Jewish and Christian Scripture as Artifact and Canon

Craig A. Evans, H. Daniel Zacharias, Craig A. Evans, H. Daniel Zacharias

• Publisher: T&T Clark
• Year: 2011
• Print ISBN: 9780567293299
• eBook ISBN: 9780567647030
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Theology & Religion
• Subtopic: Biblical Studies

Jewish and Christian Scripture as Artifact and Canon constitutes a collection of studies that reflect and contribute to the growing scholarly interest in manuscripts as artifacts and witnesses to early stages in Jewish and Christian understanding of sacred scripture. Scholars and textual critics have in recent years rightly recognized the contribution that ancient manuscripts make to our understanding of the development of canon in its broadest and most inclusive sense. The studies included in this volume shed significant light on the most important questions touching the emergence of canon consciousness and written communication in the early centuries of the Christian church. The concern here is not in recovering a theoretical "original text" or early "recognized canon, " but in analysis of and appreciation for texts as they actually circulated and were preserved through time. Some of the essays in this collection explore the interface between canon as theological concept, on the one hand, and canon as reflected in the physical/artifactual evidence, on the other. Other essays explore what the artifacts tell us about life and belief in early communities of faith. Still other studies investigate the visual dimension and artistic expressions of faith, including theology and biblical interpretation communicated through the medium of art and icon in manuscripts. The volume also includes scientific studies concerned with the physical properties of particular manuscripts. These studies will stimulate new discussion in this important area of research and will point students and scholars in new directions for future work.

1 L. W. Hurtado, The Earliest Christian Artifacts: Manuscript and Christian Origins (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2006), p. viii.

2 For a selection of studies, see E. G. Turner, Greek Manuscripts of the Ancient World (ed. P. J. Parsons; London: Institute of Classical Studies, 2nd edn, 1987); W. V. Harris, Ancient Literacy (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1989); H. Y. Gamble, Books and Readers in the Early Church (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1995); K. Haines-Eitzen, Guardians of Letters: Literacy, Power, and the Transmitters of Early Christian Literature (Oxford and London: Oxford University Press, 2000); A. Millard, Reading and Writing in the Time of Jesus (New York: New York University Press, 2000); H. G. Snyder, Teachers and Texts in the Ancient World: Philosophers, Jews and Christians (Religion in the First Christian Centuries; London and New York: Routledge, 2000). For important collections of studies, see L. V. Rutgers, P. W. van der Horst, H. W. Havelaar and L. Teugels (eds), The Use of Sacred Books in the Ancient World (CBET, 22; Leuven: Peeters, 1998); T. J. Kraus and T. Nicklas (eds), New Testament Manuscripts: Their Texts and Their World (TENT, 2; Leiden: Brill, 2006). For a study of pre-Masoretic Text Hebrew manuscripts, see E. Tov, Scribal Practices and Approaches Reflected in the Texts Found in the Judean Desert (STDJ, 54; Leiden: Brill, 2004).

3 For a selection of studies, see E. G. Turner, The Typology of the Early Codex (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1977); C. H. Roberts and T. C. Skeat, The Birth of the Codex (London: Oxford University Press, 1983); A. Grafton and M. Williams, Christianity and the Transformation of the Book: Origen, Eusebius, and the Library of Caesarea (London and Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2006).

4 For a selection of studies, see T. C. Skeat and B. McGing, ‘Notes on Chester Beatty Biblical Papyrus I (Gospels and Acts)’, Hermathena 150 (1991), pp. 21–25 + pl.; T. C. Skeat, ‘A Codicological Analysis of the Chester Beatty Papyrus of the Gospels and Acts (P⁴⁵)’, Hermathena 155 (1993), pp. 27–43; J. N. Birdsall, The Bodmer Papyrus of the Gospel of John (London: Tyndale, 1960); G. D. Fee, Papyrus Bodmer II (P66): Its Textual Relationships and Scribal Characteristics (Studies and Documents, 34; Salt Lake City: University of Utah, 1968); C. M. Martini, Il Problema della recensionalità del Codice B alla luce del Papiro Bodmer XIV (P⁷⁵) (AnBib, 26; Rome: Biblical Institute Press, 1966). Now especially see J. R. Royse, Scribal Habits in Early Greek New Testament Papyri (NTTS, 36; Leiden: Brill, 2008).

5 For a selection of studies, see H. J. M. Milne and T. C. Skeat, Scribes and Correctors of the Codex Sinaiticus (London: British Museum, 1938); E. J. Epp, The Theological Tendency of Codex Bezae Cantabrigiensis in Acts (SNTSMS, 3; Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1966); D. C. Parker, Codex Bezae: An Early Christian Manuscript and its Text (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1992); L. W. Hurtado, Text-Critical Methodology and the Pre-Caesarean Text: Codex W in the Gospel of Mark (Studies and Documents, 43; Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1981); L. W. Hurtado (ed.), The Freer Biblical Manuscripts: Fresh Studies of an American Treasure Trove (SBL Text-Critical Studies, 6; Atlanta: Society of Biblical Literature; Leiden: Brill, 2006). For very helpful bibliographies of scholarly studies of the papyri and majuscules, see K. Aland (ed.), Repertorium der griechischen christlichen Papyri. I. Biblische Papyri: Altes Testament, Neues Testament, Varia, Apokryphen (Patristische Texte und Studien, 18; Berlin and New York: de Gruyter, 1976); J. K. Elliott, A Bibliography of Greek New Testament Manuscripts (SNTSMS, 109; Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2005); D. C. Parker, An Introduction to the New Testament Manuscripts and their Texts (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2008).

6 For a selection of studies, see H. Y. Gamble, The New Testament Canon: Its Making and Meaning (Philadelphia: Fortress, 1985); B. M. Metzger, The Canon of the New Testament: Its Origin, Development, and Significance (New York: Oxford University Press, 1987); L. M. McDonald, The Biblical Canon: Its Origin, Transmission, and Authority (Peabody: Hendrickson, 2007). For a very important collection of studies, see L. M. McDonald and J. A. Sanders (eds), The Canon Debate (Peabody: Hendrickson, 2002).

7 W. A. Johnson, Bookrolls and Scribes in Oxyrhynchus (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2004).

8 A. K. Bowman et al. (eds), Oxyrhynchus: A City and its Texts (London: Egypt Exploration Society, 2007).

9 A. Jones, Astronomical Papyri from Oxyrhynchus (P.Oxy. 4133–4300a) (Memoirs of the American Philosophical Society, 233; Philadelphia: American Philosophical Society, 1999).

10 AnneMarie Luijendijk, Greetings in the Lord: Christian Identity and the Oxyrhynchus Papyri (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2009).

11 For another assessment of the papyri in a given location, see Jaakko Frösèn et al. (eds), The Petra Papyri, vols I and III (American Center of Oriental Research Publications, 4–5; Amman: American Center of Oriental Research, 2002, 2007). This work is not complete; further volumes are expected.

1 This article is a revised version of an earlier study on Greek oracle collections and Israelite literary prophecy (‘Literary Prophecy and Oracle Collection: A Comparison between Judah and Greece in Persian Times’, in Prophets, Prophecy, and Prophetic Texts in Second Temple Judaism [eds M. H. Floyd and R. D. Haak; Library of Hebrew Bible/Old Testament Studies, 427; New York and London: T & T Clark, 2006], pp. 248–75). When the editors of this volume approached me, it was my impression that my comparison of classical Greek oracle collections and Israelite literary prophecy has significant implications for the question of canon. Hence, I reworked my earlier study to include a perspective of canonical history. My revision does not include, however, an update concerning the recognition of scholarly literature. For his advice in classical studies, I am deeply indebted to my UNC colleague, Prof. Dr Zlatko Plese. Without his...

Table of contents

• Cover Page
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Contents
• Preface
• Abbreviations
• List of Illustrations
• List of Contributors
• Introducing Jewish and Christian Scripture As Artifact and Canon
• Oracle Collection and Canon: A Comparison Between Judah and Greece in Persian Times
• Artifactual and Hermeneutical Use of Scripture in Jewish Tradition
• Early Christian Manuscripts As Artifacts
• Physical Features of Excerpted Torah Texts
• Papyrus 967 and The Text of Ezekiel: Parablepsis or an Original Text?
• A Fragmentary Psalter from Karanis and Its Context
• ‘He That Dwelleth in the Help of the Highest’: Septuagint Psalm 90 and the Iconographic Program on Byzantine Armbands
• Public and Private – Second- and Third-Century Gospel Manuscripts
• A Johannine Reading of Oxyrhynchus Papyrus 840
• How Long and Old is the Codex of Which P.Oxy. 1353 Is A Leaf?
• Letter Carriers in the Ancient Jewish Epistolary Material
• ‘I Was Intending to Visit You, But ...’ Clauses Explaining Delayed Visits and Their Importance in Papyrus Letters and in Paul
• Advice to the Bride: Moral Exhortation for Young Wives in Two Ancient Letter Collections
• Scribal Tendencies in the Apocalypse: Starting the Conversation
• ‘A Thousand Books Will Be Saved’: Manichaean Writings and Religious Propaganda in the Roman Empire
• The Danish Hymnbook – Artifact and Text
• Towards A Sociology of Bible Promise Box Use
• The Bible As Icon: Myths of the Divine Origins of Scripture
• Appendix
• Index
• Footnote