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Number of Catalogued NT Manuscripts Continues to Grow

Friday, 04 September 2009

According to a post last week at Evangelical Textual Criiticism the latest figures of Greek New Testament manuscripts (NT MSS) stands at:

0125 Papyri (including the latest 1 Peter fragment but not the Hebrews MS)
0320 Uncials
2897 Minuscules
2438 Lectionaries
5780 TOTAL

Manuscripts (MSS) are hand-written documents. The earliest Greek NT MSS were written on papyrus and are referred to as "papyri." Papyrus texts of the NT begin dating from the early 2nd century. However, they are often fragmentary in nature, and there are far fewer papryi than other MSS. Uncials (written in an upper-case script) represent a later development in the text around the 3-4th centuries. Our earliest "complete" New Testament collections are Uncials which date from the 4-5th centuries. Minuscules represent MSS that were written in a flowing, lower-case script. These minuscules typically date from the 9th-10th centuries onward. Minuscules also represent the "majority" of our NT MSS, but it is important to remember they date considerably late in the textual process. Lectionaries are collections of NT textual references which also typically date from the 9th-10th centuries onward and were used as reading guides for Christian worship and reading.

The large number of NT MSS is important for evaluating both the development of the text and the textual consistency throughout the scribal process. Basically, the greater number of textual witnesses allows comparisons which provide a broad range of data for tracing the textual lineage of the New Testament. This provides textual critics with the evidence they need for (re)creating the eclectic Greek NT texts upon which modern translations are based. Since we have no documents containing the "autographs," or original copies, of the texts, text critics have to make their best educated guesses on what the earliest texts might have contained. If we only had a few MSS to compare, this process would be more difficult. It may surprise some that the critical Greek texts underlying English translations doesn't actually exist in any NT MSS. Critical texts are a mixture of the best readings from a large number of MSS. The good news is that the number of catalogued MSS continues to grow.

It terms of numbers of MSS, no other classical work comes close to the number of textual witnesses or MS support of the Greek NT has as a whole. However, it should be noted that until the 4th century the textual evidence for individual works within the NT (each Gospel, each Epistle, etc) is often fragmentary and may be more comparable to other classical works. The table below shows the contents of all the pre-4th century catalogued papyri.¹ Note that in this table the chapter content is "rounded" and not all references contain complete chapters. A complete list of references in early papryi follows the table.

Name	Date	Content	Ref #
$\mathfrak{P}^{52}$	150	John 18,31-33.37-38	Gr. P. 457
$\mathfrak{P}^{90}$	150	John 18-19 †	P. Oxy. 3523; 65 6 B. 32/M (3-5)a
$\mathfrak{P}^{98}$	150(?)	Revelation 1	P. IFAO inv. 237b
$\mathfrak{P}^{104}$	150	Matthew 21	P. Oxy. 4404
$\mathfrak{P}^{4}$	175-250	Luke 1-6	Suppl. Gr. 1120
$\mathfrak{P}^{75}$	175-225	Luke 3-18,22-24; John 1-15	P. Bodmer XIV, XV
$\mathfrak{P}^{32}$	200	Titus 1-2 †	P. Ryl. 5; G. P. 5
$\mathfrak{P}^{46}$	200	Ro 5-6,8-16; 1 Co; 2 Co; Gal; Eph; Php; Col; 1 Th; Heb	P. Chest. B. II Inv. 6238
$\mathfrak{P}^{64}$ = $\mathfrak{P}^{67}$	200	Matthew 3,5,26	Gr. 18 Inv. I
$\mathfrak{P}^{66}$	200	John	P. Bodmer II
$\mathfrak{P}^{67}$ = $\mathfrak{P}^{64}$	200	Matthew 3,5,26	Gr. 18 Inv. I
$\mathfrak{P}^{77}$	200	Matthew 23	P. Oxy. 2683
$\mathfrak{P}^{103}$	200	Matthew 13-14	P. Oxy. 4403
$\mathfrak{P}^{1}$	250	Matthew 1	P. Oxy. 2; E 2746
$\mathfrak{P}^{5}$	250	John 1,16,20	P. Oxy. 208. 1781; Inv. 782. 2484
$\mathfrak{P}^{9}$	250	1 John 4	P. Oxy. 402; Inv. 3736
$\mathfrak{P}^{12}$	250	Hebrews 1	Pap. Gr. 3; P. Amherst 3b
$\mathfrak{P}^{13}$	250	Hebrews 2-5,10-12	P. Oxy. 657; Inv. 1532 v PSI 1292
$\mathfrak{P}^{15}$	250	1 Corinthians 7-8	P. Oxy. 1008; JE 47423
$\mathfrak{P}^{20}$	250	James 2-3 †	P. Oxy. 1171; AM 4117
$\mathfrak{P}^{22}$	250	John 15-16 †	P. Oxy. 1228; MS 2-X.I
$\mathfrak{P}^{23}$	250	James 1 †	P. Oxy. 1229; G. P. 1229
$\mathfrak{P}^{27}$	250	Romans 8-9 †	P. Oxy. 1355; Add. 7211
$\mathfrak{P}^{28}$	250	John 6 †	P. Oxy. 1596; Pap. 2
$\mathfrak{P}^{29}$	250	Acts 26 †	P. Oxy. 1597; Gr. bibl. g. 4 (P)
$\mathfrak{P}^{30}$	250	1 Ths 4-5; 2 Ths 1	P. Oxy. 1598; Inv. 61
$\mathfrak{P}^{39}$	250	John 8	P. Oxy. 1780; Inv. 8864
$\mathfrak{P}^{40}$	250	Romans 1-4,6,9	P. Bad. 57; Inv. 45
$\mathfrak{P}^{45}$	250	Mt 20-21,25-26; Mk 4-9,11-12; Lk 6-7,9-14; Jn 4-5,10-11; Acts 4-17	P. Chest. B. I Pap. g. 31974
$\mathfrak{P}^{47}$	250	Revelation 9-17	P. Chest. B. III
$\mathfrak{P}^{48}$	250	Acts 23	PSI 1165
$\mathfrak{P}^{49}$	250	Ephesians 4-5	P. 415
$\mathfrak{P}^{53}$	250	Matthew 26; Acts 9-10	Inv. 6652
$\mathfrak{P}^{65}$	250	1 Thessalonians 1-2	PSI 1373
$\mathfrak{P}^{69}$	250	Luke 22	P. Oxy. 2383
$\mathfrak{P}^{70}$	250	Matthew 2-3,11-12,24	P. Oxy. 2384 CNR 419, 420
$\mathfrak{P}^{80}$	250	John 3	Inv. 83
$\mathfrak{P}^{87}$	250	Philemon	Theol. 12
$\mathfrak{P}^{91}$	250	Acts 2:30-37; 2:46-3:2	P. Mil. Vofl. Inv. 1224 P. Macquarie inv. 360
$\mathfrak{P}^{95}$	250	John 5	PL II/31
$\mathfrak{P}^{101}$	250	Matthew 3-4	P. Oxy. 4401
$\mathfrak{P}^{106}$	250	John 1	P. Oxy. 4445
$\mathfrak{P}^{107}$	250	John 17	P. Oxy. 4446
$\mathfrak{P}^{108}$	250	John 17/18	P. Oxy. 4447
$\mathfrak{P}^{109}$	250	John 21	P. Oxy. 4448
$\mathfrak{P}^{111}$	250	Luke 17	P. Oxy. 4495
$\mathfrak{P}^{113}$	250	Romans 2	P. Oxy. 4497
$\mathfrak{P}^{114}$	250	Hebrews 1	P. Oxy. 4498
$\mathfrak{P}^{118}$	250	Romans 15-16	Inv. 10311
$\mathfrak{P}^{119}$	250	John 1	P. Oxy. 4803^[7]
$\mathfrak{P}^{121}$	250	John 19	P. Oxy. 4805^[9]
$\mathfrak{P}^{7}$	300(?)	Luke 4	Petrov 553
$\mathfrak{P}^{16}$	300	Philippians 3-4	P. Oxy. 1009; JE 47424
$\mathfrak{P}^{18}$	300	Revelation 1 †	P. Oxy. 1079; Inv. 2053v
$\mathfrak{P}^{37}$	300	Matthew 26	P. Mich. 137; Inv. 1570
$\mathfrak{P}^{38}$	300	Acts 18-19	P. Mich. 138; Inv. 1571
$\mathfrak{P}^{72}$	300	1 Peter; 2 Peter; Jude	P. Bodmer VII, VIII
$\mathfrak{P}^{78}$	300	Jude	P. Oxy. 2684
$\mathfrak{P}^{92}$	300	Ephesians 1; 2 Thessalonians 1	PNarmuthis 69.39a/229a
$\mathfrak{P}^{100}$	300	James 3-5	P. Oxy. 4449
$\mathfrak{P}^{102}$	300	Matthew 4	P. Oxy. 4402
$\mathfrak{P}^{110}$	300	Matthew 10:13-15,25-27	P. Oxy. 4494
$\mathfrak{P}^{115}$	300	Revelation 2-3,5-6,8-15	P. Oxy. 4499
$\mathfrak{P}^{125}$ ^[11]	300	1 Peter 1:23-2:5; 2:7-12	P. Oxy. 4934

The content of the earliest papyri is represented as follows:²

Matt 1:1-26:53; Mark 4:36-12:28; Luke 1:58-24:53; John 1:0-21:25; Acts 2:30-26:20; Rom 1:24-16:27; 1 Cor 1:0-16:24; 2 Cor 1:0-13:13; Gal 1:0-6:18; Eph 1:0-6:24; Phil 1:0-4:23; Col 1:0-4:18; 1 Thess 1:0-5:28; 2 Thess 1:1-2:12; Titus 1:7-2:8; Phlm 1:13-25; Heb 1:1-13:25; Jas 1:10-5:4; 1 Pet 1:0-5:14; 2 Pet 1:0-3:18; 1 John 4:11-17; Jude 1:0-25; Rev 1:4-17:2

¹ Modified from content found at: “List of All Registered New Testament Papyri,” http://en.wikipedia.org /wiki/List_of_New_Testament_papyri# List_of_all_registered_New_Testament_papyri (accessed September 4, 2009).

² A summary of the references found in Philip W. Comfort and David P. Barrett, eds. The Text of the Earliest New Testament Greek Manuscripts, Second (Tyndale House Publishers, 2001).

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The Feel of the Text: Style-Sensitive Gospel Translations

Friday, 28 August 2009

It's difficult to capture the "feel" of a translated text. This is as true for popularly published English translations of the Bible as any other translation. The tension of literal vs. "dynamic equivalent" translation, mixed with often overly homogenized attempts to both provide "proper grammer" and navigate the changes in popular language get in the way of capturing the style/feel of the individual text in in the original language. The end result in most English New Testaments is that Mark reads just like Luke who also happens to read just like Paul (who even strangely reads like the writers of the Hebrew Scriptures). This is not, however, the sense one gets when reading the text in the original languages. As I'm working my way through the synoptics in Greek, what I'm actually finding is that it is almost the opposite effect, as Matthew and Luke clearly have their own voices in their modification of the Marcan narrative. As John Hobbins at writes:

What would happen if the Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek of the Bible were translated with the goal of transferring to a receptor language the flavor of its various parts in terms of style and register? If that were done, the gospel of Mark would come across as plain-speaking and a bit choppy, the gospel of Luke as relatively refined, Isaiah and Job as magnificent poetry, Qohelet as written in a style that gives form to its writer’s dyspepsia, the letters of Paul, as replete with difficult, dialectical argument. Revelation would come across as borderline ungrammatical in several passages; the rough patches in Ezekiel, too, would stand out in translation.

Both John Hobbins and Doug Chaplin have both presented their own "style-sensitive" translations of Gospel passages. John presents a "Style-Sensitive Translation of Luke 1:1-4", and Doug does his own take on Mark in "Translating rough texts: making Mark sound a bit less polished".

I encourage you to give them a read.

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Sensationalism and Scholarship

Friday, 28 August 2009

Robert Cargill addresses an example of why the gap between scholarship and the general public needs to be bridged:

Members of the academy must take individual responsibility and make conscious efforts to rebut examples of obvious disinformation whenever and wherever they arise. Likewise, archaeologists must band together and coordinate their efforts to meet these misleading claims as strongly and consistently as possible. For in a world where Wikipedia allows anyone to say just about anything, scholars must move beyond their comfortable arenas of peer-review and professional conferences, where they talk only to one another, and redouble our efforts to reach out to the public directly. We must counter irresponsible claims with measured responses, debunk and discredit them, and offer alternative theories from a spectrum of reliable scholars who, while they may at times disagree, can support their various claims with scientific facts, tangible data, and sound reason.

This is the intro. Be sure to read the whole article on the Copper Scroll "Code" sham.

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New Fragment of Hebrews Found

Friday, 28 August 2009

Via Evangelical Textual Criticism:

Today Claire Clivaz announced on the textual criticism discussion list that a new papyrus manuscript, PSI 1497, has been registered as P126. The fragment contains Heb 13:12-13, 19-20 and is dated to the fourth century . . . <more>

Very Cool.

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I've Made More Baraq/Lightning Discoveries

Wednesday, 12 August 2009

Having been introduced to the Barack -> Satan falling like lightning connection , I thought I should examine other potentially prophetic statements about Barack Obama in the Gospels. Lo and behold! I have found Scripture that clearly refers to Barack:

Matt 24:27 For as the lightning comes from the east and flashes as far as the west, so will be the coming of the Son of Man.

As Baraq/barack ["Baw-rawk"] comes from the East (born in Honolulu...which is basically Asia and then time as a child in Indonesia) and flashes as far as the West (the U.S. mainland), so will be the coming of the Son of Man. The Messiah will be born in Hawaii and come to America, become a Senator, and then President!