A Working Bibliography of Scribal Habits

With the help of Pete Malik, I’ve put together the following bibliography of scribal habits. It is noticeably weighted toward the Greek New Testament, but I wouldn’t mind expanding it beyond that. I should add that Pete and I used slightly different formatting and I have not bothered to align them. Let me know what we’re missing either by email or in the comments and I’ll try to add them to the main list.

Aland, Barbara. “Das Zeugnis der frühen Papyri für den Text der Evangelien: diskutiert am Matthäusevangelium.” In The Four Gospels 1992, edited by F. van Segbroeck, C. M. Tuckett, G. van Belle, and J. Verheyden, 325–335. BETL 100. Leuven: Leuven University Press and Peeters, 1992.

———. “Kriterien zur Beurteilung kleinerer Papyrusfragmente des Neuen Testaments.” In New Testament Textual Criticism and Exegesis: Festschrift J. Delobel, edited by A. Denaux, 1–13. BETL 161. Leuven: Leuven University Press and Peeters, 2002.

———. “Neutestamentliche Handschriften als Interpreten des Textes? P75 und seine Vorlagen in Joh 10.” In Jesu Rede von Gott und ihre Nachgeschichte im frühen Christentum, edited by Dietrich-Alex Koch, Gerhard Sellin, and Andreas Lindemann, 379–397. Gütersloh: Gütersloher Verlagshaus Gerd Mohn, 1989.

———. “Sind Schreiber früher neutestamentlicher Handschriften Interpreten des Textes?” In Transmission and Reception: New Testament Text-critical and Exegetical Studies, edited by Jeff W. Childers and D.C. Parker, 114–122. TS 3.4. Piscataway: Gorgias Press, 2006.

———. “Was heißt Abschreiben? Neue Entwicklungen in der Textkritik und ihre Konsequenzen fur die Überlieferungsgeschichte der frühesten christlichen Verkündigung.” In Mark and Matthew I: Comparative Readings: Understanding the Earliest Gospels in their First Century Settings, edited by Eve-Marie Becker and Anders Runesson, 55–76. WUNT 1.271. Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 2011.

———. “Welche Rolle spielen Textkritik und Textgeschichte für das Verständnis des Neuen Testaments? Frühe Leserperspektiven.” NTS 52 (2006): 303–318.

Ashton, June. Scribal Habits in the Ancient Near East: C. 3000 BCE to the Emergence of the Codex. Mandelbaum Studies in Judaica 13. Sydney: Mandelbaum Publishing, 2008.

Burleson, Douglas Y. “Case Studies in Closely Related Manuscripts for Determining Scribal Traits.” PhD diss. New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary, 2012.

Colwell, E. C. “Hort Redivivus: A Plea and a Program.” Pages 148–71 in Studies in the Methodology in Textual Criticism of the New Testament. NTTS 9. Leiden: Brill, 1969.

———. “Method in Evaluating Scribal Habits: A Study of P45, P66, P75.” Pages 106–24 in Studies in Methodology in Textual Criticism of the New Testament. NTTS 9. Leiden: Brill, 1969.

Dain, Alphonse. Les manuscrits. Collection d’études anciennes. Paris: Belles Lettres, 1949.

Diller, Aubrey. “Incipient Errors in Manuscripts.”  Transactions and Proceedings of the American Philological Association 67 (1936): 232–239.

Ebojo, Edgar B. “When Nonsense Makes Sense: Scribal Habits in the Space-Intervals, Sense-Pauses, and Other Visual Elements in P46.” BT 64 (2013): 128–150.

———. “A scribe and His Manuscript: An Investigation into the Scribal Habits of Papyrus 46 (P. Chester Beatty ii – P. Mich. Inv. 6238).” PhD diss. University of Birmingham, 2014.

Ehrman, Bart D. Orthodox Corruption of Scripture: The Effect of Early Christological Controversies on the Text of the New Testament. New York/Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1993. 

Elliott, J.K. “Singular Readings in the Gospel Text of P45.” In The Earliest Gospels: The Origins and Transmission of the Earliest Christian Gospels, edited by Charles Horton, 122–131. JSNTSup 285. London: T & T Clark, 2004.

Eshbaugh, Howard. “Textual Variants and Theology: A Study of the Galatians Text of Papyrus 46.” JSNT 3 (1979): 60–72.

Fee, Gordon D. Papyrus Bodmer II (P66): Its Textual Relationships and Scribal Characteristics. SD. Salt Lake City: University of Utah, 1968.

Head, Peter M. “Observations on Early Papyri of the Synoptic Gospels, Especially on the ‘Scribal Habits.’” Bib 71 (1990): 240–247.

———. “Scribal Behaviour and Theological Tendencies in Singular Readings in P. Bodmer II (P66).” In Houghton and Parker, Theological and Social Tendencies?, 55–74.

———. “Some Observations on Various Features of Scribe D in the New Testament of Codex Sinaiticus.” In McKendrick, Parker, Myshrall, and O’Hogan, Codex Sinaiticus, 127–137.

———. “The Habits of New Testament Copyists: Singular Readings in the Early Fragmentary Papyri of John.” Bib 85 (2004): 399–408.

———. “The Gospel of Mark in Codex Sinaiticus: Textual and Reception-Critical Considerations.” TC: A Journal of Biblical Textual Criticism 13 (2008): 1–38.

Head, Peter M. and M. Warren. “Re-inking the Pen: Evidence from P.Oxy. 657 (P13) Concerning Unintentional Scribal Errors.” NTS 43 (1997): 463–473.

Hernández, Juan, Jr. “A Scribal Solution to a Problematic Measurement in the Apocalypse.” NTS 56 (2010): 273–288.

———. Scribal Habits and Theological Influences in the Apocalypse: The Singular Readings of Sinaiticus, Alexandrinus, and Ephraemi. WUNT II. Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 2006.

Hernández, Juan, P. M. Head, Dirk Jongkind, and James R. Royse. “Scribal Habits in Early Greek New Testament Papyri: Papers from the 2008 SBL Panel Review Session.” TC: A Journal of Biblical Textual Criticism 17 (2012): 1–22.

Horton, Charles, ed. The Earliest Gospels: The Origins and Transmission of the Earliest Christian Gospels. JSNTSup 285. London: T & T Clark, 2004.

Houghton, H.A.G. and D.C. Parker, eds. Textual Variation: Theological and Social Tendencies?: Papers from the Fifth Birmingham Colloquium on the Textual Criticism of the New Testament. TS 3.6. Piscataway: Gorgias Press, 2008.

Hurtado, Larry W. Text-Critical Methodology and the Pre-Caesarean Text: Codex W in the Gospel of Mark. SD 43. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1981. 

———, ed. The Freer Biblical Manuscripts: Fresh Studies of an American Treasure Trove. SBL Text-Critical Studies 6. Atlanta: Society of Biblical Literature, 2006.

Johnson, William A. Bookrolls and Scribes in Oxyrhynchus. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2004.

Jongkind, Dirk. “‘The Lilies of the Field’ Reconsidered: Codex Sinaiticus and the Gospel of Thomas.” NovT 48 (2006): 209–216.

———. “Singular Readings in Sinaiticus: The Possible, the Impossible, and the Nature of Copying.” In Houghton and Parker, Theological and Social Tendencies?, 35–54.

———. Scribal Habits of Codex Sinaiticus. Texts and Studies. Piscataway, NJ: Gorgias, 2007.

Junack, Klaus. “Abschreibpraktiken und Schreibergewohnheiten in ihrer Auswirkung auf die Textüberlieferung.” Pages 277–95 in New Testament Textual Criticism: Its Significance for Exegesis. Edited by Eldon Jay Epp and Gordon D. Fee. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1981.

Malik, Peter. “The Earliest Corrections in Codex Sinaiticus: A Test Case from the Gospel of Mark.” BASP 50 (2013): 207–254.

———. “The Earliest Corrections in Codex Sinaiticus: Further Evidence from the Apocalypse.” TC: A Journal of Biblical Textual Criticism 20 (forthcoming in 2015).

Martini, Carlo M. Il problema della recensionalità del Codice B alla luce del papiro Bodmer XIV. Analecta Biblica 26. Rome: Pontificio Istituto Biblico, 1966.

McKendrick, Scot, David Parker, Amy Myshrall, and Cillian O’Hogan, eds. Codex Sinaiticus: New Perspectives on the Ancient Biblical Manuscript. London: British Library/Peabody, MA: Hendrickson, 2015.

Milne, H.J.M. and T.C. Skeat. Scribes and Correctors of the Codex Sinaiticus. London: British Museum, 1938.

Min, Kyoung Shik. Die früheste Uberlieferung des Matthäusevangeliums (bis zum 3./4. Jh.): Edition und Untersuchung. ANTF 34. Berlin De Gruyter, 2005.

Oerter, Wolf B. “Schreiber oder Korrektoren? Zu den Korrekturen in den Nag-Hammadi-Schriften.” Paper presented at the Tenth International Congress of Coptic Studies Rome (September 17–21, 2012; publication forthcoming).

———. “Verlesen? Verhört? Zu den handschriftlichen Korrekturen in den Nag-Hammadi-Schriften.” Studie a Texty 22 (2013): 70–79.

Parker, David C. “Scribal Tendencies and the Mechanics of Book Production.” In Textual Variation: Theological and Social Tendencies?: Papers from the Fifth Birmingham Colloquium on the Textual Criticism of the New Testament, edited by H.A.G. Houghton and D.C. Parker, 173–184. TS 3.6. Piscataway: Gorgias Press, 2008.

———. Codex Bezae: An Early Christian Manuscript and Its Text. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1992.

———. Codex Sinaiticus: The Story of the World’s Oldest Bible. London: British Library/Peabody, MA: Hendrickson, 2010.

Parker, D. C. “A Copy of the Codex Mediolanensis.” JTS 41 (1990): 537–541.

Parkes, M.B. Their Hands before Our Eyes: A Closer Look at Scribes. The Lyell Lectures Delivered in the University of Oxford 1999. Aldershot: Ashgate, 2008. 

Parsons, Mikeal C. “A Christological Tendency in P75.” JBL 105, no. 3 (1986): 463–79.

Paulson, Gregory Scott. “Scribal Habits in Codex Sinaiticus, Vaticanus, Ephraemi, Bezae, and Washingtonianus in the Gospel of Matthew.” PhD diss. University of Edinburgh, 2013. Now published as Scribal Habits and Singular Readings in Codex Sinaiticus, Vaticanus, Ephraemi, Bezae, and Washingtonianus in the Gospel of Matthew. GlossaHouse Dissertation Series 5. Wilmore, KY: GlossaHouse, 2018.

Robinson, Maurice A. “Scribal Habits among Manuscripts of the Apocalypse.” PhD diss. Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, 1982.

Royse, James R. “Scribal Habits in Early Greek New Testament Papyri.” PhD diss. Graduate Theological Union, 1981.

———. “Scribal Habits in the Transmission of the New Testament Texts.” Pages 139–61 in The Critical Study of Sacred Texts. Edited by Wendy Doniger O’Flaherty. Berkeley Religious Studies Series. Berkeley: Graduate Theological Union, 1979.

———. “Scribal Tendencies in the Transmission of the Text of the New Testament.” Pages 461–95 in The Text of the New Testament in Contemporary Research: Essays on the Status Quaestionis. Edited by Bart D. Ehrman and Michael W. Holmes. 2nd ed. NTTSD 42. Leiden: Brill, 2013.

———. “Scribal Tendencies in the Transmission of the Text of the New Testament.” Pages 239–52 in The Text of the New Testament in Contemporary Research: Essays on the Status Quaestionis. Edited by Bart D. Ehrman and Michael W. Holmes. 1st ed. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1995.

———. “The Corrections in the Freer Gospels Codex.” In Hurtado, Freer Biblical Manuscripts, 185–226.

———. “The Treatment of Scribal Leaps in Metzger’s Textual Commentary.” NTS 29 (1983): 539–551.

———. Scribal Habits in Early Greek New Testament Papyri. NTTSD 36. Leiden: Brill, 2008.

Schmid, Ulrich. “Conceptualizing ‘Scribal’ Performances: Reader’s Notes.” In Wachtel and Holmes, Textual History, 49–64.

———. “Scribes and Variants – Sociology and Typology.” In Houghton and Parker, Theological and Social Tendencies?, 1–23.

Sharp, Daniel B. “Early Coptic Singular Readings in the Gospel of John: A Collection, Cataloging and Commentary on the Singular Readings of P. Mich. Inv. 3521, PPalau Rib. Inv.-Nr. 183 and Thompson’s Qau El Kebir Manuscript.” Claremont Graduate University, 2012. 

Silva, Moisés. “Internal Evidence in the Text-Critical Use of the LXX.” Pages 151–67 in La Septuaginta en la investigación contemporánea (V congreso de la IOSCS). Edited by Natalio Fernández Marcos. Madrid: Instituto Arias Montano, 1985.

———. “The Text of Galatians: Evidence from the Earliest Greek Manuscripts.” Pages 17–25 in Scribes and Scripture. Edited by David Alan Black. Winona Lake, IN: Eisenbrauns, 1992. [For an updated chart, see the 2nd ed. of Silva’s commentary on Philippians (Baker, 2005), pp. 211–213.]

Strutwolf, Holger. “Scribal Practices and the Transmission of Biblical Texts: New Insights from the Coherence-Based Genealogical Method.” Pages 139–60 in Editing the Bible: Assessing the Task Past and Present. Edited by John S. Kloppenborg and Judith H. Newman. Resources for Biblical Study. Atlanta: SBL, 2012.

Timpanaro, Sebastiano. The Freudian Slip: Psychoanalysis and Textual Criticism. Translated by Kate Soper. London: NLB, 1976. 

Tov, Emanuel. “The Nature and Background of Harmonizations in Biblical Manuscripts.” JSOT 31 (1985): 3–29.

———. Scribal Practices and Approaches Reflected in the Texts Found in the Judean Desert. Studies on the Texts of the Desert of Judah. Leiden: Brill, 2004.

Vroom, Jonathan. “A Cognitive Approach to Copying Errors: Haplography and Textual Transmission of the Hebrew Bible.” JSOT (forthcoming).

Wasserman, Tommy. “Papyrus 72 and the Bodmer Miscellaneous Codex.” NTS 51 (2005): 137–154.

———. “Theological Creativity and Scribal Solutions in Jude.” In Houghton and Parker, Theological and Social Tendencies?, 75–83.

Westcott, B. F., and F. J. A. Hort. The New Testament in the Original Greek: Introduction [and] Appendix. London: Macmillan, 1896.

Wilson, Andrew. “Scribal Habits and the New Testament Text.” Pages 21–39 in Digging for the Truth: Collected Essays Regarding the Byzantine Text of the Greek New Testament: A Festschrift in Honor of Maurice A. Robinson. Edited by Mark Billington and Peter Streitenberger. Norden: FocusYourMission KG, 2014.

———. “Scribal Habits in Greek New Testament Manuscripts.” Filologia Neotestamentaria 24 (2011): 95–126.

Yuen-Collingridge, Rachel and Malcolm Choat. “The Copyist at Work: Scribal Practice in Duplicate Documents.” In Actes du e Congrès international de papyrologie: Genève, 16–21 août 2010, edited by Paul Schubert, 827–834. Recherches et Rencontres 30. Genève: 2012.

Updates

Aug. 23, 2015 — Added info on Burleson (2012), Head (2008), Hernández et al. (2012), Min (2005), Parker (1990), and Paulson (2013).