Novum Testamentum Patristicum

Friday was the last full day at SNTS and I bought about one shelf-worth of books (apologies to my wife, Kathryn). Anyway, on the last evening I got talking to Prof. Martin Meiser, presently at Münster but not at the INTF, and thereby became aware of the project Novum Testamentum Patristicum whose homepage is here. Meiser is preparing the volume on Galatians which should be one of the first to appear (next year). The project does not appear to be particularly directed towards textual criticism, but, nevertheless, its study of Patristic citation of the NT might well provide textual critics with useful information. For some parts it appears that we will have some time to wait. Andreas Merkt, one of the editors, is projected to produce a volume on John 18-21 in 2015, but the rest of John is unassigned. It looks therefore unlikely that the IGNTP will be able to benefit from Novum Testamentum Patristicum for its own edition of John.

Leon Lamb Morris (15.3.1914 – 24.7.2006)

Just a note to say that Leon Morris died on Monday, aged 92 (obituary). He wasn't a textual critic so I wondered whether to mention it on this blog. So I'll just keep it personal: I have some notes - somewhere - which came from him on the subject of NT textual criticism which were part of my first introduction to the subject in 1983. He may not have been a textual critic, but for some of us in/from Melbourne he practically defined what it meant to be an evangelical NT scholar, and first and foremost he was a Greek New Testament man. I was a young man starting out in theological study when I heard him preach three messages straight from his Greek New Testament - these were very calm and quiet expositions, absolutely nothing flashy - on the subject of NT teaching about the atonement. They remain quietly inspirational.

Yet more from SNTS

SNTS has been continuing apace. We're due to go to Drum Castle tonight. The buses are just waiting outside my window.

I've been acquiring lots of books. I did not previously know about:

Bernhard Mutschler, Das Corpus Johanneum bei Irenäus von Lyon (WUNT 189; Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 2006). XV + 629 pages, which I couldn't resist.

Prof. Tjitze Baarda (Amsterdam) kindly gave me a copy of his book, Early Transmission of Words of Jesus: Thomas, Tatian and the Text of the New Testament (VU Boekhandel, 1983), which is a collection of his essays.

The textual criticism section today was Josep Rius-Camps giving a paper entitled 'The Pericope of the Adulteress Reconsidered: The Nomadic Misfortunes of a Bold Pericope'. The thesis was, to say the least, unusual and I cannot say that everyone was convinced (understatement). He argued that the PA was originally part of Mark, whence it got into Luke. It was then chopped out of Mark and Luke, was transmitted separately for a wee while and then put into John. The evidence that it comes from Mark, I hear you asking: the PA in D (Bezae) contains 3 historic presents and these are often found in Mark.

Latin Psalms in an Irish bog

CNN report a 8-10th century ms of the Latin Psalms found in an Irish bog.

[Per Rob Price, Aberdeen]

More live from SNTS

This morning saw John Kloppenborg talking about the book of James. In his Captatio Benevolentiae he quipped that he had moved from studying a text that did not exist to one about which no one knows anything. He is of course a world expert on Q (as well as Q1, 2 and 3).

He proposed emending James 2:1 to omit 'Jesus Christ' so that the whole letter could be read as by someone who followed Jesus Christ (1:1) but was feigning to write to Jews (12 tribes of 1:1) who were wider than just followers of Jesus.

Larry Hurtado picked him up on his cavalier emendation—the main reading of NA27 explains the other readings. Kloppenborg seemed to find the Greek construction so amazingly difficult that emendation had to be used.

The news on the ground is that Cambridge have now appointed their new chair of New Testament. I'm not sure yet whether I am able to announce the name.

Ethiopic Gospel of John

For those of us who like to read Ge'ez, the Ethiopic Gospel of John is now available:

Wechsler, Michael G., Evangelium Iohannis Aethiopicum, CSCO 617, Leuven: Peeters, 2005.

with an introduction, mentioning the kind of text Eth John reflects (mixed, as you might have guessed). The main corpus is a critical edited text of Eth John, based on the earliest Ethiopic MSS. Besides, an additional chapter lists minor variants, and another one has suggestions for the NA27 text, in Greek (for that, you do not need Ge'ez!).

It seems to be a thoroughly edited work, which will be very helpful in the future editions of the IGNTP / ECM Gospel of John volumes. In the foreword, he acknowledges, besides others, the help of R. Zuurmond (who edited Eth Mark & Matthew) and of God (who, according to him, seems to have been somehow involved in the production of the Greek Vorlage ...).

Anyone who wants to know more about the Ethiopic Bible: Take a look at the Encyclopaedia Aethiopica, Vol. I and II are now out (Harrassowitz, Wiesbaden). Look for the article "Bible" in Vol. 1. Very helpful.