, be completely humble and gentle, be patient, bearing with one another in love. Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace, the Church is to maintain the unity in practice which Christ has brought about positionally. According to New Testament scholar Daniel Wallace, the theme may be stated pragmatically as “Christians, maintain the unity practically which Christ has effected positionally by his death. ”Another major theme in Ephesians is the keeping of Christs body pure and holy. Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children, and walk in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God. From Ephesians 4, 17–6,20 the author of the Epistle to the Ephesians gives practical advice in how to live a holy, pure, according to tradition, the Apostle Paul wrote the letter while he was in prison in Rome. This would be about the time as the Epistle to the Colossians. However, many scholars have questioned the authorship of the letter. The first verse in the letter identifies Paul as its author, there are four main theories in biblical scholarship that address the question of Pauline authorship. Robert, and André Feuillet, Sanders, Schille, Brooke Foss Westcott, for a defense of the Pauline authorship of Ephesians, see Ephesians, An Exegetical Commentary by Harold Hoehner, pp 2–61. A second position suggests that Ephesians was dictated by Paul with interpolations from another author, some of the scholars that espouse this view include Albertz, Benoit, Cerfaux, Goguel, Harrison, H. J. Holtzmann, Murphy-OConnor, and Wagenfuhrer. Currently, most critical scholars think it improbable that Paul authored Ephesians, among this group are Allan, Beare, Brandon, Bultmann, Conzelmann, Dibelius, Goodspeed, Kilsemann, J. Knox, W. L. Knox, Kümmel, K and S Lake, Marxsen, Masson, Mitton, Moffatt, Nineham, Pokorny, Schweizer, still other scholars suggest there is a lack of conclusive evidence. Some of this group are Cadbury, Julicher, McNeile, for these reasons, most regard Ephesians to be a circular letter intended for many churches. However, scholars who dispute Pauls authorship date the letter to between 70–80 AD, in the latter case, the possible location of the authorship could have been within the church of Ephesus itself. Ignatius of Antioch himself seemed to be well versed in the epistle to the Ephesians. The major theme of the letter is the unity and reconciliation of the whole of creation through the agency of the Church and, in particular, a general account of the blessings that the gospel reveals. This includes the source of blessings, the means by which they are attained, the reason why they are given
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Epistle to the Galatians
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The Epistle to the Galatians, often shortened to Galatians, is the ninth book of the New Testament. It is a letter from Paul the Apostle to a number of Early Christian communities in Galatia, scholars have suggested that this is either the Roman province of Galatia in southern Anatolia, or a large region defined by an ethnic group of Celtic people in central Anatolia. Paul is principally concerned with the controversy surrounding Gentile Christians and the Mosaic Law during the Apostolic Age. Paul argues that the Gentile Galatians do not need to adhere to the tenets of the Mosaic Law, particularly circumcision, Galatians has exerted enormous influence on the history of Christianity, the development of Christian theology, and the study of the apostle Paul. No original of the letter is known to survive, the earliest reasonably complete version available to scholars today, named P46, dates to approximately the year 200 AD, approximately 150 years after the original was presumably drafted. Some scholars date the composition to c. Other scholars agree that Galatians was written between the late 40s and early 50s, Biblical scholars agree that Galatians is a true example of Pauls writing. The main arguments in favor of the authenticity of Galatians include its style and themes, which are common to the core letters of the Pauline corpus. Moreover, Pauls possible description of the Council of Jerusalem gives a different point of view from the description in Acts 15, 2–29, if it is, in fact, describing the Jerusalem Council. Another indicator that the letter is early is that there is no hint in the letter of an organization within the Christian community at large. This puts it during the lifetime of Paul himself, nevertheless, a small number of scholars have questioned Pauls authorship of Galatians, such as Bruno Bauer, Abraham Loman, C. H. Weisse and Frank R. McGuire. Pauls letter is addressed to the churches of Galatia, but the location of churches is a matter of debate. Acts of the Apostles records Paul traveling to the region of Galatia and Phrygia, some claim the New Testament says that the churches of Galatia were founded by Paul himself. They seem to have been composed mainly of converts from paganism, the Galatians appear to have been receptive to the teaching of these newcomers, and the epistle is Pauls response to what he sees as their willingness to turn from his teaching. The identity of opponents is disputed. However, the majority of modern scholars view them as Jewish Christians, the letter indicates controversy concerning circumcision, Sabbath observance, and the Mosaic Covenant. It would appear, from Pauls response, that cited the example of Abraham. They certainly appear to have questioned Pauls authority as an apostle, the North Galatian view holds that the epistle was written very soon after Pauls second visit to Galatia
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Epistle to the Philippians
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The Epistle of Paul and Timothy to the Philippians, often referred to simply as Philippians, is the eleventh book in the New Testament. Paul and Timothy first visited Philippi in Greece during Pauls second missionary journey, Philippi was the location of the first Christian community established in Europe. Biblical scholars are in agreement that the letter was indeed written by Paul of Tarsus. The estimated date of the letter is 62 AD, about 10 years after Pauls first visit to Philippi, according to the document itself, the Philippians had sent Epaphroditus, their envoy, with contributions as an expression of their partnership and concern to meet the needs of Paul. During the execution of his responsibilities of travel to deliver their gift and it is at this time, whether premeditated or due to an extended stay with the apostle, various internal matters are revealed to Paul on the part of Epaphroditus. Moreover, Paul sends counsel regarding spiritual adversaries among the Philippians, lastly, he provides receipt of both Epaphroditus heroism and the arrival of the gift, along with his promise of a divine accounting. With this communication Epaphroditus sets out on his homeward journey, there has been ongoing debate regarding where Paul was when he wrote this letter. Internal evidence in the letter itself points clearly to it being composed while Paul was in custody, Some suggest the Roman imprisonment at the end of the Book of Acts. Others suggest the earlier Caesarean imprisonment, still others suggest an earlier imprisonment again, and postulate an Ephesian imprisonment during Pauls lengthy stay in that city. Until recently no one seems to have advocated the second period of Roman imprisonment, jim Reiher considered and speculated on this theory in a 2012 article. This second Roman imprisonment theory is still to be debated in the wider theological community. The letter begins in standard form for an ancient Hellenistic letter structure, with author – or senders – first, the address and the greeting is clear, Paul and Timothy, servants of Christ Jesus. To all the saints in Christ Jesus who are at Philippi, with the overseers, grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, the letter was written to the church at Philippi, one of the earliest churches to be founded in Europe. They were very attached to Paul, just as he was fond of them. Of all the churches, their contributions are among the ones he accepts. The generosity of the Philippians comes out very conspicuously and this was a characteristic of the Macedonian missions, as 2 Cor.8 and 9 amply and beautifully prove. As with all epistles, the original was composed in Greek, veronica Koperski views Philippians 3,10 as the beginning of the analysis of the knowledge of Christ
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Epistle to the Colossians
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The Epistle of Paul to the Colossians, usually referred to simply as Colossians, is the twelfth book of the New Testament. It was written, according to the text, by Paul the Apostle and Timothy to the Church in Colossae, scholars have increasingly questioned Pauls authorship and attributed the letter to an early follower instead. The authenticity of the letter, however, has been defended with equal strength, during the first generation after Jesus, Pauls epistles to various churches helped establish early Christian theology. According to Bruce Metzger, it was written in the 50s while Paul was in prison, Colossians is similar to Ephesians, also written at this time. Some critical scholars have ascribed the epistle to a follower of Paul. The epistles description of Christ as pre-eminent over creation marks it, for some scholars, defenders of Pauline authorship cite the works similarities to Philemon, which is broadly accepted as authentic. The letter may have been written by Paul at Rome during his first imprisonment, other scholars have suggested that it was written from Caesarea or Ephesus. If the letter is not considered to be a part of the Pauline corpus, then it might be dated during the late 1st century. Like some of his epistles, this seems to have been written in consequence of information which had been conveyed to Paul of the internal state of the church there by Epaphras. A faithful minister to the Colossians, Epaphras was visiting Paul when the epistle was written, the letters authors claim to be Paul and Timothy, but authorship began to be authoritatively questioned during the 19th century. Pauline authorship was held to by many of the churchs prominent theologians, such as Irenaeus, Clement of Alexandria, Tertullian, Origen of Alexandria. However, as with several epistles attributed to Paul, critical scholarship disputes this claim, a second ground is that the epistle features a strong use of liturgical-hymnic style which appears nowhere else in Pauls work to the same extent. A third is that the themes related to Christ, eschatology. Those who are advocates of Pauline authorship defend the differences that there are elements in this letter and those commonly considered the genuine work of Paul. If this is the case, the language and style are not indications of pseudonymity. Not only that, but it has noted that Colossians has indisputably Pauline stylistic characteristics. Advocates of Pauline authorship also argue that the differences between Colossians and the rest of the New Testament are not as great as they are purported to be, Colossae is in the region of the seven churches of Revelation 1–3. In Colossians 4,13 there is mention of local brethren in Colossae, Laodicea, Colossae was approximately 12 miles from Laodicea and 14 miles from Hierapolis
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First Epistle to the Thessalonians
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The first letter to the Thessalonians was likely the first of Pauls letters, probably written by the end of AD52, making it the oldest book in the New Testament. For the most part, the letter is personal in nature, Pauls main purpose in writing is to encourage and reassure the Christians there. Paul urges them to go on working quietly while waiting in hope for the return of Christ, unlike all subsequent Pauline epistles,1 Thessalonians does not focus on justification by faith or questions of Jewish–Gentile relations, themes that are covered in all other letters. Many scholars see this as an indication that this letter was written before the Epistle to the Galatians,1 Thessalonians matches other accepted Pauline letters, both in style and in content, and its authorship is also affirmed by 2 Thessalonians. 1 Thessalonians 2, 13–16 have often regarded as a post-Pauline interpolation. There were no extensive historical persecutions of Christians by Jews in Palestine prior to the first Jewish war, the use of the concept of imitation in 1 Thes. The aorist eftasen refers to the destruction of Jerusalem,2, 13–16 deviates significantly from that of the surrounding context. It is also suggested that 1 Thes. 5, 1–11 is an insertion that has many features of Lukan language. Other scholars, such as Schmithals, Eckhart, Demke and Munro, have developed complicated theories involving redaction and interpolation in 1 and 2 Thessalonians, Paul claimed the title of the Apostle to the Gentiles, and established gentile churches in several important cities in the Roman Empire. According to Bart D. Paul stresses how honorably he conducted himself, reminding them that he had worked to earn his keep and he did this, he says, even though he could have used his status as an apostle to impose upon them. Paul goes on to explain that the dead will be resurrected prior to those still living, authorship of the Pauline epistles Imitation of Christ Second Epistle to the Thessalonians This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain, Easton, Matthew George. Epistles to the Thessalonians entry in the Catholic Encyclopedia Online Bible at GospelHall. org Thessalonians public domain audiobook at LibriVox Various versions
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Wear
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Wear is related to interactions between surfaces and specifically the removal and deformation of material on a surface as a result of mechanical action of the opposite surface. In materials science, wear is erosion or sideways displacement of material from its derivative, Wear of metals occurs by the plastic displacement of surface and near-surface material and by the detachment of particles that form wear debris. The size of the particles may vary from millimeter range down to an ion range. This process may occur by contact with metals, nonmetallic solids, flowing liquids. Secondary stage or mid-age process, where a rate of ageing is in motion. Most of the operational life is comprised in this stage. Tertiary stage or old-age period, where the components are subjected to rapid failure due to a rate of ageing. The secondary stage is shortened with increasing severity of conditions such as higher temperatures, strain rates, stress. Note that, wear rate is influenced by the operating conditions. Specifically, normal loads and sliding speeds play a role in determining wear rate. In addition, tribo-chemical reaction is important in order to understand the wear behavior. Different oxide layers are developed during the sliding motion, the layers are originated from complex interaction among surface, lubricants, and environmental molecules. In general, a plot, namely wear map. Demonstrating wear rate under different loading condition is used for operation and this graph also represents dominating wear modes under different loading conditions. Surface engineering and treatments are used to wear and extend the components working life. The study of the processes of wear is part of the discipline of tribology, the complex nature of wear has delayed its investigations and resulted in isolated studies towards specific wear mechanisms or processes. Impact-, cavitation-, diffusive- and corrosive- wear are all such examples and these wear mechanisms, however, do not necessarily act independently and wear mechanisms are not mutually exclusive. Industrial Wear are commonly described as incidence of multiple wear mechanisms occurring in unison, another way to describe Industrial Wear is to define clear distinctions in how different friction mechanisms operate, for example distinguish between mechanisms with high or low energy density
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Second Epistle to the Thessalonians
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The Second Epistle to the Thessalonians, often referred to as Second Thessalonians or Two Thessalonians is a book from the New Testament of the Christian Bible. Scholars who support its authenticity view it as having been written around 51-52 AD and those who see it as a later composition, assign a date of around 80 -115 AD. The authenticity of this epistle is still in widespread dispute, the structures of the two letters include opening greetings and closing benedictions which frame two, balancing, sections. In 2 Thessalonians these begin with similar successions of nine Greek words, the opening letter section itself comprises two halves,1, 3–12 and 2, 1–12. The second, balancing, letter section also comprises two halves,2, 13–3,5 and 3, 6-16c, of the twelve pieces in 2 Thessalonians seven begin with brother introductions. Of the eighteen pieces in 1 Thessalonians fourteen begin with brother introductions, in both letters, the sections balance in size and focus, and in many details. In 2 Thessalonians, in 2,5 and 3,10, for example, and when we were with you. Of the books in the New Testament suspected of pseudepigraphy,2 Thessalonians has the most evidence to support its authenticity, while Pauls authorship of Second Thessalonians has been questioned more often than his authorship of 1 Thess. There is more evidence from early Christian writers for his authorship of Second Thessalonians than for First Thessalonians, the epistle was included in Marcions canon and the Muratorian fragment, it was mentioned by name by Irenaeus, and quoted by Ignatius, Justin, and Polycarp. G. Milligan observed that a church which possessed a letter of Paul would be unlikely to accept a fake addressed to them. So also Colin Nicholl who has put forward an argument for the authenticity of Second Thessalonians. He points out that the view is. More vulnerable than most of its advocates conceded, the lack of consensus regarding a date and destination. Reflects a dilemma for this position, on the one hand, the other hand, the date and destination need to be such that the author could be confident that no contemporary of 1 Thessalonians. Could have exposed 2 Thessalonians as a. forgery, pp. 5–6 Another scholar who argues for the authenticity of this letter is Jerome Murphy-OConnor. Admitting that there are stylistic problems between Second Thessalonians and First Thessalonians, he argues that part of the problem is due to the nature of First Thessalonians. Bruce Metzger writes, Paul calls attention to his signature, which was added by his own hand as a token of genuineness to every letter of his, other scholars who hold to authenticity include Beale, Green, Jones, Morris, and Witherington. At least as early as 1798, when J. E. C, schmidt published his opinion, Pauls authorship of this epistle was questioned
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Epistle to Philemon
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The Epistle of Paul to Philemon, known simply as Philemon, is one of the books of the Christian New Testament. It is a letter, co-authored by Paul the Apostle with Timothy, to Philemon. It deals with the themes of forgiveness and reconciliation, Paul does not identify himself as an apostle with authority, but as a prisoner of Jesus Christ, calling Timothy our brother, and addressing Philemon as fellow labourer and brother. Onesimus, a slave that had departed from his master Philemon, was returning with this epistle wherein Paul asked Philemon to receive him as a brother beloved, Philemon was a wealthy Christian, possibly a bishop of the house church that met in his home in Colosse. This letter is now regarded as one of the undisputed works of Paul. It is the shortest of Pauls extant letters, consisting of only 335 words in the Greek text, the epistle of Philemon is attributed to the apostle Paul, and this attribution has rarely been questioned by scholars. Along with six others, it is numbered among the undisputed letters, the main challenge to the letters authenticity came from a group of German scholars in the nineteenth century known as the Tübingen School. Their leader, Ferdinand Christian Baur, only accepted four New Testament epistles as genuinely written by Paul, the opening verse of the salutation also names Timothy alongside Paul. This, however, does not mean that Timothy was the epistles co-author, rather, Paul regularly mentions others in the address if they have a particular connection with the recipient. In this case, Timothy may have encountered Philemon while accompanying Paul in his work in Ephesus, according to the majority interpretation, Paul wrote this letter on behalf of Onesimus, a runaway slave who had wronged his owner Philemon. Sometime after leaving, Onesimus came into contact with Paul, although again the details are unclear and he may have been arrested and imprisoned alongside Paul. Alternatively, he may have previously heard Pauls name and so travelled to him for help, after meeting Paul, Onesimus became a Christian believer. An affection grew between them, and Paul would have been glad to keep Onesimus with him, however, he considered it better to send him back to Philemon with an accompanying letter, which aimed to effect reconciliation between them as Christian brothers. The preservation of the letter suggests that Pauls request was granted, Onesimus status as a runaway slave was challenged by Allen Dwight Callahan in an article published in the Harvard Theological Review and in a later commentary. Callahan argues that, beyond verse 16, nothing in the text indicates that Onesimus was ever the chattel of the letters chief addressee. Moreover, the expectations fostered by the fugitive slave hypothesis go unrealized in the letter. Modern commentators, even committed to the prevailing interpretation, have tacitly admitted as much. Ben Witherington III has challenged Callahans interpretation as a misreading of Pauls rhetoric and they shall make known unto you all things which are done here
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Frederic G. Kenyon
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Sir Frederic George Kenyon GBE KCB TD FBA FSA was a British palaeographer and biblical and classical scholar. He occupied from 1889 to 1931 a series of posts at the British Museum and he was also the president of the British Academy from 1917 to 1921, and from 1918 to 1952 he was Gentleman Usher of the Purple Rod. Kenyon was born in London, the son of John Robert Kenyon, the Vinerian Professor of English Law at Oxford and he was educated at Winchester College. He graduated BA from Magdalen College, Oxford, where he was later a fellow, Kenyon joined the British Museum in 1889 and rose to be its Director and Principal Librarian by 1909. He was knighted for his services in 1912 and remained at his post until 1931, in 1891, Kenyon edited the editio princeps of Aristotles Constitution of Athens. In 1920, he was appointed president of the British School of Archaeology in Jerusalem and he spent most of his retirement researching and publishing ancient papyri. He died on 23 August 1952, Kenyon was a noted scholar of ancient languages, and made a lifelong study of the Bible, especially the New Testament as an historical text. His book Our Bible and the Ancient Manuscripts shows one way that Egyptian papyri, from 1899 to 1901 Frederic was Commanding Officer of the Roxeth & Harrow Company of the London Diocesan Church Lads Brigade. Aristotle on the Constitution of Athens, edited by F. G. Kenyon,1895, Our Bible and the Ancient Manuscripts, Eyre and Spottiswoode, London,18961897, The Letters of Elizabeth Barrett Browning, edited with biographical additions by Frederic G. Kenyon. 1901, Handbook to the criticism of the New Testament 1912, Handbook to the textual criticism of the New Testament 1914, Aristotle, The Athenian Constitution. London, G. Bell Gutenberg fulltext Wikisource fulltext 1915, Codex Alexandrinus in Reduced Photographic Facsimile,1932, Books and Readers in Ancient Greece and Rome Oxford, Clarendon Press. 1936, The Story of the Bible, A Popular Account of How It Came to Us London, J. Murray 1940, The Bible, London, G. Harrap / New York, Harper & Row 1948, The Bible and Modern Scholarship London, J. Murray. Works by Frederic G. Kenyon at Project Gutenberg Works by or about Frederic G. Kenyon at Internet Archive Works by Frederic G. Kenyon at LibriVox Wolfgang Weiß, the Masters Seminary Journal 1,10,42
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Biblical canon
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A biblical canon or canon of scripture is a list of texts which a particular religious community regards as authoritative scripture. The word canon comes from the Greek κανών, meaning rule or measuring stick, Christians became the first to use the term in reference to scripture, but Eugene Ulrich regards the idea as Jewish. In contrast, a canon, which permits the addition of books through the process of continuous revelation. These canons have developed through debate and agreement by the authorities of their respective faiths. Believers consider canonical books as inspired by God or as expressive of the history of the relationship between God and his people. Differences exist between the Jewish Tanakh and Christian biblical canons, and between the canons of different Christian denominations, the differing criteria and processes of canonization dictate what the various communities regard as inspired scripture. In some cases where varying strata of scriptural inspiration have accumulated, Rabbinic Judaism recognizes the twenty-four books of the Masoretic Text, commonly called the Tanakh or Hebrew Bible. According to Marc Zvi Brettler, the Jewish scriptures outside the Torah, the book of Deuteronomy includes a prohibition against adding or subtracting which might apply to the book itself or to the instruction received by Moses on Mt. Sinai. The Book of Nehemiah suggests that the priest-scribe Ezra brought the Torah back from Babylon to Jerusalem, both I and II Maccabees suggest that Judas Maccabeus likewise collected sacred books, indeed some scholars argue that the Jewish canon was fixed by the Hasmonean dynasty. However, these sources do not suggest that the canon was at that time closed, moreover. They lived in a period of two centuries ending c.70 AD. In addition to the Tanakh, mainstream Rabbinic Judaism considers the Talmud to be another central and it takes the form of a record of rabbinic discussions pertaining to Jewish law, ethics, philosophy, customs, and history. There are numerous citations of Sirach within the Talmud, even though the book was not ultimately accepted into the Hebrew canon, the Talmud is the basis for all codes of rabbinic law and is often quoted in other rabbinic literature. Certain groups of Jews, such as the Karaites, do not accept the oral Law as it is codified in the Talmud, Ethiopian Jews—also known as Beta Israel —possess a canon of scripture that is distinct from Rabbinic Judaism. Mäṣḥafä Kedus is the name for the literature of these Jews. Their holiest book, the Orit, consists of the Pentateuch, as well as Joshua, Judges, the rest of the Ethiopian Jewish canon is considered to be of secondary importance. It consists of the remainder of the Hebrew canon—with the possible exception of the Book of Lamentations—and various deuterocanonical books. These include Sirach, Judith, Tobit,1 and 2 Esdras,1 and 4 Baruch, the three books of Meqabyan, Jubilees, Enoch, the Testament of Abraham, the Testament of Isaac, the latter three patriarchal testaments are distinct to this scriptural tradition
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Paul the Apostle
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Paul the Apostle, commonly known as Saint Paul, and also known by his native name Saul of Tarsus was an apostle who taught the gospel of the Christ to the first century world. He is generally considered one of the most important figures of the Apostolic Age, in the mid-30s to the mid-50s AD, he founded several churches in Asia Minor and Europe. Paul took advantage of his status as both a Jew and a Roman citizen to minister to both Jewish and Roman audiences, according to writings in the New Testament, Paul was dedicated to the persecution of the early disciples of Jesus in the area of Jerusalem. He was struck blind but, after three days, his sight was restored by Ananias of Damascus, and Paul began to preach that Jesus of Nazareth is the Jewish Messiah, approximately half of the book of Acts deals with Pauls life and works. Fourteen of the books in the New Testament have traditionally been attributed to Paul. Seven of the epistles are undisputed by scholars as being authentic, Pauline authorship of the Epistle to the Hebrews is not asserted in the Epistle itself and was already doubted in the 2nd and 3rd centuries. It was almost unquestioningly accepted from the 5th to the 16th centuries that Paul was the author of Hebrews, but that view is now almost universally rejected by scholars. The other six are believed by scholars to have come from followers writing in his name. Other scholars argue that the idea of an author for the disputed epistles raises many problems. Today, Pauls epistles continue to be roots of the theology, worship, and pastoral life in the Catholic and Protestant traditions of the West. Augustine of Hippo developed Pauls idea that salvation is based on faith, martin Luthers interpretation of Pauls writings influenced Luthers doctrine of sola fide. The main source for information about Pauls life is the material found in his epistles, however, the epistles contain little information about Pauls past. The book of Acts recounts more information but leaves several parts of Pauls life out of its narrative, such as his probable, some scholars believe Acts also contradicts Pauls epistles on multiple accounts, in particular concerning the frequency of Pauls visits to the church in Jerusalem. It has been assumed that Sauls name was changed when he converted from Judaism to Christianity. His Jewish name was Saul, perhaps after the biblical King Saul, a fellow Benjamite, according to the Book of Acts, he inherited Roman citizenship from his father. As a Roman citizen, he bore the Latin name of Paul—in biblical Greek, Παῦλος. It was quite usual for the Jews of that time to have two names, one Hebrew, the other Latin or Greek. Jesus called him Saul, Saul in the Hebrew tongue in the book of Acts, later, in a vision to Ananias of Damascus, the Lord referred to him as Saul, of Tarsus
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Second Epistle to Timothy
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The three epistles are called pastoral because they relate to the conduct of church leaders, thought of as pastors. It is traditionally considered to be the last epistle he wrote before his death and it is addressed to Timothy, a fellow missionary. The Epistle advocates endurance as the quality for a preacher of the gospel. As a good soldier for Jesus Christ, he is to be pure, noble, in Pauls farewell, he describes himself as at the end of his career and awaiting the crown of righteousness. They are speculated to have written between 90 and 140. They do not address Pauls common themes, such as the unity with Christ. Scholars refer to the author as the Pastor. Albert Barnes demonstrates that Paul the Apostle wrote this letter in AD61 or 65, but whether it was written during his first imprisonment there, or during a second imprisonment, is a question, on which critics even now are by no means agreed. If the supposition of a second imprisonment at Rome, during which this Epistle was written, is correct, lardner, however, who supposes it was written during the first imprisonment, places its date in May, AD61, Hug, also, in the same year. Some modern critical scholars argue that 2 Timothy was not written by Paul, the language and ideas of this epistle are notably different from the other two Pastoral letters yet similar to the later Pauline letters, especially the ones he wrote in captivity. This has led scholars to conclude that the author of 2 Timothy is a different person from 1 Timothy. Raymond E. Brown proposed that this letter was written by a follower of Paul who had knowledge of Pauls last days. Jerome Murphy-OConnor, however, argues that this epistle was written by Paul, and that it is the only still-extant letter written by Paul subsequent to Romans. According to the letter, Paul urges Timothy not to have a spirit of timidity and he also entreats Timothy to come to him before winter, and to bring Mark with him. Paul clearly anticipates his being put to death and realities beyond in his valedictory found in 2 Timothy 4, 6–8, For I am now ready to be offered, and the time of my departure is at hand. 2 Timothy contains one of Pauls Christological Hymns in 2, 11–13, or For a discussion of 2 Timothy 3, 16-17 on Biblical inspiration, portions of 2 Timothy parallel the Epistle to the Philippians, also believed to be written near the time of Pauls death. In sharp contrast to his dispute with Barnabas over Mark, which resulted in the two parting ways, Paul now considered Mark to be profitable to the ministry. The chapter also features the only Biblical mention of Linus, who in Roman Catholic tradition is listed as Peters immediate successor as Bishop of Rome
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Epistle to Titus
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The Epistle of Paul to Titus, usually referred to simply as Titus, is one of the three Pastoral Epistles traditionally attributed to Paul the Apostle and is part of the New Testament. It is addressed to Saint Titus and describes the requirements and duties of elders, some consider it, along with 2 Timothy, to be Pauls final instructions to early church leaders before his final departure. Not mentioned in the Acts of the Apostles, Saint Titus was noted in Galatians where Paul wrote of journeying to Jerusalem with Barnabas and he was then dispatched to Corinth, Greece, where he successfully reconciled the Christian community there with Paul, its founder. Titus was later left on the island of Crete to help organize the Church, according to Eusebius of Caesarea in the Ecclesiastical History, he served as the first bishop of Crete and remained there in his old years. He was buried in Cortyna, Crete, his head was removed to Venice during the invasion of Crete by the Saracens in 832 and was enshrined in St Marks Basilica, Venice. Scholars are not unanimous about the authenticity of the pastoral epistles, Titus is usually one of the three Pastoral epistles attributed to Paul. Titus has a close affinity with 1 Timothy, sharing similar phrases and expressions. The author of Titus identifies himself as Paul, a servant of God, according to Eastons Bible Dictionary, The Epistle was probably written about the same time as the First Epistle to Timothy, with which it has many affinities. Scholars who believe Paul wrote Titus date its composition from the circumstance that it was written after Pauls visit to Crete. That visit could not be the one referred to in the Acts of the Apostles 27,7, when Paul was on his voyage to Rome as a prisoner, and where he continued a prisoner for two years. Thus traditional exegesis supposes that after his release Paul sailed from Rome into Asia, passing Crete by the way, and that there he left Titus to set in order the things that were wanting. However, works written under a name would have been very problematic since the early church clearly excluded from the apostolic canon any works they thought to be pseudonymous. Tertullian wrote that when it was discovered that a church elder had composed a work, The Acts of Paul. The Pastoral epistles are regarded by majority of scholars as being pseudepigraphical, on the basis of the language and content of the pastoral epistles, these scholars today doubt that they were written by Paul and believe that they were written after his death. The early Church did not agree and these scholars date the epistle from the 80s CE up to the end of the 2nd century. One of the peculiarities of the Epistle to Titus is the reference to the Epimenides paradox, One of the Cretans. The statement by a member of a group all members are liars is a famous logic problem. Textual variants in the Epistle to Titus Authorship of the Pauline epistles Faithful saying This article incorporates text from a now in the public domain, Easton
31.
Chapters and verses of the Bible
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The Bible is a compilation of many shorter books written at different times by a variety of authors, and later assembled into the biblical canon. All but the shortest of these books have been divided into chapters, generally a page or so in length, since the mid-16th century, each chapter has been further divided into verses of a few short lines or sentences. Sometimes a sentence spans more than one verse, as in the case of Ephesians 2, 8–9, as the chapter and verse divisions were not part of the original texts, they form part of the paratext of the Bible. The Jewish divisions of the Hebrew text differ at various points from those used by Christians, some chapter divisions also occur in different places, e. g.1 Chronicles 5, 27–41 in Hebrew Bibles is numbered as 1 Chronicles 6, 1–15 in Christian translations. The original manuscripts did not contain the chapter and verse divisions in the form familiar to modern readers. In antiquity Hebrew texts were divided into paragraphs that were identified by two letters of the Hebrew alphabet, peh פ indicated an open paragraph that began on a new line, while Samekh ס indicated a closed paragraph that began on the same line after a small space. These two letters begin the Hebrew words open and closed, and are, themselves, open פ, the earliest known copies of the Book of Isaiah from the Dead Sea Scrolls used parashot divisions, although they differ slightly from the Masoretic divisions. The Hebrew Bible was also divided into larger sections. In Israel the Torah were divided into 154 sections so that they could be read aloud in weekly worship over the course of three years. In Babylonia it was divided into 53 or 54 sections so it could be read through in one year, the New Testament was divided into topical sections known as kephalaia by the fourth century. Eusebius of Caesarea divided the gospels into parts that he listed in tables or canons, neither of these systems corresponds with modern chapter divisions. Chapter divisions, with titles, are found in the 9th century Tours manuscript. 3, the so-called Bible of Rorigo, Archbishop Stephen Langton and Cardinal Hugo de Sancto Caro developed different schemas for systematic division of the Bible in the early 13th century. It is the system of Archbishop Langton on which the chapter divisions are based. While chapter divisions have become universal, editions of the Bible have sometimes been published without them. Such editions, which typically use thematic or literary criteria to divide the biblical books instead, include John Lockes Paraphrase and Notes on the Epistles of St. One of the most frequent of these was a type of punctuation. Most attribute these to Rabbi Isaac Nathan ben Kalonymuss work for the first Hebrew Bible concordance around 1440, the first person to divide New Testament chapters into verses was Italian Dominican biblical scholar Santi Pagnini, but his system was never widely adopted
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Bible
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The Bible is a collection of sacred texts or scriptures that Jews and Christians consider to be a product of divine inspiration and a record of the relationship between God and humans. Many different authors contributed to the Bible, what is regarded as canonical text differs depending on traditions and groups, a number of Bible canons have evolved, with overlapping and diverging contents. The Christian Old Testament overlaps with the Hebrew Bible and the Greek Septuagint, the New Testament is a collection of writings by early Christians, believed to be mostly Jewish disciples of Christ, written in first-century Koine Greek. These early Christian Greek writings consist of narratives, letters, among Christian denominations there is some disagreement about the contents of the canon, primarily the Apocrypha, a list of works that are regarded with varying levels of respect. Attitudes towards the Bible also differ amongst Christian groups and this concept arose during the Protestant Reformation, and many denominations today support the use of the Bible as the only source of Christian teaching. With estimated total sales of over 5 billion copies, the Bible is widely considered to be the book of all time. It has estimated sales of 100 million copies, and has been a major influence on literature and history, especially in the West. The English word Bible is from the Latin biblia, from the word in Medieval Latin and Late Latin. Medieval Latin biblia is short for biblia sacra holy book, while biblia in Greek and it gradually came to be regarded as a feminine singular noun in medieval Latin, and so the word was loaned as a singular into the vernaculars of Western Europe. Latin biblia sacra holy books translates Greek τὰ βιβλία τὰ ἅγια ta biblia ta hagia, the word βιβλίον itself had the literal meaning of paper or scroll and came to be used as the ordinary word for book. It is the diminutive of βύβλος byblos, Egyptian papyrus, possibly so called from the name of the Phoenician sea port Byblos from whence Egyptian papyrus was exported to Greece, the Greek ta biblia was an expression Hellenistic Jews used to describe their sacred books. Christian use of the term can be traced to c.223 CE, bruce notes that Chrysostom appears to be the first writer to use the Greek phrase ta biblia to describe both the Old and New Testaments together. The division of the Hebrew Bible into verses is based on the sof passuk cantillation mark used by the 10th-century Masoretes to record the verse divisions used in oral traditions. The oldest extant copy of a complete Bible is an early 4th-century parchment book preserved in the Vatican Library, the oldest copy of the Tanakh in Hebrew and Aramaic dates from the 10th century CE. The oldest copy of a complete Latin Bible is the Codex Amiatinus and he states that it is not a magical book, nor was it literally written by God and passed to mankind. In Christian Bibles, the New Testament Gospels were derived from traditions in the second half of the first century CE. Riches says that, Scholars have attempted to reconstruct something of the history of the oral traditions behind the Gospels, the period of transmission is short, less than 40 years passed between the death of Jesus and the writing of Marks Gospel. This means that there was time for oral traditions to assume fixed form
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Papyrus 45
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Papyrus 45 is an early New Testament manuscript which is a part of the Chester Beatty Papyri. It was probably created around 250 in Egypt and it contains the texts of Matthew 20-21 and 25-26, Mark 4-9 and 11-12, Luke 6-7 and 9-14, John 4-5 and 10-11, and Acts 4-17. The manuscript is housed at the Chester Beatty Library, Dublin, Ireland. 25, 41-26,39 which is at the Österreichische Nationalbibliothek, the manuscript is heavily damaged and fragmented. The papyrus was bound in a codex, which may have consisted of 220 pages, all of the pages have lacunae, with very few lines complete. The leaves of Matthew and John are the smallest, the original pages were roughly 10 inches by 8 inches. This hypothesis is attributed to the use of gatherings of two leaves, a single-quire that most other codices had, because of the extent of the damage, determining the texts type has been difficult for scholars. In this work, Kenyon identified the text of the Gospel of Mark in P45 as Caesarean, P45 has a great number of singular readings. On the origin of these readings, E. C. Colwell comments, As an editor the scribe of P45 wielded a sharp axe, the most striking aspect of his style is its conciseness. The dispensable word is dispensed with and he omits adverbs, adjectives, nouns, participles, verbs, personal pronouns—without any compensating habit of addition. He frequently omits phrases and clauses and he prefers the simple to the compound word. He shortens the text in at least fifty places in singular readings alone, but he does not drop syllables or letters. P45 has a relatively close relationship with Codex Washingtonianus in Mark, however. There is also not a connection to the Neutral text of Codex Vaticanus, the Western text of Codex Bezae. Another hypothesis is that P45 comes from the Alexandrian tradition, but has many readings intended to improve the text stylistically, while still difficult to place historically in a category of texts, most scholars today agree that the text is not Caesarean, contrary to Kenyon. The textual character of the manuscript varies from book to book and this group corresponds to what Streeter called an Eastern type of the text. In Luke, an eleven-way PAM partition based on Greek manuscript data associated with the INTFs Parallel Pericopes volume places the manuscript in a group with C, L, Ξ,33,892, in Acts it is closest to the Alexandrian text
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Nomina sacra
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A nomen sacrum consists of two or more letters from the original word spanned by an overline. Metzger lists 15 such expressions from Greek papyri, the Greek counterparts of God, Lord, Jesus, Christ, Son, Spirit, David, Cross, Mother, Father, Israel, Savior, Man, Jerusalem, and Heaven. These nomina sacra are all found in Greek manuscripts of the 3rd century and earlier, except Mother, Nomina sacra also occur in some form in Latin, Coptic, Armenian, Gothic, Old Nubian, and Cyrillic. However, it is not known precisely when and how the nomina sacra first arose, the initial system of nomina sacra apparently consisted of just four or five words, called nomina divina, the Greek words for Jesus, Christ, Lord, God, and possibly Spirit. The practice quickly expanded to a number of other words regarded as sacred, in the system of nomina sacra that came to prevail, abbreviation is by contraction, meaning that the first and last letter of each word are used. Contraction, however, offered the advantage of indicating the case of the abbreviated noun. Scholars have advanced a number of theories on the origin of the nomina sacra, an obvious parallel that likely offered some inspiration is the Jewish practice of writing the divine name as the Hebrew tetragrammaton even in Greek Scriptures. Greek culture also employed a number of ways of abbreviating even proper names, inspiration for the contracted forms has also been seen in Revelation, where Jesus speaks of himself as the beginning and the end and the first and the last as well the Alpha and the Omega. Greek numerals have been suggested as the origin of the overline spanning the whole nomen sacrum, with the suspended form ΙΗ being simply the way of writing eighteen. 207 and the origin of the nomina sacra, a proposal, Studia Humaniora Tartuensia 8. A.2,2007. Text of the Earliest New Testament Greek Manuscripts, philip Comfort, Encountering the Manuscripts, An Introduction to New Testament Paleography and Textual Criticism, Broadman & Holman Publishers,2005, pp. 199–253. Larry W. Hurtado, The Earliest Christian Artifacts, Manuscripts and Christian Origins, Cambridge 2006, paap, Nomina Sacra in the Greek Papyri of the First Five Centuries, Papyrologica Lugduno-Batava VIII. Versuch einer Geschichte der christlichen Kürzung, Munich 1907
35.
Kurt Aland
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Kurt Aland was a German theologian and Biblical scholar who specialized in New Testament textual criticism. He founded the Institut für neutestamentliche Textforschung in Münster and served as its first director from 1959–83 and he was one of the principal editors of Nestle-Aland - Novum Testamentum Graece for the Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft and The Greek New Testament for the United Bible Societies. He started studying theology in 1933 at the Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universität in Berlin, on 23 March that year he was examined before the Bruderrat in the Bekennende Kirche. During his studies, he worked for the journal of the Confessing Church, in an ideological brochure, Wer fälscht. Written against Mathilde Ludendorff, he confirmed the position of the Confessing Church, in 1939 he studied for his bachelors degree under the guidance of Hans Lietzmann. In 1940 he was released from service, and in 1941, after Lietzmanns death. He graduated that year, and in 1944 was ordained as minister of the parish of Berlin-Steglitz. After World War II, Aland became a lecturer on the faculty of the Humboldt University of Berlin. In 1947 he was appointed ordinarius in Halle. Aland disapproved of the Marxist government of East Germany, and was persecuted as a result, in 1953 he was accused of smuggling watches to West Berlin and was kept under arrest for three months. Aland frequently spoke out against various forms of state oppression directed at churches, in July 1958, he lost his job at the university. However, in September of that year, he escaped to West Berlin. His 8000-volume library was incorporated into the University Library, in 1958 he became a professor at the University of Münster, Germany. Aland rejected a professorship of the University of Chicago in 1960, in Münster he founded the Institute for New Testament Textual Research in 1959, which he directed until 1983. Furthermore, he founded the worlds first Bible Museum in 1979 and his institute achieved worldwide recognition by publishing the Nestle-Aland - Novum Testamentum Graece and The Greek New Testament for the United Bible Societies. His first marriage was to Ingeborg Aland, in 1972 he married Barbara Aland. He died in Münster, Germany in 1994, Kurt Aland was representative of increasing specialism within theological-historical studies. In the field of New Testament research, his work is internationally acclaimed, the focus of his work began as an intense and adventurous search for old manuscripts on several expeditions to abbeys in Russia and Greece
36.
Codex Sinaiticus
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Codex Sinaiticus or Sinai Bible is one of the four great uncial codices, an ancient, handwritten copy of the Greek Bible. The codex is a historical treasure. The codex is an Alexandrian text-type manuscript written in the 4th century in uncial letters on parchment, current scholarship considers the Codex Sinaiticus to be one of the best Greek texts of the New Testament, along with the Codex Vaticanus. Until the discovery by Constantin von Tischendorf of the Sinaiticus text, the Codex Sinaiticus came to the attention of scholars in the 19th century at Saint Catherines Monastery in the Sinai Peninsula, with further material discovered in the 20th and 21st centuries. Although parts of the codex are scattered across four libraries around the world, most of the manuscript is today vested in the British Library in London, since its discovery, study of the Codex Sinaiticus has proven to be extremely useful to scholars for critical studies of biblical text. While large portions of the Old Testament are missing, it is assumed that the codex contained the whole of both Testaments. About half of the Greek Old Testament survived, along with a complete New Testament, the entire Deuterocanonical books, the codex consists of parchment, originally in double sheets, which may have measured about 40 by 70 cm. The whole codex consists, with a few exceptions, of quires of eight leaves, each line of the text has some twelve to fourteen Greek uncial letters, arranged in four columns with carefully chosen line breaks and slightly ragged right edges. When opened, the eight columns thus presented to the reader have much the appearance as the succession of columns in a papyrus roll. The poetical books of the Old Testament are written stichometrically, in two columns per page. The codex has almost 4,000,000 uncial letters, the work was written in scriptio continua with neither breathings nor polytonic accents. Occasional points and a few ligatures are used, though nomina sacra with overlines are employed throughout, some words usually abbreviated in other manuscripts, are in this codex written in both full and abbreviated forms. The following nomina sacra are written in abbreviated forms, ΘΣ ΚΣ ΙΣ ΧΣ ΠΝΑ ΠΝΙΚΟΣ ΥΣ ΑΝΟΣ ΟΥΟΣ ΔΑΔ ΙΛΗΜ ΙΣΡΛ ΜΗΡ ΠΗΡ ΣΩΡ. Almost regularly, a plain iota is replaced by the diphthong, e. g. ΔΑΥΕΙΔ instead οf ΔΑΥΙΔ, ΠΕΙΛΑΤΟΣ instead of ΠΙΛΑΤΟΣ, ΦΑΡΕΙΣΑΙΟΙ instead of ΦΑΡΙΣΑΙΟΙ. Each rectangular page has the proportions 1.1 to 1, if the gutters between the columns were removed, the text block would mirror the pages proportions. Typographer Robert Bringhurst referred to the codex as a piece of craftsmanship. The folios are made of vellum parchment primarily from calf skins, most of the quires or signatures contain four leaves, save two containing five. It is estimated that the hides of about 360 animals were employed for making the folios of this codex, as for the cost of the material, time of scribes and binding, it equals the lifetime wages of one individual at the time
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Codex Alexandrinus
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The Codex Alexandrinus is a fifth-century manuscript of the Greek Bible, containing the majority of the Septuagint and the New Testament. It is one of the four Great uncial codices, along with the Codex Sinaiticus and the Vaticanus, it is one of the earliest and most complete manuscripts of the Bible. Brian Walton assigned Alexandrinus the capital Latin letter A in the Polyglot Bible of 1657 and this designation was maintained when the system was standardized by Wettstein in 1751. Thus, Alexandrinus held the first position in the manuscript list and it derives its name from Alexandria where it resided for a number of years before it was brought by the Eastern Orthodox Patriarch Cyril Lucaris from Alexandria to Constantinople. Then it was given to Charles I of England in the 17th century, until the later purchase of Codex Sinaiticus, it was the best manuscript of the Greek Bible deposited in Britain. Today, it rests along with Codex Sinaiticus in one of the showcases in the Ritblat Gallery of the British Library, a full photographic reproduction of the New Testament volume is available on the British Librarys website. As the text came from different traditions, different parts of the codex are not of equal textual value. The text has been edited several times since the 18th century, the codex is in quarto, and now consists of 773 vellum folios, bound in four volumes. Three volumes contain the Septuagint, Greek version of the Old Testament, the fourth volume contains the New Testament with 31 NT leaves lost. In the fourth volume 1 and 2 Clement are also missing leaves, the codex contains a nearly complete copy of the LXX, including the deuterocanonical books 3 and 4 Maccabees, Psalm 151 and the 14 Odes. The Epistle to Marcellinus attributed to Saint Athanasius and the Eusebian summary of the Psalms are inserted before the Book of Psalms and it also contains all of the books of the New Testament. In addition, the codex contains 1 Clement and the known as 2 Clement. The books of the Old Testament are thus distributed, Genesis —2 Chronicles, Hosea —4 Maccabees, the New Testament books follow in order, Gospels, Acts of the Apostles, General epistles, Pauline epistles, Book of Revelation. Damaged, Gen 14, 14-17,15, 1-5,15, 16-19,16, 6-9, Defects due to leaves, Genesis 1, 20-25,1, 29-2,3, Lev 8,6,7,16, Sirach 50, 21f,51,5. The ornamented colophon of the Epistle to Philemon has been cut out, the manuscript measures 12.6 ×10.4 inches and most of the folios were originally gathered into quires of eight leaves each. In modern times it was rebound into sets of six leaves each, the text in the codex is written in two columns in uncial script, with between 49 and 51 lines per column and 20 to 25 letters per line. The beginning lines of each book are written in red ink, words are written continuously in a large, round and well-formed uncial hand. There are no accents and breathing marks, except a few added by a later hand, the punctuation was written by the first hand
38.
Codex Ephraemi Rescriptus
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Codex Ephraemi Rescriptus is a fifth-century Greek manuscript of the Bible, sometimes referred to as one of the four great uncials. The manuscript is called Codex Ephraemi Rescriptus because it is a codex, i. e. Manuscripts of this sort, the later text was written in the 12th century. The lower text of the palimpsest was deciphered by biblical scholar and palaeographer Tischendorf in 1840–1843, currently it is housed in the Bibliothèque nationale de France in Paris. 208 leaves of the codex are extant,144 belong to the New Testament and 64 to the Old Testament, the codex measures 12¼ in/31. 4-32.5 cm by 9 in/25. 6-26.4 cm. The text is written in a column per page, 40–46 lines per page. The uncial writing is continuous, with the punctuation consisting only of a single point, the capitals at the beginning sections stand out in the margin as in codices Codex Alexandrinus and Codex Basilensis. The breathings and accents were added by a later hand, the nomina sacra tend to be contracted into three-letter forms rather than the more common two-letter forms. Before the Gospel of Luke and the Gospel of John, a list of κεφαλαια is preserved, but their τιτλοι were apparently not placed in the upper margin of the page as in Codex Alexandrinus. It is possible, however, that the upper margins once contained τιτλοι in red ink which has faded away. The text of the Gospels is accompanied by marginal notations indicating the Ammonian Sections, probably when the codex was pristine, numerals representing the Eusebian Canons were also present in red ink which has completely vanished. There are no divisions in the other books. The Pericope Adulterae was almost certainly not included in Codex C when it was in pristine condition, the two leaves which contained John 7, 3–8,34 are not extant. The text of Mark 16, 9–20 is included in Codex C on folio 148r and it is difficult to determine whether Luke 22, 43-44 Christs agony at Gethsemane was originally in the text of Codex C, the leaves that contained the surrounding verses are not extant. Lacunae Gospel of Matthew,1, 1–2,5, 15–7,5,17, 26–18,28,22, 21–23,17,24, 10–45,25, 30–26,22,27, 11–46,28, 15-fin. Epistle to the Romans,1, 1–3,2, 5–3,21,9, 6–10,15,11, 31–13,10, First Epistle to the Corinthians,1, 1–2,7, 18–9,6,13, 8–15,40, Second Epistle to the Corinthians,1, 1–2,10, 8-fin. Epistle to the Galatians,1, 1–20 Epistle to the Ephesians,1, 1–2,18,4, Epistle to the Philippians,1, 1–22,3, 5-fin. Epistle to the Colossians,1, 1–2, First Epistle to the Thessalonians,1,1,2, Second Epistle to the Thessalonians lost First Epistle to Timothy,1, 1–3,9,5, 20-fin. Second Epistle to Timothy,1, 1–2, Epistle to Titus,1, 1–2 Epistle to Philemon, 1–2 Epistle to the Hebrews,1, 1–2,4,7, 26–9,15,10, 24–12,15, Epistle of James,1, 1–2,4, 2-fin
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Codex Boernerianus
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Codex Boernerianus, designated by Gp or 012, α1028, is a small New Testament codex, measuring 25 x 18 cm, written in one column per page,20 lines per page. Dated paleographically to the 9th century, the name of the codex derives from Boerner, to whom it once belonged. The manuscript contains the text of the Pauline epistles on 99 vellum leaves, the main text is in Greek with an interlinear Latin translation inserted above the Greek text. The text of the codex contains six lacunae, quotations from the Old Testament are marked in the left-hand margin by inverted commas, and Latin notation identifies a quotation. Capital letters follow regular in stichometric frequency and this means codex G was copied from a manuscript arranged in στίχοι. The codex sometimes uses minuscule letters, α, κ, ρ and it does not use Spiritus asper, Spiritus lenis or accents. The Latin text is written in minuscule letters, the shape of Latin letters, r, s, t is characteristic of the Anglo-Saxon alphabet. The Codex does not use the phrase ἐν Ῥώμῃ, in Rom 1,7 this phrase was replaced by ἐν ἀγαπῃ, and in 1,15 the phrase is omitted. After the end of Philemon stands the title Προς Λαουδακησας αρχεται επιστολη, the Greek text of this codex is a representative of the Western text-type. Aland placed it in Category III, the section 1 Cor 14, 34-35 is placed after 1 Cor 14,40, just like other manuscripts of the Western text-type (Claromontanus, Augiensis,88, itd, g, and some manuscripts of Vulgate. The Latin text has some affinity with Liber Comicus, Romans 6,5 αλλα και της αναστασεως ] αμα και της αναστασεως Romans 12,11 κυριω ] καιρω Romans 15,31 διακονια ] δωροφορια — B D Ggr Romans 16,15 Ιουλιαν ] Ιουνιαν — C. The Byzantine manuscripts read Ιησου μη κατα σαρκα περιπατουσιν αλλα κατα πνευμα and it does not contain the ending Romans 16, 25-27, but it has blanked space at Romans 14,23 for it. In 1 Corinthians 2,1 it reads μαρτυριον along with B D P Ψ3381104181326330451614629630124117391877188119621984212724922495 Byz Lect it vg syrh copsa arm eth, other manuscripts read μυστηριον or σωτηριον. In 1 Corinthians 2,4 it reads πειθοις σοφιας along with P46, the Latin text supports reading πειθοι σοφιας –35 and Codex Augiensis. Much folly, much frenzy, much loss of sense, much madness, since going to death is certain, bruce M. Metzger in his book Manuscripts of the Greek Bible quotes this poem, which seems to have been written by a disappointed pilgrim. The codex was written by an Irish monk in the Abbey of St. Gall. The evidence for this includes the style of the script, the smaller uncial letters in Greek, the Latin interlinear written in Anglo-Saxon minuscule. In 1670 it was in the hands of P. Junius at Leiden, the codex got its name from its first German owner, University of Leipzig professor Boerner, who bought it in the Dutch Republic in the year 1705
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Codex Vaticanus
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The Codex Vaticanus is one of the oldest extant manuscripts of the Greek Bible, one of the four great uncial codices. The Codex is named after its place of conservation in the Vatican Library and it is written on 759 leaves of vellum in uncial letters and has been dated palaeographically to the 4th century. The manuscript became known to Western scholars as a result of correspondence between Erasmus and the prefects of the Vatican Library, portions of the codex were collated by several scholars, but numerous errors were made during this process. The Codexs relationship to the Latin Vulgate was unclear and scholars were initially unaware of the Codexs value and this changed in the 19th century when transcriptions of the full codex were completed. It was at point that scholars realised the text differed significantly from the Textus Receptus. Most current scholars consider the Codex Vaticanus to be one of the best Greek texts of the New Testament, until the discovery by Tischendorf of the Sinaiticus text, the Codex was unrivaled. It was extensively used by Westcott and Hort in their edition of The New Testament in the Original Greek in 1881, the most widely sold editions of the Greek New Testament are largely based on the text of the Codex Vaticanus. Codex Vaticanus originally contained a complete copy of the Septuagint, lacking only 1-4 Maccabees. The original 20 leaves containing Genesis 1, 1–46, 28a and Psalm 105, 27–137,2 Kings 2, 5–7, 10-13 are also lost because of a tear to one of the pages. This order differs from that followed in Codex Alexandrinus and these missing leaves were supplemented by a 15th-century minuscule hand and are catalogued separately as the minuscule Codex 1957. Possibly some apocryphal books from the New Testament were included at the end, as it is also possible that Revelation was not included. Luke 17,36,22, 43–44, John 5,4, Pericope Adulterae, Acts 8,37,15,34,24,7,28,29, Romans 16,24. Mark 10,7 – καὶ προσκολληθήσεται πρὸς τὴν γυναῖκα αὐτοῦ, as in codices Sinaiticus, Codex Athous Lavrensis,892, ℓ48, Sinaitic Palimpsest, Mark 10,19 – μη αποστερησης omitted but added by a later corrector. Omission is supported by the manuscripts, P75, Sinaiticus, L, f1700 vg syrs copsa, bo, Luke 23,34 – And Jesus said, Father forgive them, they know not what they do. This omission is supported by the manuscripts P75, Sinaiticusa, D*, W, Θ,0124,1241,27,49 the Codex contains added text, ἄλλος δὲ λαβὼν λόγχην ἒνυξεν αὐτοῦ τὴν πλευράν, καὶ ἐξῆλθεν ὖδορ καὶ αἳμα. This reading was derived from John 19,34 and occurs in other manuscripts of the Alexandrian text-type, the number of the quires is often found in the margin. Originally it must have composed of 830 parchment leaves. Currently, the Old Testament consists of 617 sheets and the New Testament of 142 sheets, the parchment is fine and thin
