Here are some excellent examples of the small-scale codex (technology in
development!) from very early times in Christian history, with major
importance for textcritical discussions of both LXX/OG and NT
developments. Only a few brief comments below....
> A Brief History of the Bible - 7
>
> The Chester Beatty Papyri - this is the name given to a group of papyri, in
> Codex form, most of which were acquired in 1931 by the American, A. Chester
> Beatty. He never let on exactly where he got hold of them, perhaps taking
> warning from Tischendorf's difference of opinion with the monks of Sinai.
Hummm. Yes, Beatty was born in NY in 1875, but became a naturalized
British subject in 1933; I don't know when he was knighted (Sir Alfred
Chester Beatty!), but he made fortunes in mining and industry and left his
collection of about 14,000 manuscripts to the Chester Beatty Library in
Dublin, as well as other gifts to the British Museum (e.g. Hieratic
papyri) and perhaps elsewhere. He died around 20 January 1968, for those
interested in obituary notices.
> It has been suggested that they may have formed part of the same library as
> the Bodmer papyri, but of this I know nothing. Perhaps Bob can enlighten us.
Jim Robinson (Claremont Grad Schools, emeritus) has investigated such a
possibility, I think, but I don't recall exactly the evidence. Both groups
include very early materials, relatively well preserved, and highly
significant for textcritical purposes. How they survived is an interesting
question!
>
> The surviving leaves comprise:
>
> 1. 50 leaves (of an original 66) of Genesis, 4th century;
> 2. 27 leaves (out of 84) of Genesis, 3rd century;
> 3. 50 leaves (out of 108) of Numbers and Deuteronomy, early 2nd century;
> 4. 1½ leaves of Ecclesiasticus (yes, I know - Siracides), 4th century;
> 5. portions of 33 leaves (out of 104) of Isaiah, 3rd century;
> 6. two small fragments of Jeremiah, 2nd century;
> 7. 50 leaves (out of 118) of Ezekiel, Daniel and Esther, 3rd century;
> 8. portions of 30 leaves (out of 220) of the Gospels and Acts, early 3rd
> century;
> 9. 86 leaves (out of 99) of the Pauline epistles, early 3rd century;
> 10. ten leaves (out of 32) of Revelation, 3rd century;
> 11. eight leaves containing the last eleven chapters of the apochryphal book
> of Enoch, and six containing part of a treatise on Christ's passion by
> Melito, Bishop of Sardis, 4th century.
Melito's Paschal Homily is also found among the Bodmer materials.
Fragments of both the Chester Beatty and the Bodmer collections also wound
up in other locations (Mississippi, Princeton, etc.).
> Some of these predate by a century or more our great vellum codices. Since
> the papyri were discovered only in 1931, they have only affected editions
> and translations of the latter half of our century. I quote from "The
> Cambridge History of the Bible", vol. 3, p. 378, on the Revised Standard
> Version:
>
> "In both Testaments use was made of the latest discoveries, both as to the
> text and as to the vocabulary, grammar and idioms of the biblical and
> related languages. In Isaiah, for example, the Revised Standard Version has
> thirteen readings drawn from the complete manuscript of Isaiah which is the
> best preserved of the Dead Sea Scrolls discovered in 1947. In Rom. viii.
> 28, the decisive evidence for the Revised Standard Version rendering was
> afforded by the Chester Beatty Papyri discovered in 1931: 'We know that in
> everything God works for good with those who love him.'"
> [cf. the King James Version, 'We know that all things work together for good
> to them that love God.']
>
> Oriens.
Bob
--
Robert A. Kraft, Religious Studies, University of Pennsylvania
227 Logan Hall (Philadelphia PA 19104-6304); tel. 215 898-5827
[log in to unmask]
http://ccat.sas.upenn.edu/rs/rak/kraft.html
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