Tuesday, July 07, 2009

NEWSFLASH FROM SINAITICUS CONFERENCE AT BRITISH LIBRARY: NEW LEAF FROM CODEX SINAITICUS

I am enjoying a terrific conference on Codex Sinaiticus at the British Library. There is little time to blog right now, but I thought I would mention the most interesting announcement. A scholar who is working on the bookbindings of St Catherine of Mt Sinai has found what is most probably a new leaf of Codex Sinaiticus within the binding of the book! This was announced today in Father Justin's fabulous presentations of the new finds of 1975 and further developments.

This evening I am heading for the next conference in Birmingham. Maybe I will have time to blog later in the week if there is some internet connection.

4 Comments:

Jan Krans said...

I especially liked the way Father Justin read the scholar's email in which the latter mentioned the find as possibly of some interest. The text, if I remember well, is from Joshua 1. It is currently debated whether it should be tried to liberate the fragment from the binding (one would like to read the backside as well), or to wait for technological advancements.

Peter M. Head said...

Joshua 1.10 was mentioned.

Mark said...

Could you explain to the ignorant how this works? Where exactly is this found, and why would it be found in the binding?

Tommy Wasserman said...

Dear Mark,

Nowadays new paper is used when binding a book, but in those days material was sometimes reused in the production of codices. Apparently, one of the lost leaves of Codex Sinaiticus has now most probably been discovered in the binding of another book in the same monastery by a scholar who examines bookbindings. Only a part is visible but it seems to be enough to confirm that the identification is correct. The image that was presented was persuasive.


The membership of this blog is made up of evangelicals involved in academic study of textual criticism. Those with appropriate expertise and theological convictions who wish to be considered for membership should contact Peter Head or Tommy Wasserman. Those applying for membership must indicate that they have read either the OT or the NT in its original language(s), should be actively involved in text-critical research, and should be already contributing to the blog through comments. They should give e-mail details of an academic and a pastoral referee, a summary of their academic and/or ministry involvement, a statement of their doctrinal commitment (which may be by reference to various classic evangelical statements of faith, e.g. 39 Articles, Westminster Confession), and an indication of their area of interest within textual criticism. Non-members who wish to comment are not expected to be evangelical, but they are requested to respect the blog's ethos.