Thursday, March 22, 2007

A closer look at Greg.-Aland 1852

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A month ago I was in Uppsala university library to look at some of our Greek New testament manuscripts here in Sweden. It is always interesting to see in a special registry who has examined the MSS before me. I recognized some names, Hoskier, Harlfinger, Djuric... I collated two of the MSS in Jude (442, 1852) to compare with my collations from microfilm, and to see if anything new should turn up when I had the physical evidence in front of me. Lo and Behold! There was another marginal reading in 1852 in greyish ink; the ending -AS beside the line with TWN ASEBEIWN in v. 15. So if you have my dissertation with the complete collation of manuscripts in Jude, you can now add (ASEBEIAS as marginal reading of 1852Z in v. 15). This also means a correction to NA27 (and ECM) for the same MS. This little detail was probably not visibile on the microfilm I examined in Münster. Otherwise, just two uncertain letters in my transcription were now confirmed. In a few weeks I will travel to another collection to collate another MS, which I hope will offer new surprises. More on that later.

7 comments

  1. Maurice Robinson asked me to give details as to how this exactly affects my apparatus.

    On p. 181 (v. 15), numerical address 20-30 (words in v. 15) add to variant reading "e": 1852Z (together with 61 326 1424C 1425f 1837 1893 2191C) and on p. 182 in variant reading "k": change from 1852 to 1852T.

    Hope this is clear for those who have my book.

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  2. Hello Dr. Wasserman,
    I'm curious if you intend to make your collation material available in an electronic/web-based format at some point? (Perhaps after the printing of your book is exhausted).

    Thanks.

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  3. Anon: "Hello Dr. Wasserman,
    I'm curious if you intend to make your collation material available in an electronic/web-based format at some point?"

    I was in contact with Peter Robinson who developed Collate and he gave me some conversion files that I need to get the Collate files with the transcriptions converted so I can input them in an XML application called Anastasia. But I haven't had time to work with this. There are more pressing issues. I have been thinking of offering the material to a Bible study program developer who can do all conversions and make it available, but these are just loose plans. And, yes, I do hope my book will sell, but I doubt that it will be exhausted since I have very many copies in my basement :-)

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  4. "I have been thinking of offering the material to a Bible study program developer who can do all conversions and make it available, but these are just loose plans."

    I volunteer!

    I've been thinking about developing a web-based apparatus, that allows the user to choose which manuscripts they want to see, and the format they want to use, either a Swanson, piecemeal (NA-like), or transcript view. Of course, to make this work, I need accurate collation info in an electronic format. The user would also be able to export the custom apparatus to PDF.

    I think being able to study any piece of the NT in this manner with full collation data available would be _very_ useful.

    If you don't have anyone else in mind already, I'd be happy to undertake the project.

    I was the one who posted the original message, by the way.

    Casey Perkins

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  5. I am sure some seminaries would love to have copies of your dissertation. I know the one I attended would. www.agts.edu

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  6. Brian: "I am sure some seminaries would love to have copies of your dissertation. I know the one I attended would. www.agts.edu"

    Well, there is a link to an orderpage at Eisenbrauns in the original post ("dissertation"). At the end of this year the series Coniectanea Biblica will change publisher. Negotiations are taking place. I hope the new distributor will be able to market the series better, and increase the availability, especially since there will come a number of reviews in good journals later this year. I know only of three retailers of the series in the US (Eisenbrauns, Dove Booksellers and Coronet Books). It is possible (and much cheaper) to order the book from Sweden (see my blogger profile), but unfortunately people who tried have found the procedure a bit cumbersome (create an account, order and pay), although there are full order instructions in English. I would rather have wished that they would have a full English page which would have made things easier... But I am of course grateful if you (and others) recommend the book to your seminary library.

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  7. tommy wasserman:
    "I have very many copies in my basement"

    Since, as I imagine, the humidity in your basement does not match that of the arid
    deserts of Egypt, I do hope you have taken necessary precautions, such as raising
    the bottom of the box several centimetres off the floor to avoid damage in case of
    flooding.

    It might be better to put them in your garret, if you have one.

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