Byzantine text of John

The UBS edition of the Byzantine text of John has now gone live at the site http://www.iohannes.com/, where IGNTP material on John will be hosted. The editors, and especially Rod Mullen, are to be warmly congratulated.

NTTS+SD=NTTSD (New Testament Tools, Studies and Documents

Brill has recently announced a new book series - New Testament Tools, Studies and Documents. Editors are Bart D. Ehrman & Eldon Jay Epp.

Information from Brill:

"New Testament Tools, Studies, and Documents (NTTSD) combines two series, New Testament Tools and Studies (NTTS) and Studies and Documents (SD). The former was founded by Bruce M. Metzger in 1965 and edited by him until 1993, when Bart D. Ehrman joined him as co-editor. The latter series was founded by Kirsopp and Silva Lake in 1935, edited by them until the death of Kirsopp Lake in 1946, then briefly by Silva Lake and Carsten Hreg (1955), followed by Jacob Geerlings (until 1969), by Irving Alan Sparks (until 1993), and finally by Eldon Jay Epp (until 2007).

The new series will promote the publication of primary sources, reference tools, and critical studies that advance the understanding of the New Testament and other early Christian writings and writers into the fourth century. Emphases of the two predecessor series will be retained, including the textual history and transmission of the New Testament and related literature, relevant manuscripts in various languages, methodologies for research in early Christianity. The series will also publish a broader range of studies pertinent to early Christianity and its writings."

For those of you who have waited on James R. Royse's study of Scribal Habits in Early Greek New Testament Papyri finally to be published (the orginal dissertation on which it is based dates from 1981) will be pleased to hear that it is due this autumn (according to Brill's representative whom I met in Vienna). According to the gossip at the SBL in Vienna the delay of Royse's book on the part of the former publisher Eerdman's caused frustration for both the author Royse and the SD editor Epp and led the latter to turn to Brill which has now resulted in this permanent solution.

Another forthcoming volume of great interest is The New Testament in Greek IV: The Gospel According to St. John, Volume Two The Majuscules, Edited by U.B. Schmid, with W.J. Elliott and D.C. Parker

Two OT canon things

Another early testimony to the number of OT books.
I've been looking at the various early testimonia to the number of books in the OT. 22 (as in Josephus) and 24 (as in 4 Ezra and G. Thom.) are well-known. But Num. Rabbah (apparently - non vidi) lists 35, counting the Twelve as 12, not as 1. I recently came across a passage (well a series of passages, really) in Shepherd of Hermas which talk about 'the 35 prophets of God and his servants' (Herm. 92.4; cf. 81.3; 82.4). It seems pretty likely to me that this is also a number of OT books, given the early-ness of the count of 24, and given how easy it would be to count the Twelve as 12. I haven't seen an interpretation along these lines in any of the Hermas commentaries, though. Any thoughts?

First-century Esther Wirkungsgeschichte?
I've also come across a pretty early (possible/probable) reference to the name Esther. In JIWE I, #26, there's a first-century inscription about a "Claudia Aster", who was captured as a slave-girl from Jerusalem, presumably during the war or shortly after. Noy considers the name "Aster" to be a Latinisation of Esther. If he's right, this would be the earliest attestation of a person of this name (apart, of course, from the biblical lady herself). It might also be an example of the influence of the biblical book, and be an extra piece in the jigsaw of Esther's earliest impact.

Any thoughts?

Online Review of Two Gospels from One

On Michael Pahl's blog, the stuff of earth, he has made available a review of Michael Williams' Two Gospels from One: A Comprehensive Text-Critical Analysis of the Synoptic Gospels. The review was published in JETS 50:2 (2007): 392-94 and is now available online here. The book has been discussed previously on this blog here.

Epp on "A Variant-Conscious Approach to New Testament Textual Criticism"

Eldon Jay Epp, "It's All about Variants: A Variant-Conscious Approach to New Testament Textual Criticism", HTR 100 (2007), pp. 275-308. On-line here (HT: Jan Krans)

In this interesting article Epp discusses the purpose of NT TC as he sees it. He discusses a wide range of issues (in typical Epp style), and proposes a 'Variant-Conscious Edition' of the GNT in which the variants would be more clearly observable ('in your face') than in most editions and produces a sample for the ascension narratives (Luke 24.50-53; Acts 1.1-2, 9-11). As a closing paragraph he proposes the following definition:

• 'New Testament textual criticism, employing aspects of both science and art, studies the transmission of the New Testament text and the manuscripts that facilitate its transmission, with the unitary goal of establishing the earliest attainable text (which serves as a baseline) and, at the same time, of assessing the textual variants that emerge from the baseline text so as to hear the narratives of early Christian thought and life that inhere in the array of meaningful variants.' (p. 308)

It is an interesting article, it will helped me understand Epp's views better, and it has 97 footnotes full of interesting items (not all of them authored by Epp). The project seems worth pursuing, although as with most alternatives to NA, it makes you marvel at what NA packs into not very much space. I think in my current mood I'd rather write: "It's All about Manuscripts: A Manuscript-Conscious Approach to New Testament Textual Criticism".

The end of Judaism in Baghdad?

Time magazine has published an article on the last remnant of Jewry in Baghdad, here. The piece is a reminder of the significance that the city and the region had in antiquity.