Early Christian Manuscripts as Artifacts
What is a good source on Early Christian Manuscripts as Artifacts?
Comments
-
I don't understand the question. Manuscripts are by definition artifacts aren't they?
Orthodox Bishop Alfeyev: "To be a theologian means to have experience of a personal encounter with God through prayer and worship."; Orthodox proverb: "We know where the Church is, we do not know where it is not."
0 -
I am looking for studies on the story of the physical texts themselves in their archaeological form
0 -
Christian, search your Logos library, and if you don't find any good sources there, search the internet. You are working on a degree and supposed to be learning how to research, how to search for things, how to sift the good sources from the bad ones. You keep asking people on the forums to do your scholarship for you. You'll never learn to do it yourself if you don't ask the "how" questions but rather just the "give me the answers" questions.
It's like the old proverb, "Give a man a fish and he'll eat for a day; teach a man to fish and he'll eat for a lifetime." You keep asking people to give you fish. Ask them to teach you to fish.
0 -
Christian Alexander said:
What is a good source on Early Christian Manuscripts as Artifacts?
Some fishing thoughts: couple words in your request for sources occur less than others: Manuscripts & Artifacts.
Chapter 3: Is the New Testament Historically Reliable mentions the 2nd best manuscript authority is Homer's Iliad having 1,900+ manuscripts, which is greatly outnumbered by the New Testament:
Evidence That Demands a Verdict: Life-Changing Truth for a Skeptical World">
• Number of MSS: c. 5,8563
The current number according to the Institut für neutestamentliche Textforschung (Institute for New Testament Textual Research, hereafter the INTTR) in Münster, Germany, the official cataloger of Greek NT MSS, is c. 5,856. This includes papyri, majuscules, minuscules, and lectionaries (for more information about these manuscript types, see chapter 2). According to their tally from January 2017: minuscules = 2,937; majuscules (uncials) = 323; papyri = 131; lectionaries = 2,465 for a total of 5,856.
The official number of 5,856 requires some revision, however. One should deduct MSS that have gone missing, those that have been destroyed, and those that have been discovered to be a part of a known MS. According to Wallace, “The adjusted numbers, as of January, 2017, are now well over 5,600.” (Wallace, correspondence to J. McDowell and M. J. Tingblad, January 27, 2017)
Yet one could also add to that number the many (possibly hundreds) of manuscripts in private collections that have never been published. Additionally, discoveries made in recent years have not been factored into the official count. In the words of Wallace, “The multiple new discoveries of [Greek] biblical manuscripts are like a literary tsunami.” (Wallace, lecture, 2013)
Josh McDowell and Sean McDowell, Evidence That Demands a Verdict: Life-Changing Truth for a Skeptical World (Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 2017).
My initial Logos search of Books looks for articles/chapters => (field.heading:manuscript OR field.largetext:manuscript) NEAR artifacts found results in 6 resources.
Keep Smiling [:)]
0 -
Christian Alexander said:
What is a good source on Early Christian Manuscripts as Artifacts?
I would think journals having to do with biblical archaeology would be good sources. Here are the journals that I have in my library that I'd search in:
Start by making a collection that has as many of those as you own or can buy in it, using this rule:
type:(journal,magazine) publisher:(asor,archaeology)
Then do a Books search for manuscript (with all word forms turned on, so it will pick up "manuscript" or "manuscripts") in that collection. Poke through the search hits and you'll come across stuff that should help you.
Journals aren't cheap, and some of these aren't even available from Faithlife anymore. So this advice might be worthless.
I also went into my Library and typed early Christian manuscripts into the filter box (that's often my first stop when looking for useful resources; and if I don't find them in my own library, I do that same search on the Logos website to see if there are resources I want to buy to beef up my library).
That led me to a book I didn't remember that I had. This seems to be right up your alley: The Earliest Christian Artifacts: Manuscripts and Christian Origins by Larry Hurtado. Yeah, I know I said it's better to learn to fish than to be given the fish, but hopefully my explanation of my process in finding this book will help you in the future so you'll know how to search for them instead of expecting others to do those searches for you.
0 -
Christian Alexander said:
What is a good source on Early Christian Manuscripts as Artifacts?
I don't think it is in Logos, but Larry Hurtado's book "The Earliest Christian Artifacts: Manuscripts and Christian Origins" is the best place to start.
Edit: It is in Logos (thanks to the post above for including the link): https://www.logos.com/product/49945/the-earliest-christian-artifacts-manuscripts-and-christian-origins
Rick Brannan
Data Wrangler, Faithlife
My books in print0 -
My initial Logos search of Books looks for articles/chapters => (field.heading:manuscript OR field.largetext:manuscript) NEAR artifacts found results in 6 resources.
Found book The Earliest Christian Artifacts: Manuscripts and Christian Origins and five journals: Themelios 33:1 is free with discount code. Three of the five journals have reviews about The Earliest Christian Artifacts: Manuscripts and Christian Origins
Journal of Northwest Semitic Languages, Volume 8, 1980 has a book review about:
Robert T. Anderson, Studies in Samaritan Manuscripts and Artifacts. The Chamberlain-Warren Collection, 1978. The American Schools of Oriental Research.
F. C. Fensham, “Review of Studies in Samaritan Manuscripts and Artifacts. The Chamberlain-Warren Collection by Robert T. Anderson,” Journal of Northwest Semitic Languages 8 (1980): 107.
Journal of Northwest Semitic Languages, Volume 16, 1990 has an article
C. Searching the Holy Land for manuscripts and artifacts
J. P. J. Olivier, “The Dawn of Biblical Archaeology,” Journal of Northwest Semitic Languages 16 (1990): 136.
Master Journal Bundle 8.1 ships Apr 2023
Keep Smiling [:)]
0 -
I've always been a bit leary of the 'Christian codex' bandwagon. It seemed to me, there had to be 'more to the story'.
If you're a bit edgy on the claims, a good discussion (in Logos):
Bulletin for Biblical Research 1998 p151 Randolph Richards "the Codex and the Early Collection of Paul's Letters'
In it, you'll learn of the 'slow ooze' theory vs the 'big bang' theory. And the propensity to keep stacks of copies of letters ... Alexander accidentally burned his in his tent, and had to ask for copies.
0 -
Master Journal Bundle 8.1 ships Apr 2023
That's quite a hefty price for those who don't have any journals yet, even though it is the most cost-effective way to buy them.
But the nice thing is, once you start buying journal bundles, future upgrades are way more reasonable! [:)]
0 -
My initial Logos search of Books looks for articles/chapters => (field.heading:manuscript OR field.largetext:manuscript) NEAR artifacts found results in 6 resources.
Living & learning search syntax simplification => (heading:manuscript OR largetext:manuscript) NEAR artifacts
Keep Smiling [:)]
0
said:
