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.

Silvia Castelli Passes Her Viva on Wettstein

A hearty congratulations to Silvia Castelli who has just defended her doctoral dissertation on the subject of J. J. Wettstein (see here). I have read a bit of it privately and what I read was excellent (and well formatted too). I do hope it gets published. For now we extend a hearty congrats to her!

P.S. I am happy to announce the passing of TC-related thesis defenses on this space. Please let me know.

Photo from Bert Jan Lietaert Peerbolte

ETC Interview with Caio Peres

In this installment of the ETC interview series, we diverge from our normal practice of interviewing established text critics to interview a (recent) student. I met Caio Peres through my wife and we have corresponded for a few years online. Some of that correspondence was about textual criticism  during his class on the subject with the good folks at Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam where he received his Master (Research) in Theology and Religious Studies in 2018. He currently works as a social worker for a missionary NGO in the south part of São Paulo and in this interview I wanted to hear his perspective on theological training in his native Brazil and what it was like to study abroad. Enjoy!

Peter: Caio, tell us a little bit about your background and what got you interested in the Bible? What’s your primary area of research interest?

Caio: I am married to Dorothee and have a four year old son, Mikael. I am Brazilian and grew up in one of the largest cities of the world, São Paulo. When I was very young my mom went through a process of conversion, so I would go to an evangelical church on Sundays since I can remember. However, there were no religious disciplines in my household. In part because my father is not a Christian, nor religious in any sense, and in part because common Brazilian evangelicals, like my mom, do not integrate their faith with everyday routines. Nonetheless, I remember that at a certain age, my mom would read a Bible verse for me in the morning at breakfast, before I would go to school.

Two experiences in my life, roughly at the same period, got me interested in the Bible. The first was attending a Bible study service at my former church. The guest pastor, who is well known in the Brazilian evangelical context, was the first I saw to include some aspects of textual interpretation and theological implications. At the time this was very different from all the spiritual and life-lesson kind of approach to the Bible that I have known for a long time. It was more rational, organized and intellectually stimulating. The second was meeting my wife. She is Dutch and I met her in Brazil, when she was doing a short-term mission work at a children’s shelter near São Paulo. She comes from a family of several Christian generations. Her household dynamic was very different than mine. Christianity really formed how they lived and saw the world around them. And this was very clear in their strong missionary commitment. That made me realize how much the Bible could penetrate our own lives, but for that to happen I had to become familiar with it. These two experiences led me to commit to the study of the Bible and to missions in social ministries for children at risk in Brazil.

This last development also guided my research interests. After a couple of years flirting with Reformed theology, I got hooked by Biblical Theology during seminary, and the Bible was never the same again for me. I started seeing interesting possibilities of integrating my studies of the Bible and my interest in social issues. Thus, I started to research the Latter Prophets, especially the Book of the Twelve. For reasons that I do not recall clearly, I got interested in Temple and cultic matters. So, at the moment, my primary area of research is the theology of the cult in ancient Israel, including ritual analysis from an anthropological perspective. I am especially interested in commensality and family relations in the context of the ancient Israelite cult. From a broader perspective, my aim is to understand how household dynamics and practices inform the religious conceptions of ancient Israel. Looking at these matters from my missionary perspective, this is highly important in the Brazilian context. To look at cultic practices and religious conceptualizations with an eye on family dynamics and table fellowship might be fruitful for people living in shanty towns, where broken families abound and basic human necessities, like food, are scarce. Especially because in this exact context is where we can find the highest numbers of small Pentecostal churches.