DOCSLIB.ORG

This Book Is About One Big Question: Did Jesus of Nazareth Claim To

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
This Book Is About One Big Question: Did Jesus of Nazareth Claim To 1 The Quest for Jesus This book is about one big question: Did Jesus of Nazareth claim to be God? The seeds of my interest in who Jesus really claimed to be were first planted back in the early 1990s, when I was an undergraduate at Louisiana State University. I still remember vividly the day I walked into one of my introductory level classes, very excited to begin learning about the Bible. Although I had grown up Catholic and had even spent a fairly good deal of time reading the Scriptures, I had never before had the opportunity to study the Bible in an in- depth way. At the time, I was especially excited to begin studying the Gospels. For me, the Gospels were the most familiar part of the Bible, and my personal favorite. In particular, I was hoping that I would be able to learn more about Jesus. As a Christian, I had always believed that Jesus was the divine Son of God, fully God and fully man. I worshiped him and tried to the best of my ability (which was often quite lacking) to live according to his teachings. So when it came time in the class- room to turn to Jesus and the Gospels, I was all ears. Needless to say, I was somewhat taken aback when the professor began by saying: Pitr_9780770435486_4p_all_r1.e.indd 1 11/16/15 11:26 AM the case for jesus 2 “Forget everything you thought you knew about who wrote the Gos- pels.” What was that? At the time, I was vigorously trying to take notes, so I couldn’t quite digest what the professor had said. He continued: “Although your English Bibles say ‘The Gospel according to “Mat- thew,” “Mark,” “Luke,” and “John,” ’ these titles were actually added much later. In fact, we don’t really know who wrote the Gospels. Nowa- days, modern scholars agree that the Gospels were originally anony- mous.” Got it. Titles added later. Gospels originally anonymous. Wait a minute! I thought. We don’t know who wrote the Gospels? What about Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John? Weren’t they disciples of Jesus? (As we will see in chapter 2, I was wrong to think Mark and Luke were disciples.) At the time, these questions flashed through my mind in a matter of moments. Being a zealous undergraduate intent on getting straight A’s, I was more focused on writing down the professor’s words than on processing them. All the same, I do remember being struck by a thought. If what he was saying was true— which, of course, I never doubted, since I was an ignoramus and he was the professor—then how do we know what Jesus actually did and said? And, in fact, that is exactly what he proceeded to talk about: the so- called “quest for the historical Jesus,” in which modern scholars search for the truth about what Jesus really did and said, using contemporary tools of historical research. Despite my initial surprise at the idea that we don’t know who wrote the Gospels, the whole notion of the quest for Jesus still fas- cinated me. After all, Christianity is a historical religion which claims that the God who made the universe actually became a man— a real human being who lived in a particular time and in a particular place. As a result, the idea of searching for the historical truth about Jesus made sense to me. So, somewhat blindly, that’s what I set out to do. Pitr_9780770435486_4p_all_r1.e.indd 2 11/16/15 11:26 AM 3 The Quest for Jesus The Telephone Game On the one hand, as I began to devour a steady stream of books about Jesus, I felt as if my whole understanding of him and his world was being opened up in new and exciting ways. For one thing, I began taking courses in ancient Greek so that I could learn to read the New Testament in its original language. It was thrilling. As a result, I added a religious studies major to my program in English literature and de- cided to spend my life teaching and writing about the Bible. Eventu- ally, I was admitted to a master’s program at Vanderbilt University, which kicked off with a rigorous regimen of learning ancient Hebrew. I even had the privilege of studying under Amy- Jill Levine, a Jewish professor of the New Testament.1 Unlike some professors these days, who seem to make it their goal to tear down their students’ faith, Dr. Levine was always extremely respectful of and concerned for her stu- dents’ beliefs. Even more, she sought to enrich our faith by helping us to see Jesus and the New Testament through ancient Jewish eyes. This was a life- changing gift for me. In fact, as we will see later, it was pre- cisely her teaching us how to interpret the words and deeds of Jesus in their first- century Jewish context that would eventually help me to see clearly the Jewish roots of Jesus’s divinity. Without the insights I learned from her, I could never have written this book. On the other hand, in the meantime, something else began to hap- pen. I also began to encounter ideas about Jesus and the Gospels that were difficult to reconcile with what I had grown up believing. For ex- ample, in addition to the theory that the Gospels were originally anon- ymous, I learned that many modern scholars believe that the Gospels are not biographies of Jesus, that they were not authored by disciples of Jesus, and that they were written too late in the first century AD to be based on reliable eyewitness testimony. One of the textbooks I learned from— written by the now famous atheist New Testament scholar Bart Ehrman— even compares the way we got the accounts of Jesus in the Gospels to the children’s game of Telephone! These are the words I read all those years ago: Pitr_9780770435486_4p_all_r1.e.indd 3 11/16/15 11:26 AM the case for jesus 4 [N]early all of these storytellers had no independent knowledge of what really happened [to Jesus]. It takes little imagination to real- ize what happened to the stories. You are probably familiar with the old birthday party game “telephone.” A group of kids sits in a cir- cle, the first tells a brief story to the one sitting next to her, who tells it to the next, and to the next, and so on, until it comes back full circle to the one who started it. Invariably, the story has changed so much in the process of retelling that everyone gets a good laugh. Imagine this same activity taking place, not in a solitary living room with ten kids on one afternoon, but over the expanse of the Roman Empire (some 2,500 miles across), with thousands of participants.2 We’ll revisit the idea of the Telephone game later on in this book. As we will see, this so- called “analogy” is completely anachronistic and has no place in any serious historical study of Jesus and the Gospels.3 But I didn’t know that seventeen years ago. At the time, let’s just say that it didn’t exactly inspire confidence in me that the four Gospels were historically reliable. To make matters even more complicated, I also discovered that there were lots of other ancient gospels outside the New Testament that I had never heard about before. In fact, some scholars argued that these “lost gospels,” especially the Gospel of Thomas, should get equal treatment as historical sources in the quest for Jesus. After all, if the four Gospels weren’t based on eyewitness tes- timony, why should we trust them instead of the lost gospels? Finally, and most significant of all, I began to realize that many contemporary New Testament scholars do not believe that Jesus of Nazareth ever ac- tually claimed to be God. Of all the ideas that I encountered, this last one shook me to my core. Liar, Lunatic, Lord, or Legend? Don’t get me wrong. It wasn’t as if I had never before come across the idea of someone not believing in the divinity of Jesus. To the contrary, when I was an undergraduate, I had read very closely C. S. Lewis’s famous book Mere Christianity, in which he explains some of Pitr_9780770435486_4p_all_r1.e.indd 4 11/16/15 11:26 AM 5 The Quest for Jesus the reasons he converted from atheism to Christianity. In that book, Lewis gives a classic argument against the common idea that Jesus was just a great moral teacher or a prophet. In Lewis’s own words: I am trying here to prevent anyone saying the really foolish thing that people often say about Him: “I’m ready to accept Jesus as a great moral teacher, but I don’t accept his claim to be God.” That is the one thing we must not say. A man who was merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher. He would ei- ther be a lunatic— on the level with the man who says he is a poached egg— or else he would be the Devil of Hell. You must make your choice. Either this man was, and is, the Son of God, or else a madman or some- thing worse. You can shut him up for a fool, you can spit at him and kill him as a demon or you can fall at his feet and call him Lord and God, but let us not come with any patronising nonsense about his being a great human teacher.
Load more

Recommended publications
  • This Thesis Has Been Submitted in Fulfilment of the Requirements for a Postgraduate Degree (E.G
    This thesis has been submitted in fulfilment of the requirements for a postgraduate degree (e.g. PhD, MPhil, DClinPsychol) at the University of Edinburgh. Please note the following terms and conditions of use: • This work is protected by copyright and other intellectual property rights, which are retained by the thesis author, unless otherwise stated. • A copy can be downloaded for personal non-commercial research or study, without prior permission or charge. • This thesis cannot be reproduced or quoted extensively from without first obtaining permission in writing from the author. • The content must not be changed in any way or sold commercially in any format or medium without the formal permission of the author. • When referring to this work, full bibliographic details including the author, title, awarding institution and date of the thesis must be given. SCRIBAL HABITS IN CODEX SINAITICUS, VATICANUS, EPHRAEMI, BEZAE, AND WASHINGTONIANUS IN THE GOSPEL OF MATTHEW GREGORY SCOTT PAULSON A DISSERTATION SUBMITTED TO THE UNIVERSITY OF EDINBURGH, NEW COLLEGE IN CANDIDACY FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY EDINBURGH, UK 2013 The thesis has been composed by the candidate and is the candidate’s own work. Gregory Scott Paulson, Ph.D. candidate ii TABLE OF CONTENTS Title Page..................................................................................................... i Declaration................................................................................................... ii Table of Contents........................................................................................
    [Show full text]
  • Text of the Gospel of Mark: Lake Revisited
    BABELAO 3 (2014), p. 145-169 + Appendix, p. 171-289 © ABELAO (Belgium) The « Caesarean » Text of the Gospel of Mark: Lake Revisited By Didier Lafleur IRHT - Paris n the field of history and practice of New Testament textual criticism, two major stages were initiated during the last cen- tury by Kirsopp Lake. The first of these was the publication, Iin 19 02, of a survey concerning Codex 1 of the Gospels and its Allies, in the Texts and Studies series (7:3). The second stage was the pub- lication, in 1928, with Robert P. Blake and Silva New, of « The Caesarean Text of the Gospel of Mark » in the Harvard Theological Review (21:4). For the first time, the authors emphasized the exist- ence of such text on the basis of three major pieces of evidence: the Greek manuscripts, the patristic witnesses and the Oriental versions. Since then, the question of the « Caesarean » text-type has been a very disputed matter. It still remains an important tex- tual issue.1 1 This paper was first presented during the Society of Biblical Literature Annual Meeting 2012, Chicago, November 18. 146 D. LAFLEUR Our plan is not to discuss here about the « Caesarean » text and its subsequent developments, but to mainly focus the genesis of Lake’s publication. The survey of his preliminary works will help us to better consider, after a short account of Lake’s biobibliography, the way he followed until the 1928 « Caesarean Text of the Gospel of Mark » and which methodology he used. We will then emphasize one of the three pieces of evidence quot- ed by the authors, the evidence of the Greek manuscripts as de- scribed in their tables of variants.
    [Show full text]
  • Making Sense of the End of Mark Pastor Russ Reaves Immanuel Baptist Church, Greensboro, NC January 27, 2009
    Making Sense of the End of Mark Pastor Russ Reaves Immanuel Baptist Church, Greensboro, NC January 27, 2009 Anyone who has ever read the Gospel of Mark carefully has likely noticed that most Bibles contain a footnote, a marginal note, or some other device or feature to indicate that there are questions about the authenticity of Mark 16:9-20. Almost every modern English version does in some way. Following are some examples of how this is done: • A bracketed heading before verses 9-20 which states, “The earliest manuscripts and some other ancient witnesses do not have Mark 16:9-20.” 1 • A footnote containing explanations similar to the following: “Some of the earliest manuscripts (or “mss.”) do not contain verses (or “vv.”) 9-20.” 2 • A footnote that reads, “Verses 9 through 20 are not found in the most ancient manuscripts, but may be considered an appendix giving additional facts.” 3 • A heading before verses 9-20 which reads, “An Ancient Appendix” or something similar. 4 • A footnote that offers a more detailed description of the situation, such as the following or similar: “Vv. (verses) 9-20 are bracketed in NU (an abbreviation for the Greek text known as Nestle-Aland Greek New Testament and United Bible Societies Greek New Testament ) as not original. They are lacking in Codex Sinaiticus and Codex Vaticanus (two Greek manuscripts dating to the fourth century), although nearly all other mss. (manuscripts) of Mark contain them.” 5 • Bracketing around verses 9-20, with an explanatory notation in the footnotes stating, “Mark 16:9-20 [the portion in brackets] is contained only in later manuscripts,” or similar.
    [Show full text]
  • The Titles of the Gospels in the Earliest New Testament Manuscripts Simon J
    The Titles of the Gospels in the Earliest New Testament Manuscripts Simon J. Gathercole (Faculty of Divinity, West Road, Cambridge, CB3 9BS, UK; [email protected]) Prolegomena The 27th Nestle-Aland hand edition of the New Testament is without doubt an extraordinary achievement, as are its many predecessors. As has sometimes been remarked, however, it does have certain flaws, and it is the purpose of the present article to identify and attempt to rectify one of these flaws. It is unfair, however, to single out Nestle-Aland, as the problem under discussion here is shared with other NT hand editions, such as the UBS and SBL texts.1 The is- sue to be addressed in this article is that of the presentation of the titles of the four gospels in the main text of the Novum Testamentum Graece as well as in its apparatus criticus. See also the Additional Note on NA28. The Nestle-Aland Titles The problems with the presentation of titles in Nestle-Aland boil down to six, sometimes overlapping, elements. First, information provided about gospel titles in NA27 is confined to the opening titles. Modern readers of course expect that a title will be provided at the beginning of a work, but this was not necessarily true in antiquity. Ancient book titles often appeared at the end of a text. Having discussed the placement of titles in rolls, Schubart notes in re early codices: ‘Wie dort [sc. in the roll], steht auch hier [sc. in the codex] der Hauptitel am Ende des Textes …’.2 The situation is actually more complicated than Schubart suggests3, but, all the same, end-titles are very significant, and at least just as common, probably even more common than opening titles.
    [Show full text]
  • The Reliability of New Testament Manuscripts
    The Reliability of New Testament Manuscripts Joseph Holden, PhD Norman Geisler, PhD Copyright Joseph Holden and Norman Geisler, 2012. All Rights Reserved. In this essay, we will survey the manuscripts of the New Testament, including the transmission process and the individual manuscripts produced by that process. We will also consider objections to the reliability of the New Testament. Special attention will be given to this point due to the recent publications that advocate there are errors in the New Testament, especially as put forth by Bart Ehrman. We will begin with a look at the transmission process since it has come under recent attack. The Transmission of the New Testament Function of Scribes and Scriptorium In the age of classical antiquity, scribes served an important function in the production of literary and non-literary works. Scribes were employed within Mesopotamia, Egypt, Palestine, and the Greco-Roman Empire. Professional scribes, who were trained craftsman, were commonly employed in the commercial book trade or for a library or government post. Many of these professional copyists had expertise in using fine book-hand or calligraphy. Still other scribes were amateur copyists or even educated slaves. Customarily, scribes were paid not only by the length of the text, but also by the type of hand used which affected the quality of the script. Thus, the work of professional scribes demanded higher pay but also produced higher quality work, which became very important in the explicability of historical texts. Scribes were responsible for copying literary and non-literary works including books, petitions, receipts, letters, and deeds.
    [Show full text]
  • TEXT-TYPES? Characteristics / Readings, Unique to Their Location, Resulting in Localized Text-Types Or Textual Families
    As individual New Testament books were received and circulated in the early Christian church, various copies were made and deployed NEW TESTAMENT throughout the ancient world. As manuscripts were circulated within particular geographical regions they began to take on particular TEXT-TYPES? characteristics / readings, unique to their location, resulting in localized text-types or textual families. The Alexandrian text-type is the form of The Western text-type is the form of the New Testament text witness in ALEXANDRIAN Greek New Testament that predominates WESTERN the Old Latin and Peshitta translations from the Greek, and also in in the earliest surviving documents, as well quotations from the 2nd and 3rd century Christian writers, including as the text-type used in Egyptian Coptic Cyprian, Tertullian, and Irenaeus. Alexandrian Codex Sinaiticus manuscripts. manuscripts are is considered to characteristic by be Western in its majuscule or the first eight uncial texts. Above chapters of is John 1:1 in Codex John’s Gospel Only one Greek uncial manuscript is considered to transmit a Western text The two oldest Sinaiticus in its for the four Gospels and the Book of Acts, the fifth century Codex Bezae; the and closest to EARLIER upper case sixth century Codex Clarmontanus is considered to transmit a western text complete copies majuscule texts for Paul’s letters and is followed by two ninth century uncials: F and G. of the New א Codex Sinaiticus - 01 330-360 AD Other early manuscripts of note Testament, are P66 and P75. Codex Sinaiticus Many, if not most, textual critics today believe that and Codex there were two major early text-types that can be Vaticanus,* are ascertained, the Alexandrian and Western.
    [Show full text]
  • The Eusebian Canon Tables As a Corpus-Organizing Paratext Within the Multiple-Text Manuscript of the Fourfold Gospel | 107
    Studies in Manuscript Cultures Edited by Michael Friedrich Harunaga Isaacson Jörg B. Quenzer Volume 17 The Emergence of Multiple-Text Manuscripts Edited by Alessandro Bausi Michael Friedrich Marilena Maniaci ISBN 978-3-11-064593-4 e-ISBN (PDF) 978-3-11-064598-9 e-ISBN (EPUB) 978-3-11-064612-2 ISSN 2365-9696 This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 4.0 License. For details go to http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/. Library of Congress Control Number: 2019952103 Bibliographic information published by the Deutsche Nationalbibliothek The Deutsche Nationalbibliothek lists this publication in the Deutsche Nationalbibliografie; detailed bibliographic data are available on the Internet at http://dnb.dnb.de. © 2019 Alessandro Bausi, Michael Friedrich, Marilena Maniaci, published by Walter de Gruyter GmbH, Berlin/Boston The book is published with open access at degruyter.com. Printing and binding: CPI books GmbH, Leck www.degruyter.com Contents The Editors Preface | VII Overviews Nalini Balbir Functions of Multiple-Text Manuscripts in India: The Jain Case | 3 Imre Galambos Multiple-Text Manuscripts in Medieval China | 37 Alessandro Gori Text Collections in the Arabic Manuscript Tradition of Harar: The Case of the Mawlid Collection and of šayḫ Hāšim’s al-Fatḥ al-Raḥmānī | 59 Nuria de Castilla ‘Dichos bien hermanados’. Towards a Typology of Mudéjar and Morisco Multiple-Text Manuscripts | 75 Innovations Matthew Crawford The Eusebian Canon Tables as a Corpus-Organizing Paratext within the Multiple-Text
    [Show full text]
  • Acts - Revelation the Aramaic Peshitta & Peshitto and Greek New Testament
    MESSIANIC ALEPH TAV INTERLINEAR SCRIPTURES (MATIS) INTERLINEAR VOLUME FIVE ACTS - REVELATION THE ARAMAIC PESHITTA & PESHITTO AND GREEK NEW TESTAMENT With New Testament Aramaic Lexical Dictionary (Compiled by William H. Sanford Copyright © 2017) Printed by BRPrinters The Messianic Aleph Tav Interlinear Scriptures (MATIS) FIRST EDITION Acts - Revelation Volume Five ARAMAIC - GREEK Copyright 2017 All rights reserved William H. Sanford [email protected] COPYRIGHT NOTICE The Messianic Aleph Tav Interlinear Scriptures (MATIS), Acts - Revelation, Volume Five, is the Eastern Aramaic Peshitta translated to English in Interlinear and is compared to the Greek translated to English in Interlinear originating from the 1987 King James Bible (KJV) which are both Public Domain. This work is a "Study Bible" and unique because it is the first true interlinear New Testament to combine both the John W. Etheridge Eastern Aramaic Peshitta in both Aramaic and Hebrew font compared to the Greek, word by word, in true interlinear form and therefore comes under copyright protection. This is the first time that the John W. Etheridge Eastern Aramaic Peshitta has ever been put in interlinear form, word by word. The John W. Etheridge Eastern Aramaic Peshitta English translation was provided by Lars Lindgren and incorporates his personal notes and also, the Hebrew pronunciation of the Aramaic is unique and was created and provided by Lars Lindgren and used with his permission…all of which is under copyright protection. This publication may be quoted in any form (written, visual, electronic, or audio), up to and inclusive of seventy (70) consecutive lines or verses, without express written permission of William H.
    [Show full text]
  • Texts and Manuscripts of the Old & New Testaments
    Texts and Manuscripts of the Old & New Testaments Texts & Manuscripts • A manuscript is a handwritten copy of a biblical text of either the Old or New Testament • When using the word “text” we are speaking of the Bible, the Word of God, or Holy Scripture Texts & Manuscripts • There are NO ORIGINAL TEXTS of Old or New Testament writings • There are “Manuscripts” in various stages of deterioration from which biblical scholars attempt to determine the actual original text. These scholars are sometimes called “text critics.” OT Manuscripts • The Masoretes were rabbis living near the Sea of Galilee between 500-1000 A.D. • They were committed to copying the texts of the OT Masoretes • This is an example of what Hebrew texts might have looked like before the Masoretes began copying...we do NOT have any of the texts they used to make their manuscripts Masoretes • The Ben Asher family, from the second half of the 8th century until the middle of the 10th century copiously worked to copy the Hebrew scriptures • Numerous copies of various portions of the OT were made • The oldest complete Hebrew text of the OT is Aleppo Codex • Codex Leningradensis is another manuscript deemed to be a highly accurate manuscript, so named due to its present location in the Leningrad Public Library Masoretes • As the Masoretes copied manuscripts from available texts they made note of the text they were using. These texts, no longer in existence, were given names and the names were placed on the manuscripts similar to the way we use footnotes • Codex Hillel • Codex
    [Show full text]
  • OLDEST SYNOPTIC GOSPELS PAPYRI the Earliest Copies of Manuscripts of the Greek New Testament
    OLDEST SYNOPTIC GOSPELS PAPYRI The earliest copies of manuscripts of the Greek New Testament (the language the New Testament was written in originally) are found on fragments of pa­ pyrus (pI. papyri, often abbreviated p), a type of paper made from reeds that grow along the Nile River in Egypt. Much, but not all, of the Greek New Tes­ tament survives in the papyri. All of the Greek New Testament survives in the later codices (sg. codex), which are ancient books usually made of vellum, or leather, pages. The oldest Greek papyri containing the text of the Synoptic Gospels are listed below along with the Gospel passage(s) or fragments they contain. Papyrus 67 (PBarcelona 1) A.D. 125-150 Matthew 3:9,15; 5:20-22,25-28 Papyrus 103 (POxy. 4403) A.D. 175-200 Matthew 13:55-57; 14:3-5 Papyrus 104 (POxy. 4404) A.D. 175-200 Matthew 21:34-37,43, 45 (7) Papyrus 77 (POxy. 2683 + 4405) A.D. 175-200 Matthew 23:30-39 Papyrus 64 (PMagdalen 17) A.D. 125-150 Matthew 26:7-8, 10,14-15,22-23,31-33 Papyrus 4 (PParis 1120) A.D. 125-150 Luke 1:58-59; 1:62-2:1; 2:6-7; 3:8-4:2; 4:29-32,34-35; 5:3-8 Papyrus 75 Qohn Bodmer) c. A.D. 175 Luke 3:18-22; 3:33-4:2; 4:34-5:10; 5:37-6:4; 6:10-7:32; 7:35-39,41-43; 7:46-9:2; 9:4-17:15; 17:19-18:18; 22:4-24:53 OLDEST GREEK CODICES Coincident with the emergence of Christianity was the development of the co­ dex, the forerunner of the modern book, with bound pages printed on both sides.
    [Show full text]
  • In the Beginning: Bibles Before the Year 1000 (Washington DC: Smithsonian Institution, 2006)
    92 Book Reviews / Novum Testamentum 50 (2008) 81-96 Michelle P. Brown (ed.), In the Beginning: Bibles before the Year 1000 (Washington DC: Smithsonian Institution, 2006). 360 pp. ISBN 0934868037 (paperback), $24.95 . Larry W. Hurtado (ed.), Th e Freer Biblical Manuscripts: Fresh Studies on an American Treasure Trove (Atlanta: Society of Biblical Literature, 2006), x + 308 pp. ISBN 1589832086 $34.95, (= Text Critical Studies 6). Scot McKendrick, In a Monastery Library: Preserving Codex Sinaiticus and the Greek Written Heritage (London: Th e British Library), 48 pp. ISBN 0712349405, ₤6.95. In the Beginning: Bibles before the Year 1000 is an outstanding and attrac- tive introduction to and catalogue of an exhibition held at the Arthur M. Sackler Gallery in association with the Freer Gallery of Art and the Bodle- ian Library, Oxford from October 2006 to January 2007. Th e book (10 1/2 inches × 9 1/2) is lavishly illustrated throughout and also contains seventy- four full colour plates. Th e whole has been published to a very high profes- sional standard, and our thanks are extended to the editors, contributors and publishers. Th e exhibition marked the centenary of Charles Lang Freer’s visit to Egypt in 1906, where he purchased his first biblical manuscripts, which are now housed in the Freer Gallery. Th e Washington Codex of the Four Gospels (variously known as the Freer Gospels, Codex Washington(i)ensis or Codex Washingtonianus) is the most famous text. Among the others are the Washington Codex of Deuteronomy and Joshua, the Washington Manuscript of the Pauline Epistles, the Coptic Psalter, the Washington Codex of the Psalms, and the Washington Codex of the Minor Prophets; all were on display at the exhibition and of course figure in this catalogue.
    [Show full text]
  • A Text-Critical Comparison of the King James New Testament with Certain Modern Translations
    Studies in the Bible and Antiquity Volume 3 Article 5 2011 A Text-Critical Comparison of the King James New Testament with Certain Modern Translations Lincoln H. Blumell Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/sba BYU ScholarsArchive Citation Blumell, Lincoln H. (2011) "A Text-Critical Comparison of the King James New Testament with Certain Modern Translations," Studies in the Bible and Antiquity: Vol. 3 , Article 5. Available at: https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/sba/vol3/iss1/5 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the Journals at BYU ScholarsArchive. It has been accepted for inclusion in Studies in the Bible and Antiquity by an authorized editor of BYU ScholarsArchive. For more information, please contact [email protected], [email protected]. Title A Text-Critical Comparison of the King James New Testament with Certain Modern Translations Author(s) Lincoln H. Blumell Reference Studies in the Bible and Antiquity 3 (2011): 67–126. ISSN 2151-7800 (print), 2168-3166 (online) Abstract This article renders a text-critical comparison of the King James New Testament and select modern translations of the New Testament. Specifically, it surveys twenty-two passages in the King James New Testament that have been omitted in most modern translations. The article then clarifies and explains why these verses have been omitted and asks whether such omissions ought to be accepted. While this study demonstrates that in most cases the readings in the King James Version are inferior in a text-critical sense and that they likely represent interpolations into the biblical text, there are a few cases where the King James Version might preserve a better reading.
    [Show full text]