SBL International Meeting in Rome: Day 4

Today we had some good papers again, especially that of Rick Bennett who also had prepared a nice slideshow. He presented results of extensive investigations of the use of nomina sacra in early papyri and his nice tables of data supplanted that of O' Callaghan. His presentation also aptly demonstrated how the use of computer software (Accordance) offers a strong tool to gather and analyse this data. Right now Rick and Accordance are working on a new and updated version of the digitial Comfort & Barrett volume The Text of the Earliest New Testament Greek Manuscripts which includes corrections and more newly discovered MSS. This will hopefully be released before the SBL in New Orleans (I think he said...).

Matteo Grosso from University of Turin presented a thoughtful paper on Col 3:11 where he preferred the variant with the insertion of the words “male and female." I had two major problems with that: (a) the variant has weak attestation, only "Western" witnesses; (2) the reading may represent an influence from Gal 3:28, and the "Western" text in particular is known to be harmonistic. (However, Grosso does have a point that the sequence is different in Col 3:11.) Moreover, I advised him to look at some other variants in the immediate context which may be related in broader terms, especially the variant in v. 14 where basically the same Western witnesses read συνδεσμος της ενοτητα for συνδεσμος της τελειοτητος.

Besides our own papers in the Working with Biblical Manuscript session I attended only three other papers, two of which were on Christian art. It was a pity that the scholar who read a paper on the depiction of Paul in Christian art as it relates to the description of him in the Acts of Paul and Thecla 3 did not refer to the latest finding in the catacombs (Jim Snapp mentioned this in a comment yesterday) of what is the earliest known depiction of Paul and which actually differs from the description in the Acts of Paul and Thecla since he is semibald and without meeting eyebrowses. This came up only in the time for questions. Apart from those I attended on on Hebrews and whether the heavenly sanctuary was understood by the author as real or as a metaphor. He concluded that the author must have taken it as real. Jesus as actually sitting on the fathers right hand is a starting point, although the author at the same time has used some platonic/philosophical language to elaborate on some related ideas. I agreed with most of what he said.

The highlight of the day was the visit to Biblioteca Casanatense (see previous post). The librarian Simona Peruggia welcomed us (we were nine in the group), and first led us in to the marvellous library which all except me had not seen before (I was there two days ago). She told us (in English) about the library and the collection.

I will just share a few details, in the front you can see the statue of Cardinal Casanatense who was the man behind the library (see previous post). And in this front of the library is the heart, where the most precious books are kept, namely the bibles. Far back in the hall, in the old entrance are secular literature (history, geography), and then comes theology, canonical law, etc all the way to biblical science and, finally, the bibles themselves in the centre at the front. Another funny detail was the leather curtains that protected books from dust, and made them look even so that their differeing hight would not distract the visitors (sic). Apart from being sorted according to subject the books were also sorted according to their hight, the smaller volumes at the top, the largest at the bottom.

After the presentation in the library we were led to the manuscript room where the four Greek New Testament MSS were brought out. The most interesting one was MS 165 (GA 395) a parchment palimpsest (the other three were written on paper).

We attempted to identify the underwriting. Simona brought us a UV-lamp. (Below Rick Bennett and Dave Nielsen have a go.)

We cannot say at this point which text it is, but we gathered enough text to be able to exclude that it is the New Testament. However, I observed one nomen sacrum which shows it is a Christian text (or several texts). I will get back if I am able to identify where the text comes from.
As every day I went out with good friends to eat and drink! Now I have walked so much that I have soar feet. In London next week I will probably sit still nearby Codex Sinaiticus as much as I can.

Thanks to Rick Bennett who sent me these images on e-mail so I could include them in my report. Now it is bedtime, and tomorrow I will deliver my own paper.

SBL International Meeting in Rome: Day 3

No one could guess where I was on the nice photo on the SBL site yesterday (highlighting the big cake for Kent Richards). I was in the left corner in a yellow shirt. Incidentally, a new photo is on the SBL-website, but I am on this as well. This time it will be much easier to see me, so I hope someone will have a guess (you can see that I am thinking hard). Mark Goodacre, by the way, who is also reporting from the SBL, is clearly the most relaxed person in the panel as you can see - this photo was taken yesterday, after he had delivered his paper on the "lower regions."

Anyway, today the Working with Biblical Manuscript unit had its first session. I came in a bit late to be the presider (I guess I am supposed to be there first), but was able to welcome everyone (perhaps 10-20 people). First, our co-blogger Martin Heide from the University of Marburg delivered a very interesting paper on "The Semitic Background of Some Variants in the Greek New Testament." He demonstrated how variation relating to some personal names could be explained by the fact that their meaning arose in a Semitic setting and was not sufficiently understood by the later Byzantine scribes. For example the name Ασα in the Matthean genealogy attested by most MSS is a shortform of Ασαφ that found its way into the LXX-tradition, i.e., Ασαφ is not a mix-up with the psalmwriter or anything, but it is the older form of the name. Heide presented compelling evidence through various examples and analogies (cf. Ιωση for Ιωσηφ, etc.). Several other examples related to the LXX-tradition.

The next paper was on an unusual but highly interesting subject, Keith Small from London School of Theology delivered a paper titled "A Quranic Window onto New Testament Textual History" and demonstrated how the Qur’an, in relative contrast to the NT manuscript tradition, underwent a formal process of textual standardisation which started in its first century and continued to its completion within four centuries resulting in one uniform standard text. The Qur’an MS tradition, Small stated, shows strong evidence of a centralized process of editing of the text done for a combination of political, dogmatic, and liturgical reasons.


The third paper by Dave Nielsen, now Duke, "The Reception of Sense-Units in Versions of the Greek New Testament", explored the sense-units - a small gap in the scriptio continua - observable already in the earliest NT MSS, which demarcates sentences, verses and other divisions in the text. In John 2, Nielsen explained, P66 and P75 had by and large the same textual segmentations. These are what you could call "narrative focused", they demarcate the narrative, whereas in an OL MS like Codex Vercellensis there are signficantly more segmentations demarcating e.g., words and deeds of Jesus. Nielsen could not see any direct dependence in the Latin and Syriac versions he had studied on the early Greek papyri. It seems the transmission of this phenomena was characterized by greater freedom.

Co-blogger Bill Warren from New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary, who was kind to bring along both computer and videoprojector for anyone to use during our sessions (the SBL did not provide AV this meeting), presented his paper "When is a Textual Variant an Error?: Case Studies for Determining Scribal Errors" with several examples of how certain features in individual MSS can be very important to record and note. For example the segmentation of the text in 1 Cor 14:33-34 and its surrounding text in various MSS can perhaps help us to better understand why vv. 33-34 have been omitted or transposed in some MSS, or certain features like the ligature τγ which stands for ττ which has actually been misunderstood even by a Greek scribe so that he accidently divided a word starting a new line (and word) with the gamma. In the time for comments I suggested that one important reason to record this is when these kind of mistakes become an intermediate stage for the creation of another reading that may make good sense. I am of the opinion that as many details as is possible should be recorded in collations, but not everything can be represented in an apparatus for pragmatic reasons - it will become to heavy. There is always a possibility to have some appendix.

The last paper was Molly Zahn, University of Kansas, speaking on "The Samaritan Pentateuch and its Qumranic Forebears in Light of the 4QReworked Pentateuch Texts." The SP has often been characterized as harmonistic. However, that is not an accurate description. The rewritings, not seldom additions, are often attempts to create coherency. If a command is given, but a fulfilment is then lacking, the editor often takes already existing material from elsewhere in the Pentateuch and inserts it. Or conversely, when a fulfilment is there, then a previous command is also added. However, Zahn did provide a few examples of completely new material being added. This was a very good paper, by a scholar who had researched her texts very well. Indeed, that was confirmed when Emanuel Tov, who was present, said "I have learnt a lot from this paper." (Although he added that he had to look some stuff up for himself.) Molly has actually lived in Sweden, she told me, and she talks Swedish very well. Her parents-in-law live in Västerås, a town very near Örebro, so I hope to be able to invite her to my seminary in the future, when she is here in Sweden.

After those presentations I had a lunch with Dave Nielsen, Keith Small and Jan Krans. No one wanted to follow with me on a tour to the catacombs, so I went there myself and I did not have to regret it! I did not go on an organized (and expensive) tour, which stopped at some churches first. No, I jumped on a bus (the bus- and metrotickets which are combined cost 1 EUR here, and is valid for 75 minutes, which is unbelievably cheap, whereas a pizza costs 11 EUR - the one I ate tonight at least). Anyway, after some travelling I went off the bus and stepped on the ancient stones ofVia Appia (Antica). I wish I could post a photo but Wikipedia will have to do.

Then I arrived, after a few hundred meters of walking, with a diet Coke in my hand, to the catacombs of San Sebastiano. I will leave it for you to read about on the website but all I can say was that it was a fantastic experience, and, literally cool, which was much needed in this warmth. The guided tour cost 6 EUR and it was a learned woman from India who showed us around for half an hour. It was prohibited to take photos within the actual catacombs. I am glad I did not get lost, these particular were 12 kilometers (with 100.000 graves)! WOW.

What happened more? I went out to a fantastic dinner with Jan Krans, Keith Small and Rick Bennett, and had a Pizza Quattro Stagioni, a beer and gelato for desert. We chated for hours about this and that and manuscripts. Speaking of manuscripts, earlier in the day I sent an e-mail to the librarian at the Biblioteca Casanatense where I was yesterday at the de Gruyter reception (see previous report), and asked if I could take a group with me to see their GNT MSS tomorrow. Yes, they replied. Tomorrow I hope we will be able to look at MSS 165 (GA 395), 715 (GA 853), 1298 (GA 1987), and 1295 (GA 1840). As Ulrich Schmid pointed out in the comment section to my earlier report, MS 165 will be most interesting since it is a palimpsest. I hope to be able to report more on this tomorrow if I have the time and energy. On Saturday I will have to deliver my own paper, and that requires some more preparation, although today I got the handout done and copied.