Chris Jordan on Gospel Lectionaries

Chris Jordan recently defended his Birmingham PhD entitled:

The Textual Tradition of the Gospel of John in Greek Gospel Lectionaries from the Middle Byzantine Period (8th-11th century)

Here are details that he's sent to me:

'It has been over 50 years since the last doctoral dissertation on the Gospel of John in the Greek lectionary tradition. The writer of this dissertation on the pericopae of the Gospel of John in the Synaxarion section of the Greek Gospel lectionary hopes that it will ignite an interest in the lectionary tradition within the discipline of New Testament Textual Criticism. The pages of this dissertation are the groundwork for the lectionary phase of the International Greek New Testament Project and its major criticial edition of John.

During the Middle Byzantine period (8th-11th century) the Gospel lectionary emerges as a liturgical codex of the Byzantine Church. One hundred and twenty-six Greek Gospel lectionaries from this period are examined at forty-four carefully selected test passages in John. One places the manuscripts in their Byzantine context, studies the lectionary evidence as documents, highlights the textual and paratextual variation in the lectionary tradition, discusses genealogical issues, explores the method of lectionary construction, and investigates the relationship between the lectionary tradition and the continuous text manuscript tradition.'

It was a privilege to teach Chris for a brief period while he was at Aberdeen and to look at NT mss with him. Now many congratulations go to him on successful completion of the doctorate in this underexplored area. Individuals considering topics for doctorates in NT TC would do well to consider this as a potential area for exploration. If so, Birmingham, UK, would be a very good place to choose.