A SCRIBE AND HIS MANUSCRIPT: AN INVESTIGATION INTO THE SCRIBAL HABITS OF PAPYRUS 46 (P. CHESTER BEATTY II – P. MICH. INV. 6238) by EDGAR BATTAD EBOJO A thesis submitted to The University of Birmingham for the degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY Department of Theology and Religion School of Philosophy, Theology and Religion College of Arts and Law The University of Birmingham 07 January 2014 University of Birmingham Research Archive e-theses repository This unpublished thesis/dissertation is copyright of the author and/or third parties. The intellectual property rights of the author or third parties in respect of this work are as defined by The Copyright Designs and Patents Act 1988 or as modified by any successor legislation. Any use made of information contained in this thesis/dissertation must be in accordance with that legislation and must be properly acknowledged. Further distribution or reproduction in any format is prohibited without the permission of the copyright holder. ABSTRACT This thesis is an investigation into the scribal habits of 46, attempting to enrich further the information database about the sociology of ancient book production and to explore how these habits might have affected the transmission of the texts of the New Testament in general and the corpus Paulinum in particular. Given this end, this thesis challenges the traditional methods of locating the “scribal habits” of a particular manuscript, specifically methods that are text-focused. Crucial to developing a viable methodology is articulating how the conceptual category of “scribal habits” is to be understood before we can sufficiently isolate them. Using an integrative approach (i.e., the composite employment of papyrology, codicology, palaeography, and textual criticism), this thesis proposes that “scribal habits” are to be found in everything that a particular scribe recurrently did and did not do in the manuscript, encompassing all the stages of its production and its eventual use. In regard to 46, this thesis finds the scribe in the same league with other ancient scribes as well as idiosyncratic in the ways he used his codex, copied the text of his exemplar, and employed existing systems and devices practised within the scribal profession. These scribal characteristics emphasise the “human” face of textual transmission of a “divine” book. ii DEDICATION This thesis is humbly dedicated to my ever-supportive wife and my joy- giving son, Irene and Dayao Nathan-El, who patiently and lovingly journeyed with me throughout the production of this thesis. iii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS This thesis is penned under my name, but behind its production are crisscrossing communities of wonderful people from different parts of the world who unselfishly journeyed with me through this stage of my life. While I cannot name them all, it is fitting to acknowledge some of them here. Professor David C. Parker, my Doktorvater, wholeheartedly supervised me, patiently and generously guiding me through all the stages of this research, and even went extra miles by giving me access to his own books and to the resources of the Institute for Textual Scholarship and Electronic Editing (ITSEE) to expand my research base and know-how. He also inculcated in me the valuable lesson that in textual studies nothing substitutes the examination of the actual manuscripts. He did his best to make my research achieve its fullest potential; the remaining inadequacies are all mine, however. His professional and personal commitment to my own academic growth is something to emulate—my sincerest thanks, David. My heartfelt appreciation also to Dr Dr Christina Kreinecker and Professor Larry Hurtado, my internal and external examiners, respectively, who provided encouragement and valuable suggestions on how to make this research even better. This research would have not come into fruition if not for the generous financial assistance and support from many quarters. Grateful acknowledgement is due to the Philippine Bible Society (PBS), the United Bible Societies (UBS), the Bible Society of Singapore (BSS), and the Langham Partnerships (LP), who all contributed to our funds during our stay in Birmingham. Special thanks are due to Dr Nora Lucero (PBS General Secretary), Rev Dr Daud Soesilo (UBS), Dr Lee Soo-Ann and Mr Kay Tham (BSS), Rev Dr Christopher Wright, Rev Dr Ian Shaw, and the LP-UK Scholarship Selection Committee, for facilitating all our financial provisions throughout our stay in the UK. The University of Birmingham community has immensely contributed to my academic development and in various forms also helped me in my research. From ITSEE, Dr Hugh Houghton has liberally lent me his personal copy of Kenyon’s facsimile of 46 throughout the production of this thesis (he also served as my PhD upgrade reader). Dr Rachel Kevern has supportively exposed me to various minuscule manuscripts in the holdings of IGNTP-ITSEE, honing my transcriptional skills in the process. Our term-time Tuesday seminars with ITSEE colleagues (Dr Philip Burton, Dr Rosalind MacLachlan, Dr Catherine Smith, and other PGRs) have in many respects facilitated refinements of my own research and broadened my appreciation for our chosen field. iv Through Prof Parker’s encouragement, in 2010 and 2011 I visited the Chester Beatty Library (Dublin, Ireland) and the Papyrological Collection of the University of Michigan (Ann Arbor, Michigan, USA) to conduct personal autopsy of the actual !46 leaves. I am very grateful to Dr Charles Horton (formerly CBL-Western Collection curator) and his staff as well as to Prof Arthur Verhoogt (PC-UM Executive Director) and Dr Adam Hyatt (former PC-UM Manager) for the permissions granting me access to examine !46 up-close-and-personal. Images in this thesis are courtesy of the holding institutions. In the early stages of my research, I have benefitted greatly from my interaction, formal and informal ones, with other scholars in the field. On sundry contexts Professor James Royse, Dr Dirk Jongkind, Dr Juan Hernández, Dr Peter Head, Dr Simon Crisp, Dr David Trobisch, Dr Tommy Wasserman, and Professor Michael Holmes all generously afforded me the honour and privilege of interacting with them and their own works relative to my research. These conversations eventually contributed in crystalizing my thinking about my own research goals and methodology. Apart from generous financial support, Langham Partnerships-UK also afforded me venues for professional and spiritual growth through the annual Langham Scholars’ Consultation in Cambridge, the family retreat at John Stott’s The Hookses in Wales, our frequent fellowship with the Christ Church family in Clifton, Bristol to represent the ministry of LP-UK, and liaising for my hosts in Dublin and Michigan during my autopsy visits. While at Birmingham, my family and I attended the Christian Life Centre for our spiritual nurture, through which we have come in contact with the Filipino Christian communities in Birmingham, a convergence that would change our lives forever. For more than four years we have been deeply encouraged and blest by the dedication of our compatriots to the work of the Lord and to one another, challenging me even more to look at my own research context as a venue for enriching our cultural database in a foreign land. My family is a constant source of encouragement and support, especially my ever loving parents, Osmundo and Erlinda, and my very sympathetic siblings, Eloisa, Erickson, Earvin, Christian, John Rick; it is an honour once more to express my gratitude to them for countless years of love and care, shown in so many ways. My life as a postgraduate researcher would have been a monotonously boring and difficult one if not for the welcome distractions from this thesis provided by Irene and Dayao Nathan-El; they have not only made my thesis complete, but they have also completed my life. Thank you so much for your selfless love and sacrifices. Finally, I give all glory and thanks to our God Almighty who enabled me to start and finish this thesis. Throughout this academic journey, I had only one battle cry: ! BY!GOD’S!GRACE,!FOR!HIS!GLORY!! v# # TABLE OF CONTENTS TITLE PAGE i ΑΒSTRACT ii DEDICATION iii ACKNOWLEDGMENT iv-v TABLE OF CONTENTS vi-xi LIST OF TABLES AND FIGURES xii-xiv ABBREVIATIONS xv-xvi INTRODUCTION 1-4 CHAPTER ONE PAPYRUS 46 IN ITS HISTORICAL FRAMEWORK 5-10 The Importance of the Chester Beatty Papyrus of Pauline Epistles 5 A. An Epoch-Making Discovery 5 B. Papyrus 46: The Earliest Extant Witness to the Corpus Paulinum 9 CHAPTER TWO PAPYRUS 46 AND ITS HISTORY OF RESEARCH 11-58 I. Transcriptions and Translations 12-18 A. Forming the Early Opinions on 46 12 B. Institution-based and other independent Transcriptions 17 II. 46 in the Context of Canonical Studies 18-29 A. Facts of the Case 18 B. The Question of Content 19 1. On Hebrews 19 2. On the Pastoral Epistles 23 C. The Question of Sequence 24 III. The Textual Character of 46 30-32 A. Kenyon’s Classification 30 B. Günther Zuntz’s Work on the Text of 46 31 vi IV. 46 in the Context of Scribal Studies 32-51 A. The Tendenzkritik of 46 33 1. Early Studies on Theological Tendencies and the Epp Model 33 2. On the Theological Tendencies of 46 36 B. “Singular Readings” as the Portal to Scribal Habits 37 1. The Colwell Method 37 2. The Royse Method 39 3. The Importance and the Impediments of the Colwell-Royse Methods 41 a. The Question of Definition 42 b. The Question of Presupposition 47 V. Re-Investigating the Evidence: Toward an Integrative Approach to the Study of the Scribal Habits of 46 52-58 A. The Imbalance in Assessing the Evidence of 46 52 B. Toward an Integrative Method in locating the Scribal Habits of 46 56 CHAPTER THREE PAPYRUS 46 AS AN ANCIENT MANUSCRIPT: 46 SCRIBAL HABITS IN THE PHYSICAL FEATURES OF 59-235 Chapter Introduction 59 Section One: “Single-Quire Papyrus Codex”: The Constitutive Elements of 46 60-118 Section Introduction 60 I.