Text Critical Papers at BNTC 2015

The Annual Meeting of the British New Testament Society (BNTC) is being held this year at the University of Edinburgh from 3–5 September and there are a number of text critical papers on offer. There are enough, in fact, to make you wonder why there isn’t a dedicated textual criticism section.

Edinburgh always looks like this, right? (photo credit)

I’ve heard that BNTC is much more personable than the circus that can be SBL, so I’m looking forward to attending this year. Perhaps I’ll report on some of these paper if I get a chance. Here’s what’s on offer:

Theological Orthography, Numerical Symbolism, and “Numeri Sacri” in Early New Testament Manuscripts

Zachary Cole (University of Edinburgh)

Abstract: Although much scholarly attention has focused on the Christian scribal practice of the nomina sacra, the reverential abbreviation of divine names, this study explores an analogous phenomenon within early NT manuscripts with respect to theologically significant numbers. In the same way that sacred names could be distinguished by abbreviation, Greek numbers could be and were written in two distinct forms (as longhand words or alphabetic numerals). The aim of this study is to identify patterns and/or examples that suggest numerical symbols ever served a theological, devotional, or mystical function comparable to the nomina sacra. For instance, were alphabetic numerals ever reserved by copyists for special referents? Do any numerical symbols bear a special visual significance over against the longhand words? Recent studies have shown that numerals were indeed used in such ways in Christian documentary papyri from Egypt, especially in private correspondence between churches (such as the cryptic use of 99 to be mean “amen”), but no similar investigation of Christian literary texts has been conducted.
Several examples of possible “numeri sacri” in manuscripts such as P45, P75, and Codex Sinaiticus are examined with support from external testimony of numerological exegesis (patristic and documentary), suggesting that the term “numeri sacri” might be a helpful category. While a handful of numbers might qualify as such, it will be shown that they were never developed into a coherent scribal system in the way that the divine names were. This allows a remarkable comparison between early Christian conceptions of divine names/titles and theologically significant numbers, at least as they were represented in early scribal conventions.

Using the Coherence-Based Genealogical Method (CBGM) to Detect Scribal Habits in the Book of James

Peter Gurry (University of Cambridge)

Abstract: The proper consideration of the types of errors scribes make has been a longstanding aspect of New Testament textual criticism. Designated “transcriptional evidence” by F. J. A. Hort, such evidence is generally taught as a key part of internal evidence. Since the pioneering work of E. C. Colwell and followed recently by James R. Royse and others, the study of such scribal habits has been steadily advanced by careful attention to so-called “singular readings,” that is, readings unique to a single manuscript. One of the conclusions of such study has been a proposed reversal of the principle lectio brevior potior (prefer the shorter reading) since such singular readings show that early scribes tended to omit text more often than they added it. But the use of singular readings has not gone without criticism. In particular, questions have been raised about how representative singular readings are of a scribe’s work and, more importantly, of the tendencies of the textual tradition at large. More recently, the Coherence-Based Genealogical Method (CBGM) has been suggested as an appropriate corrective to the use of singular readings for understanding scribal practices because it identifies possible ancestors for each textual witness. But no concerted effort to apply the CBGM in this way has yet appeared. After offering a short summary of prior research, this study will apply the CBGM to the book of James using the data from the Editio Critica Maior to see what it reveals about the habits of scribes during the first millennium of transmission. The results will be compared with previous conclusions gained from the study of singular readings. In conclusion, I offer some thoughts on the strengths and weaknesses of each method and their implications for the canons of internal criticism.

The Greek Text of Revelation and the Editio Critica Maior

Garrick V. Allen (University of St Andrews)
Darius Müller (Kirchliche Hochschule Wuppertal/Bethel)

Abstract: The Institut für Septuaginta und biblische Textforschung at the Kirchliche Hochschule Wuppertal/Bethel is currently in the process of constructing a new Greek critical edition of the book of Revelation, with the hope that the edition will be available in 2023. The main text of the new edition and a condensed version of its apparatus will eventually become the text printed in the Nestle-Aland edition. This paper serves as a progress report, describing the various stages of the project, demystifying the process of editing an edition, and presenting an overview of the manuscript tradition of Revelation and its various text types. Additionally, we highlight the importance of this long-term project for numerous areas of critical concern in Apocalypse studies, including textual history, exegesis and interpretation, reception history, Byzantine art history, and scribal practices. The Editio Critica Maior project is an almost exclusively German enterprise and we hope to raise awareness of continental Apocalypse research in the Anglophone world.

The Chester Beatty Papyrus of Revelation and its Egyptian Friend: Preliminary Remarks on the Affinities of P47 and the Sahidic

Peter Malik (University of Cambridge)

Abstract: In his seminal work on the textual history of Revelation, Josef Schmid focused primarily on the Greek witnesses, amongst which he identified four distinct textual groupings: A C, P47 ℵ, Andreas and Koine. Versional support was cited only sporadically, and only to the extent it appeared in then available critical editions. Even so, Schmid remarked that, among other witnesses, the P47 ℵ group is followed by both Coptic versions. This relationship, however, has never been analysed or even confirmed. Recent research into P47 has identified various peculiar agreements with the Sahidic version, agreements which necessitated further investigation. The present paper aims to outline basic methodological issues as well as preliminary results of such investigation.

The Chester Beatty Library Expedition: Guestpost by Peter Malik

The following is a report by Peter Malik, who was invited to join the CSNTM expedition to photograph the Chester Beatty papyri – photos which have just been published on-line (see previous post). A nice videoclip from the expedition in which Peter appears has also been published by the CSNTM.

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At the end of July 2013, I was privileged to join the CSNTM team led by Dan Wallace and spend a couple of days (July 29–31) at Chester Beatty Library, studying P47, the earliest extensive manuscript of the book of Revelation. The invitation to join was due to friendly supportive efforts of one of the ETC’s Blogmeisters, Dr. Tommy Wasserman, who—without my prior knowledge of his cunning plans (!)—essentially set everything up, so I could come to CBL and study the MS while Dan and his team would be shooting it.

Besides simply being interested in the NT MSS in general and in the early papyri in particular, the main reason why I went to CBL to inspect P47 is that this MS is the main subject of my doctoral thesis, supervised by Dr. Peter M. Head (the other Blogmeister). Quite surprisingly, very little has been written on P47. Royse (Scribal Habits, 359) tells us that “[t]here have been remarkably few studies devoted to P47, and most of the attention given to it has concentrated on its textual relationships,” and Parker (Introduction, 234) further observes “[t]here seems to be no thorough palaeographical study of this codex.” Hence, I decided to take this challenge (at this partially) and take a closer look to see if more could be said about this MS, its scribe, and its text.

During my brief stay, I tried to check the discrepancies I found (having studied the images at VMR) especially in the editio princeps, Comfort & Barrett, and Royse. From the high-resolution images and, moreover, from the autopsy it soon became clear that much more can be seen in the MS than from Kenyon’s great, but dated edition.

Besides having fun with simply seeing the real thing in its own right, main highlights of the trip included several unspotted corrections (mostly of one letter), being able to observe much more transparent signs of scribal re-inking (at times virtually untraceable in the editio princeps, though now quite clearly visible in the images), and Dan’s kind offer to make microscopic and UV photographs of the more problematical spots. All I can say now is that I’ve got a lot of material to work with, and I know already that I’ll have to come to CBL again! I also can’t forget to mention that the new images produced by the CSNTM folks (finally on both white and black backgrounds) are of much superior quality to those made previously, so there’s a lot to be excited about in that regard as well.

Overall, it was all great fun. Among others, I owe my gratitude to those above mentioned folks, who made this trip possible, including my supervisor, who encouraged me to pursue this project as well as to see the MS. I also thank my college (Peterhouse) for providing all the necessary funding.