Some questions have been raised by Charles Halton and T. Michael Law about the suggestion that an authoritative copy of the Scriptures would have been maintained at the temple in Jerusalem, making discussions of the canon unnecessary prior to the destruction of the temple in AD 70. Law tweeted that there is “not a shred …
Category Archives: Manuscripts
Codex Sinaiticus: A Full Color Facsimile
Nearly all the sacred words are in these full color photos of the pounced parchment scribed with the ancient ink. Living words copied by three maybe four careful hands. God breathed words, every one true, every thought from man and from God. Every utterance worthy of trust. These leaves in these photos passed under no …
Review of Jongkind, Scribal Habits of Codex Sinaiticus
Dirk Jongkind, Scribal Habits of Codex Sinaiticus, Texts and Studies III.5. Piscataway: Gorgias, 2005. 323. ISBN: 9718-1-59333-422-2. $102.00. Printed Casebound. Published in Bulletin for Biblical Research 22 (2012): 260–62. Constantin von Tischendorf first visited St. Catherine’s monastery on Mt. Sinai in 1844. This eventually led to the 1862 publication of a typeset semi-facsimile of Codex …
Continue reading “Review of Jongkind, Scribal Habits of Codex Sinaiticus”
The Scribes Didn’t Just Copy the Text
They also left some comments in margins, like these listed by Tommy Wasserman: “New parchment, bad ink; I say nothing more. “I am very cold.” “That’s a hard page and a weary work to read it.” “Let the reader’s voice honor the writer’s pen.” “This page has not been written very slowly.” “The parchment is …
Wallace–Ehrman Debate DVD
This is nicely done trailer: From the CSNTM site: On October 1, 2011 Dr. Bart D. Ehrman and CSNTM’s Executive Director, Dr. Daniel B. Wallace, debated the reliability of the text of the New Testament at Southern Methodist University. This was the largest debate over the text of the New Testament in history. A professional …
NIV 2011 Removes Selah from the Biblical Text
Rod Decker has drawn attention to the fact that the NIV 2011 puts the term Selah in the footnotes rather than in the text of the Psalms, and he suggests that the word should never be verbalized by those who read Scripture aloud. I like Rod Decker, but I think his post may be self-contradictory …
Continue reading “NIV 2011 Removes Selah from the Biblical Text”
Perseus Classics Free for Logos
The Perseus Collections will be released from Logos on September 30, 2011. If you pre-order them, you get them free. You read that right – free if you pre-order. Tony Reinke writes: The collection is a library in itself of over 1,100 ancient Greek and Latin titles and includes many corresponding English translations and helpful …
How Should the Books of the OT Be Ordered?
English translations need to revisit the way that the books of the Old Testament are ordered. Let me put it another way: The only basis for the way that English translations order the books of the Old Testament is modern convention. The order we use today seems to have arisen with the printing press. There …
Continue reading “How Should the Books of the OT Be Ordered?”
Do You Preach the Superscriptions of the Psalms?
For some reason unbeknownst to me, English translations of the Psalms decided not to number the superscriptions of the Psalms. This breaks with other printed practice, since the superscriptions are numbered in printed editions of the Hebrew text as well as the Greek and Latin translations. The verse numbers are not original to the authors …
Continue reading “Do You Preach the Superscriptions of the Psalms?”
Review of Philip B. Payne’s “Man and Woman, One in Christ”
Man and Woman, One in Christ: An Exegetical and Theological Study of Paul’s Letters. By Philip B. Payne. Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2009, 511 pp, $29.99 paper. Published in Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society, 54.1 (2011), 177–79. Israel never had female priests. Jesus did not name any females as apostles. Peter instructed wives to submit …
Continue reading “Review of Philip B. Payne’s “Man and Woman, One in Christ””
P52: The Oldest Manuscript of the New Testament
Interesting video featuring Dirk Jongkind of Tyndale House: HT: JT
Review of Accordance
Accordance 9. By Oak Tree Software. 2010. Price varies depending upon the package purchased. (877) 339-5855. http://www.accordancebible.com. Having heard so many Mac users rave about both Apple machines and Accordance Bible Software, I determined that the next time a PC in my possession died, I would switch to a Mac to see what all the …
David C. Parker, Codex Sinaiticus: The Story of the World’s Oldest Bible
Hendrickson Publishers and the British Library have teamed up to produce a new facsimile of Codex Sinaiticus (best price here), an exciting piece of work I hope to say more about later. The facsimile is one of the results of an agreement between the Archbishop of Sinai, the Chief Executive of the British Library, the …
Continue reading “David C. Parker, Codex Sinaiticus: The Story of the World’s Oldest Bible”
Publications of Emanuel Tov
Tommy Wasserman points to an important resource: Emanuel Tov has graciously made available a large number of his publications on his website here, including his two volumes on Scribal Practices and Approaches Reflected in the Judean Desert. Congratulations! Those interested in OT Text Criticism will want to access this material.
Qumran Scrolls and the Date of Daniel
Here are some highlights from Gerhard Hasel’s essay, “The Book of Daniel Confirmed by the Dead Sea Scrolls,” Journal of the Adventist Theological Society 1/2 (1990): 37-49. “At this juncture we need to make the point that according to current historical-critical opinion with its ‘Maccabean hypothesis,’ the book of Daniel originated in its present form …
Free PDF of Leningrad Codex
Download a PDF of the manuscript behind BHS for free here. I searched the database for “Leningrad Codex” and the results of the search are on this page. It’s great to have these manuscripts, of course, but they’re worthless if unread. May we live in the book. HT: Charles Halton
Guide to the Dead Sea Scrolls by Craig Evans
You’ll want to avail yourself of this valuable, attractive new Holman QuickSource Guide to the Dead Sea Scrolls by recognized expert, Craig A. Evans. Have you ever thought to yourself: I know there is a pile of scholarly information on the Dead Sea Scrolls that I could wade through, but I’d love to be able …
Continue reading “Guide to the Dead Sea Scrolls by Craig Evans”
Are There Errors in the Bible?
I don’t think there are errors in the Bible, and I think that valid explanations can be given for difficulties that do exist. I started a new sermon series on Ezra – Nehemiah this morning at Kenwood, and I had planned to comment on some numerical discrepancies in the text. Because of time, I decided …
The Orthodoxy of the Text of the New Testament Audio
The audio from the Pros Apologian lecture I gave yesterday is here: “The Orthodoxy of the Text of the New Testament: Reasserting the Obvious.” Here’s an abstract of my presentation: The first chapter of Bart Ehrman’s book The Orthodox Corruption of Scripture suggests that our understanding of early Christianity needs to be radically revised, but …
Continue reading “The Orthodoxy of the Text of the New Testament Audio”
Review of Hurtado, Earliest Christian Artifacts
Larry W. Hurtado, The Earliest Christian Artifacts: Manuscripts and Christian Origins. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2006. 248pp. $22.00, paper. Larry Hurtado is on a mission to help Christians know their own treasures. In this book Hurtado makes pertinent observations on what can be known from the earliest Christian manuscripts. The five chapters of this volume are …
Continue reading “Review of Hurtado, Earliest Christian Artifacts”