INTRODUCTION - De Gruyter

INTRODUCTION

Indirect evidence, in the form of early translations (‘versions’) and
biblical quotations in ancient writers (‘patristic citations’), offers im-
portant testimony to the history and transmission of the New Testa-
ment. The process of translating the Greek text into Latin, Syriac and
Coptic appears to have begun around the end of the second century,
predating all but the earliest surviving papyrus fragments of these
writings. These versions were made—and revised—on the basis of
Greek manuscripts which no longer exist. They open a window into
a period of textual history which is otherwise very poorly attested,
bearing witness not just to the state of the text in these initial centu-
ries, but also to the way in which it was understood and received in
other language communities. Quotations of the New Testament in
early Christian writings also have the potential to provide evidence for
the form of the biblical text used by their authors. What is more, the
location and date at which many of these works were composed is
known with a far higher degree of confidence than the place and time
of copying for most Greek manuscripts.
      Nevertheless, in the words of Robert M. Grant, ‘Patristic cita-
tions are not citations unless they have been adequately analyzed’. 1
The point of this somewhat cryptic statement is to underline the ne-
cessity of a thorough examination of the nature and context of an ap-
parent biblical quotation in order to determine its validity as evidence

1
 Robert M. Grant, ‘The Citation of Patristic Evidence in an Apparatus Criti-
cus’, in New Testament Manuscript Studies: The Materials and the Making of
a Critical Apparatus, ed. M. M. Parvis and A. P. Wikgren (Chicago: University
of Chicago, 1950), 117–24, here 124.
                                     xv

xvi                        AT ONE REMOVE

for the New Testament text known to the author. It is insufficient
simply to take the form of words in a modern edition at face value.
Instead, the writer’s citation habits must be investigated so as to estab-
lish the way in which they use and reproduce biblical material; the
transmission history of the work should be reviewed, to eliminate the
possibility of later adjustment of the scriptural quotations; the text of
the reference itself may be examined in the context of the wider tex-
tual tradition to assess the likelihood that this form was current at the
point at which the author was writing. Similarly, full account must be
taken of translation technique and the grammatical possibilities and
idioms of the languages of the early versions in assessing whether or
not they can properly be adduced in support of a particular Greek
reading at a place of variation. When a translation is not obviously a
scrupulously literal rendering, creating a retroversion into Greek (or
any other language) is beset with hazards and leads at best to a hypoth-
esis which further advances may invalidate. Agreement between dif-
ferent versions in a reading unattested in Greek is a striking phenom-
enon, although it may often be due to a similar approach to transla-
tion.
      In addition to their value as early evidence for the Greek New
Testament, versions have a textual tradition of their own which is of-
ten of considerable historical, theological and ecclesial significance.
Christian thought in the West for over a millennium took as its start-
ing point the Latin Vulgate, itself a revision of an Old Latin transla-
tion (Vetus Latina): indeed, it is regularly observed that Latin biblical
manuscripts outnumber surviving Greek codices by at least two to
one.2 Early Syriac tradition is closely associated with Tatian’s Diates-
saron, which in its turn may or may not be associated with other gos-
pel harmonies in a variety of languages. Other versions, such as Gothic
or Old Church Slavonic, lie at the heart of the linguistic and cultural
identity of particular churches or groups.
      Notwithstanding the remarkable achievements of earlier schol-
arship, the last century has seen considerable developments in the col-
lection and presentation of material which stands at one remove from
the direct evidence for the text of the Greek New Testament. Work

2
 E.g. D. C. Parker, An Introduction to the New Testament Manuscripts and
their Texts (Cambridge: CUP, 2008), 57.

INTRODUCTION                                xvii

on the early versions has followed the paradigm established for Greek
tradition, with the establishment of the monumental Vetus Latina
edition, comprehensive catalogues of Coptic biblical material, and the
rediscovery of important Syriac manuscripts. Studies of other, subse-
quent versions, including Gothic, Ethiopic, Georgian, Old Church
Slavonic and Arabic, have established that these too were created as
direct translations from Greek, with the potential to transmit or sup-
port important readings. In recent years, the development of elec-
tronic tools and approaches has also made a significant contribution,
from making manuscripts more easily accessible to gathering and ana-
lysing ever larger quantities of textual data. The latter also applies to
the mass of patristic citations, with full-text corpora assisting in the
identification and contextualisation of biblical references. The estab-
lishment of series of modern critical editions, such as Corpus Chris-
tianorum, Sources chrétiennes, Die griechischen christlichen
Schriftsteller and the Corpus Scriptorum Ecclesiasticorum Latinorum,
has enabled the study of early Christian writings to move beyond
Migne’s Patrologia Graeca and Patrologia Latina, with greater atten-
tion to variation in the manuscript tradition.
      There are a number of resources introducing the study of indi-
rect evidence for the Greek New Testament. The second edition of
The Text of the New Testament in Contemporary Research: Essays on
the Status Quaestionis, edited by Bart D. Ehrman and Michael W.
Holmes (2012) includes chapters on seven versions and patristic evi-
dence in Greek, Latin and Syriac. 3 Several monographs provide more
detailed information about individual language traditions, including
their relation to Greek.4 These have been accompanied by a renewed

3
  There is still much of value in Kurt Aland, ed., Die alten Übersetzungen des
Neuen Testaments, die Kirchenväterzitate und Lektionare, ANTF 5 (Berlin:
De Gruyter, 1972). One should also mention Arthur Α. Vööbus, The Early
Versions of the New Testament: Manuscript Studies (Stockholm: Estonian
Theological Society in Exile; Louvain: Durbecq, 1954) and Bruce M. Metz-
ger, The Early Versions of the New Testament. Their Origin, Transmission,
and Limitations (Oxford: OUP, 1977), although the latter in particular has
been superseded by the publications mentioned in the following note.
4
  E.g. Philip H. Burton, The Old Latin Gospels: A Study of their Texts and
Language (Oxford: OUP, 2000); Peter J. Williams, Early Syriac Translation

xviii                       AT ONE REMOVE

emphasis on the publication of critical editions, many in conjunction
with the Editio Critica Maior.5 The SBL New Testament in the Greek
Fathers series offers an assessment of the biblical quotations of se-
lected writers from the point of view of textual criticism.6 A more
comprehensive list of early references assembled by the Biblia Patris-
tica project is now online as BiblIndex, while the Vetus Latina Data-
base has an extensive collection of Latin quotations up to the eighth
century.7 The task of analysis, however, must be performed afresh for
each author and, indeed, for each writing, given the vagaries of textual
transmission. There remains much work to be done, therefore, on the
indirect evidence for the Greek New Testament, a field of study which
combines textual criticism, reception history, exegesis and linguistics.

Technique and the Textual Criticism of the Greek Gospels, T&S 3.2 (Pisca-
taway NJ: Gorgias, 2004); Christian Askeland, John’s Gospel: The Coptic
Translations of its Greek Text, ANTF 44 (Berlin & New York: De Gruyter,
2012); Carla Falluomini, The Gothic Version of the Gospels and Pauline Epis-
tles: Cultural Background, Transmission and Character, ANTF 46 (Berlin &
New York: De Gruyter, 2015); H. A. G. Houghton, The Latin New Testa-
ment: A Guide to its Early History, Texts, and Manuscripts (Oxford: OUP,
2016); Jean-Claude Haelewyck, ed., Le Nouveau testament en syriaque,
Études syriaques 14 (Paris: Geuthner, 2017).
5
  E.g. Barbara Aland and Andreas Juckel, Das neue Testament in syrischer
Überlieferung, 4 vols. (Berlin: De Gruyter, 1986–2002); Jean-Claude
Haelewyck, Evangelium secundum Marcum, Vetus Latina: Die Reste der alt-
lateinischen Bibel 17 (Freiburg: Herder, 2013–18); Philip H. Burton, H. A.
G. Houghton, R. F. MacLachlan and D. C. Parker, ed., Evangelium secun-
dum Iohannem, Vetus Latina: Die Reste der altlateinischen Bibel 19 (Frei-
burg: Herder, 2011–); Curt Niccum, The Bible in Ethiopia: The Book of Acts
(Pickwick: Eugene OR, 2014); Hans Förster, Kerstin Sänger-Böhm and Mat-
thias H. O. Schulz, Die kritische Edition der sahidischen Version des Johan-
nesevangeliums, ANTF 56 (Berlin: De Gruyter, 2021)
6
  For a list of volumes, see Gordon D. Fee and Roderic L. Mullen, ‘The Use of
the Greek Fathers for New Testament Textual Criticism’, in The Text of the New
Testament in Contemporary Research, 361 and http://igntp.org/patristics.html.
7
  http://www.biblindex.mom.fr/;
https://about.brepolis.net/vetus-latina-database/.

INTRODUCTION                              xix

Contents of the Present Volume
Given the introductory resources mentioned already, the present col-
lection does not seek to provide a comprehensive or systematic ac-
count of the nature or use of versional and patristic evidence for the
Greek New Testament. Rather, it brings together a series of original
contributions on this topic, which was the focus of the Eleventh Bir-
mingham Colloquium on the Textual Criticism of the New Testa-
ment. The research described here illustrates not just the ongoing im-
portance and variety of this material, but also the way in which it may
shape the theory and practice of text-critical scholarship and lead to
new insights about this vast and rich tradition.
      The first chapter, by David G. K. Taylor, is based on his key-
note paper at the colloquium and describes two exciting new develop-
ments for the study of the Old Syriac Gospels: the multispectral im-
aging of the Sinaitic Syriac, enabling the recovery of hitherto illegible
text in this document, and the discovery of a third witness to the Old
Syriac Gospels in two palimpsest manuscripts among the New Finds
of St. Catherine’s Monastery, Mount Sinai. The latter preserves an an-
cient version, including three passages from the gospels not preserved
in either of the other Old Syriac witnesses, making it of considerable
importance for the early history of the New Testament text. Ian N.
Mills then considers another aspect of early Syriac tradition. After
outlining the recent paradigm shift in Diatessaronic studies, he shows
how some appeals to the Old Syriac Gospels as evidence for Tatian’s
text are methodologically unjustified. Nevertheless, these witnesses—
including the new find—are very important in corroborating readings
in Ephrem’s commentary.
      In advance of his scholarly edition of the Sahidic text of John,
Hans Förster examines the strategies of the Coptic translators in ren-
dering their Greek Vorlage. He thereby highlights a number of the
problems associated with attempting to use Coptic forms in support
of particular Greek readings. Remaining in Eastern tradition, Robert
Turnbull offers an analysis of a family of Arabic gospel manuscripts
using the comparative data from Text und Textwert. The Greek text
underlying this translation is of considerable interest: it is distinct
from the Byzantine text, but also stands apart from witnesses to the
most ancient form as it contains a high proportion of ‘special readings’
(Sonderlesarten).

xx                         AT ONE REMOVE

      Carla Falluomini illustrates how the Gothic version relates to
the broader picture of New Testament textual history. It is one of the
earliest witnesses to the Byzantine text, but also exercised an influence
on Latin witnesses. Indeed, the presence of Byzantine readings in
some Old Latin manuscripts could be the result of this influence. One
of these witnesses is considered in greater detail by Anne-Catherine
Baudoin: Latin Codex 563 in the Austrian National Library is unu-
sual in containing two non-canonical texts alongside a portion of the
Gospel according to Matthew. Baudoin shows that the biblical quo-
tations in the Latin Acts of Pilate have been translated directly from
their Greek exemplar, with little correspondence to existing Latin tra-
dition. The text of Matthew also stands apart, with an unexpectedly
high proportion of Byzantine readings which may or may not be due
to Gothic influence.
      H. A. G. Houghton examines another manuscript numbered
among the Old Latin witnesses, the Latin text of the St. Gall Bilingual
Gospels. Although he is able to identify the translator’s partial reliance
on an Insular gospel book similar to the Egerton Gospels, a compari-
son of the non-Vulgate readings in the interlinear Latin text shows no
sustained correspondence with Old Latin tradition. Rather, the
unique renderings and in scribendo corrections suggest that much of
the translation was created ad hoc during the copying process, at least
in the Gospel according to John. The relationship between the Greek
and Latin texts in a bilingual manuscript is also the subject of the
chapter by Peter E. Lorenz. Although scholars have long dismissed
the theory that the unusual readings in the Greek text of Codex Bezae
are a result of Latin influence, Lorenz identifies a fourth-century con-
text in which Latin texts were preferred and might therefore have been
used to emend Greek witnesses. W. Andrew Smith looks at dia-
chronic linguistic patterns in Greek as revealed by the introduction of
the verb ‘to be’ in Byzantine textual traditions. This is even more
marked in Latin versions, and potentially may also be of exegetical sig-
nificance. The final paper on direct Latin tradition is Teunis van
Lopik’s account of variant readings printed in early editions of the
Vulgate. Some of these derive from the Postilla of Hugh of Saint-
Cher, others from a Latin missal. Such features may be helpful in es-
tablishing the genealogy of early printed Latin Bibles.

INTRODUCTION                                 xxi

       On the topic of patristic quotations, Peter Montoro provides a
reassessment of the biblical text of John Chrysostom’s Homilies on Ro-
mans. Despite the tendency to characterise Chrysostom as an early Byz-
antine witness, careful attention to the manuscript tradition of his hom-
ilies reveals a range of variant readings comparable to that found in di-
rect biblical tradition. Until a proper critical edition of Chrysostom is
established, judgment on the affiliation of his biblical text should be sus-
pended and the appearance of Chrysostom in a critical apparatus
treated with caution. The importance of early writers for the biblical
text is shown by Tommy Wasserman. His examination of Ambrose’s
quotations of the Pericope Adulterae demonstrates that this passage was
present in Latin tradition independently of Jerome’s Vulgate revision
of the Gospels. Anna Persig examines the biblical quotations of the
Liber de fide attributed to Rufinus the Syrian, which is often consid-
ered as the earliest attestation of the Vulgate version of the Epistles.
Once readings common to Old Latin and Vulgate sources are dis-
counted and the textual affiliation is assessed on the basis of a set of read-
ings distinctive to the Vulgate, the connection of this work with the
Vulgate can no longer be sustained. The identification of this Rufinus
as the possible reviser of the latter part of the Vulgate New Testament
should therefore be abandoned. Finally, Benjamin D. Haupt responds
to recent suggestions that the version of the Gospel of John used by Ter-
tullian may have lacked the final chapter. A comprehensive investiga-
tion of the key term clausula across Tertullian’s writings demonstrates
that this is an insufficient basis to conclude that his copy ended at John
20:31; rather, this verse summarised for him the purpose of the gospel.

The Eleventh Birmingham Colloquium
All except one of these papers was originally delivered at the Eleventh
Birmingham Colloquium on the Textual Criticism of the New Tes-
tament.8 This was held at the Edgbaston Campus of the University of
Birmingham from 4–6 March 2019. The number of those attending
this biennial conference has once again increased, with a total of

8
  The title of the colloquium was the same as that of the present volume. The
exception is Houghton’s chapter, which was initially prepared for publica-
tion before the digitisation of Codex Sangallensis 48. The present text has
been revised in the light of these images and subsequent publications.

xxii                       AT ONE REMOVE

seventy participants from across the world. One innovation intro-
duced for this meeting was the provision of parallel afternoon sessions
to enable all twenty-seven presenters to be accommodated in the
schedule. It was a particular pleasure to welcome back David Taylor,
who co-founded the Colloquium with David Parker in 1997, to give
one of the keynote papers: the other was delivered by Reinhart
Ceulemans of KU Leuven, on the topic of ‘Biblical Lexicography in
Late Antiquity and Byzantium’.

       Participants at the Eleventh Birmingham Colloquium (photo-
       graph by Benjamin Haupt)
      The beginning of Lent meant that the colloquium dinner was
held on the evening of Shrove Tuesday in the University’s Staff
House, with a carnival theme. An after-dinner presentation was given
by Dr. Nicholas Hardy of the University of Birmingham on the trans-
lation of the King James Version, following his recent identification
of unpublished letters and notebooks showing that the translators
consulted the French scholar Isaac Casaubon. Delegates also enjoyed
a social evening in the University’s Brook’s Sports Bar and a guided
tour of Birmingham Cathedral, where they were allowed to ring the
bell of HMS Birmingham.
      For their assistance with the organisation of the colloquium, par-
ticular thanks are due to Megan Davies, Catherine Smith and the
other members of ITSEE. On behalf of those attending the collo-
quium, we also express our gratitude to Helen Ingram of the School
of Philosophy, Theology and Religion, Gina Brooks of Fresh Think-
ing, Liam Grogan of Brook’s Sports Bar, Louise Burridge and her
team at Staff House, the staff of Lucas House Hotel and Woodbrooke
Quaker Study Centre, and April Steadman at Birmingham Cathedral.

INTRODUCTION                            xxiii

     We would like to thank all contributors to this volume, as well as
the peer reviewer for Texts and Studies. Georgi Parpulov kindly vol-
unteered to prepare the indexes. Brice Jones, Melonie Schmierer-Lee
and Tuomas Rasimus have once again made it a pleasure to work with
Gorgias Press. We hope that this volume will not only be a record of
another fruitful conference, but will inform and stimulate research on
versional and patristic evidence for the Greek New Testament.

H. A. G. Houghton
Peter Montoro
Birmingham, July 2020