beachbum

In the post about Manuscripts and the NT there is a lot of talk about scraps of manuscripts and such. It appears that the closest example of the bable that we hear so much about today did not really come into being until around 400 CE, ifs that about right? What book could I read that will geive me a good explaination of this. I am a novice to this research but not an idiot.

Thanks for all responses.

Stan the inquiring beachbum

Vinnie

I read Bruce Metzger's "The Text of the New Testament: Its Transmission, Corruption and Restoration". I thought it was good.

We have a fragment from the second century of the GJohn. Its called the Rylands fragment I think. Some might argue the 114 date can be off by 50 years. I've heard the claim but never studied it.

Earliest pieces, copies and full NT:
c. 114 (fragment)
c. 200 (books)
c. 250 (most of N.T.
c. 325 (complete N.T.)

I've read 325, not 400. Around 225 years for a complete one. I've heard that isn't too bad when compared with other ancient works.

Vinnie

CX

The Metzger book recommended by Vinnie is a good one. You might also try the book by the Alands (editors of the NA27 critical text) The Text of the New Testament an Introduction to the Critical Editions and to the Theory and Practice of Modern Textual Criticism . For a good intro to the NT and current scholarship I recommend Udo Schnelle's The History and Theology of the New Tesament Writings. It's a hard read geared toward first year NT students, but it makes an excellence reference for the academic concensus.

CX

The earliest fragments are 3 manuscript pieces from the 2nd century, P52 (the John Ryland's Fragment), P90 and possibly P98. Around the turn of the century (circa 200 C.E.)there are 3 or 4, P46 (one of the Beatty Papyri), P66 (one of the Bodmer papyri), P32 and P77(one of the Oxyrhynchus finds). In the 3rd century there are about 28 known MSS fragments mostly from the Oxyrhynchus finds. Of these the most substantial are P1 (from Oxyrhynchus comprising about 254 verses (23.72%) of GMt and P30 (another Oxyrhynchus find that includes about 25% of 2 Thessalonians).

The first mostly complete NT is a codex from the 4th century called Codex Sinaiticus (or denoted by the Hebrew letter "aleph"). I've been working on analysing the percentage of attestation from various manuscript types and periods, but I'm far from done looking at the 3rd century manuscripts.

Haran

Ah... Textual Criticism... I love it.

These have been mentioned already and are the two most prominent introductions to NT text criticism (I prefer the following reading order. The second book is probably more difficult to understand):

• <a href="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0195072979/qid=1019274516/sr=1-5/ref=sr_1_5/102-6769049-5205717" target="_blank">The Text of the New Testament: Its Transmission, Corruption, and Restoration, 3rd Edition, by Bruce Metzger (anything by Metzger is excellent...)</a>
• <a href="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0802840981/qid=1019274587/sr=1-5/ref=sr_1_5/102-6769049-5205717" target="_blank">The Text of the New Testament: An Introduction to the Critical Editions and to the Theory and Practice of Mdern Textual Criticism, 2nd Edition, by Kurt and Barbara Aland (Translated by Erroll F. Rhodes - originally in German)</a>

These introductions both talk about the earliest manuscripts, early versions (early translations in other languages), and new critical versions of the text. You will come away from having read these books with some excellent knowledge about what is underneath the Bible text.

You may want the most recent versions of the critical texts as well, the United Bible Societies (UBS) 4th Edition, and Nestle-Aland 27th Edition, since the introductions explain how to read their critical apparatus.

Here are some other interesting reads:

• Anything in the <a href="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0802824404/qid=1019275120/sr=1-7/ref=sr_1_7/102-6769049-5205717" target="_blank">Studies and Documents</a> series.
• <a href="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1565630378/qid=1019275499/sr=1-2/ref=sr_1_2/102-6769049-5205717" target="_blank">Introduction to New Testament Textual Criticism, by J. Harold Greenlee</a>
• <a href="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0801010748/qid=1019275415/sr=1-4/ref=sr_1_4/102-6769049-5205717" target="_blank">New Testament Textual Criticism: A Concise Guide, by David Alan Black</a>
• <a href="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0802818366/qid=1019275168/sr=2-3/ref=sr_2_3/102-6769049-5205717" target="_blank">Encountering New Testament Manuscripts: A working Introduction to Textual Criticism, by Jack Finegan</a>
• Early Manuscripts and Modern Translations of the New Testament, by Philip Wesley Comfort (unfortunately, I can't find this on amazon anymore)
• <a href="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0842352651/qid=1019275566/sr=1-2/ref=sr_1_2/102-6769049-5205717" target="_blank">The Text of the Earliest New Testament Greek Manuscripts, edited by Comfort and Barrett</a> (intros in english, text in greek)

Oh, so many more I could mention. I'd say start with the first two and see if you like it. If you make it through them, you may get hooked.

Haran

CX

Ditto. Incidentally, have you read Bart Ehrman's book The Orthodox Corruption of Scripture : The Effect of Early Christological Controversies on the Text of the New Testament? I'm curious if it's any good or too speculative and biased.

Haran

I have Ehrman's book and have glanced through it. I have not read it yet. Currently, I'm trying hard to digest Metzger's <a href="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0198261705/qid=1019497494/sr=1-2/ref=sr_1_2/102-2302911-9236134" target="_blank">The Early Versions of the New Testament</a>. It is a very difficult read but still very interesting and very much a gold mine of important information.

Actually, I've been reading TC stuff so hard lately that I had to take a break from "Versions" for the moment, so I'm doing some light pleasure reading...Dostoyevski's The Brothers Karamazov.

Haran