Peter Kirby

I have four ideas for making a book, and I wanted to guage which ones generate the most interest.

The first idea is to republish J. Tixeront's "Handbook of Patrology" (1920) in paperback.

The second idea is to republish Charles's "The Apocrypha and Pseudepigrapha of the Old Testament" in either multiple paperbacks, or in a reduced version of the Pseudepigrapha. Your call.

The third idea is to make a "New Testamant Catena" book (perhaps titled "The New Testament as Annotated by the Church Fathers") that is essentially my e-Catena, but improved. It would have the complete text of the New Testament (in the KJV or ASV or Goodspeed's American Translation--I'm not sure, give me a suggestion--the only reason I suggest KJV is that this approximates well what the ANF translators were most influenced by) and the quotes of the Church Fathers would be in footnotes, cleaned up and quoted enough to get the sense.

The fourth idea is to make "The Greek New Testament in the Parallel Alexandrian, Western, and Byzantine Forms." This would have the complete text of the Codex Vaticanus, Codex Sinaiticus, Codex Bezae, and Robinson's Byzantine text in four lines that are made parallel to each other, kind of like an interlinear, but all in Greek.

Which sounds the most attractive to you? The least attractive? What suggestions would improve on the idea? What would the books be worth to you?

Thanks for your help.

best wishes,
Peter Kirby (who is currently entering Early Christian Writings into a searchable database)

Chris Weimer

I like the last idea, except what about when you have corrections, like the duplicate versions of Sinaiticus etc...?

Peter Kirby

I was thinking of using footnotes for the revisor.

best wishes,
Peter Kirby

S.C.Carlson

1920? A good, cheap patrology would be nice, since Quasten from the 1950s is already getting long in the tooth. If Tixeront is not brought up to date, however, I'm not sure it would be worthwhile.

The market might become too crowded here because the University of St. Andrews just got a major grant to bring the OT Pseudepigrapha online (see here for more).

How would this compete with the Ancient Christian Commentary on Scripture series?

Reuben Swanson has been doing this and has already completed Matthew through Romans plus Galatians, only with about 60-100 Greek manuscripts. I think he's arranged for Kent Richards to take the project over.

I'm not saying that these are bad ideas. On the contrary, I think that they are so good that you'll have to deal with competition.

Stephen

Diogenes the Cynic

I like the Greek idea. I would buy that book.

Chris Weimer

Why not just write your own commentary on a book? That's what Vork did (Mark) and what I'm doing with Matthew.

Peter Kirby

I would not like to write a full commentary on a New Testament book. It's a major endeavor just to get up to date on the literature. Markus Barth, who wrote the Anchor Bible Commentary on Ephesians, turned down the offer to make another one for fear that death would claim him first.

Maybe a commentary on a non-NT book? Which extant non-NT book(s) would you like to see commentaries on?

best wishes,
Peter Kirby

Peter Kirby

Brought up to date how? Updated bibliographies? Revised entirely?

I went to the link, and if I read it right, it looks like they will be bringing to print more Old Testament Pseudepigrapha in English translation. So there is still room for a reprint of R. H. Charles, as long as it is priced competetively with Charlesworth.

I might as well, since I've already scanned the thing in and proofread it twice.

I would try to include everything--every quotation or footnoted reference--from the Ante-Nicene period, instead of selecting orthodox writers from the first seven centuries. I might even write some trick software to find additional references (not noted in the ANF) through the TLG, based on comparing Greek words.

Do you know how much it costs or will cost?

Thanks Stephen. Your comments are helpful. As always!

I have a fifth idea, for which I already have a voice actor and sound technician lined up. It is to produce an audiobook of the Apostolic Fathers. Without the Shepherd of Hermas, it would include 4 audio CD's and would cost about $40. That way people can listen to the texts while in the car or whatever, instead of having to read. Does anyone have any suggestions about that; would they buy it or recommend it to a friend? Would anyone want to have audiobooks of other texts?

best wishes,
Peter Kirby

Jayhawker Soule

Without English translations?

Isaiah.

S.C.Carlson

Definitely updated bibliographies, but also keeping up with new manuscript discoveries and the changes in attribution for many of the works. For example, some of pseudo-Chrysostom homilies on Matthew are now assigned to Chromatius. That's not in Quasten, but was figured in the late 1960s.

As another example, the state of the Hippolytean corpus is a mess.

That's your business decision.

I hope this means that you won't take e-Catena off-line.

About $20-$40 a book, so not particularly cheap. If you limited it to the four and provide an English translation of them, that would be different from what's out there. I think there's a fair number of people who are interested in seeing how much of a practical effect the textual differences really amount to.

You're welcome.

I'm not into audiobooks, so someone else should comment.

Stephen