The History of Codex Vaticanus in NT Textual Scholarship

Congratulations are in order for An-Ting Yi for the successful defense of his thesis “From Erasmus to Maius: The History of Codex Vaticanus in New Testament Textual Scholarship” at Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam. The thesis is online and can be accessed here. It looks excellent. Combined with the recent work of Jesse Grenz and Chuck Hill, this is really a great time for the study of Codex Vaticanus.

Let me also draw attention to something Yi says in his conclusion. He notes the value of studying a manuscript’s use in the history of scholarship and then says that other great candidates for such a study would be “Codex Alexandrinus, Codex Ephraemi, and Codex Bezae, but many others would be equally suitable for smaller scale research” (p. 442). I completely agree. Personally, I think Bezae would make a great study like the one Yi has done and would love to see an enterprising PhD student take it on.

Here is the summary

The famous Codex Vaticanus (Vat. gr. 1209 in the Vatican Library) is currently regarded as one of the most essential sources for reconstructing the Greek text of the New Testament. Although it had already been used by textual critics from the sixteenth century onward, the manuscript only rose to the prominent status it now holds in the course of the nineteenth century. This PhD thesis writes the scholarly history of Codex Vaticanus, beginning from Desiderius Erasmus (1466–1536) and his Greek New Testament editions until the editio princeps of this manuscript prepared by Cardinal Angelus Maius (1782–1854). In this time-period that spans 350 years, perceptions of this manuscript changed profoundly. For a long time it had been seen as an inferior witness, useless for making the Greek New Testament edition. However, scholars gradually discovered its value and importance, and their appreciation eventually led to the consensus that considers its text as foundational for the Modern Critical Text, the basis for many contemporary vernacular translations of the New Testament. 

By examining critical editions, analysing monographs and articles, considering book reviews and pamphlets, and delving into archive collections, the present study delineates the stages of the manuscript’s progression from an ancient manuscript held at the Vatican Library to its designation as the ‘Codex Vaticanus’. It is a study of the many individuals and their stories surrounding this very manuscript, stories about accessibility and the dissemination of knowledge, authority and head-on collisions between the most learned critics, and of continuity and changing paradigms in scholarship. All in all, this thesis sets out how Codex Vaticanus became the manuscript par excellence in the history of New Testament textual scholarship.