Volume 25 (2020)

Articles

Florenc Mene, “Scribal Harmonization in Codex Alexandrinus? The Pentateuchal Quotations in the Corpus Paulinum” (pp. 1–35)

Abstract: This study examines the phenomenon of scribal harmonization in Codex Alexandrinus. It does so by analyzing all the Pentateuchal quotations in the Corpus Paulinum of A(02) to detect the presence of harmonization as a result of the LXX’s influence on the New Testament quotations (or vice-versa). It demonstrates that A(02) exhibits few signs of influence of LXX on Corpus Paulinum quotations (or vice-versa). It also reveals some characteristics of A(02)’s scribes. Finally, it shows that the influence of LXX on the New Testament quotations in biblical manuscripts, even as late as the fifth century, may not necessarily be as pervasive as is often assumed.

Ryan Kristopher Giffin, “Paul Not Yet Justified? The Text of Philippians 3:12 in P46” (pp. 37–47)

Abstract: The text of Phil 3:12 in P46 contains a reading in which Paul claims he has not yet been “justified” or “found righteous.” This reading, which appears in a few other witnesses (e.g., 06, 010, 012, Irenaus [Latin translation], Ambrosiaster), has been referred to as “the justification clause.” Scholars have labeled the reading “intriguing,” “very interesting,” “striking,” and “astounding.” However, scholars have devoted very little attention to this reading. This article fills that gap by highlighting the text of Phil 3:12 in P46. The author identifies four noteworthy features of the justification clause within this manuscript and proposes that the reading need not be considered “un-Pauline” (as many have understood it) but is wholly coherent with Pauline references to final justification at the last judgment. The author concludes that an early unconscious alteration due to homoioarcton or homoioteleuton best explains the absence of the reading among the majority of textual witnesses and that the justification clause should be considered authentic.

Special Section in Honor of Eldon Jay Epp

Jennifer Wright Knust and Tommy Wasserman, “In Honor of Eldon Jay Epp: Nonagenarian and Doyen of New Testament Textual Criticism” (pp. 85–88)

Abstract: The editors Knust and Wasserman introduce five articles in the current volume written in honor of Eldon J. Epp, now a nonagenarian, and at the same time express their own appreciation and personal gratitude for Epp’s tremendous contribution to the field.

Bart D. Ehrman, “The Theological Tendency of Codex Bezae Cantabrigiensis at Age Forty-Four. In Commemoration of Eldon Epp’s Eightieth Birthday” (pp. 89–95)

Abstract: Not many years after Eldon Epp composed a “Requiem for the Discipline” of New Testament textual criticism in America, the field experienced a birth to new life. Ironically, in many ways Epp himself was the progenitor. His best-known publication The Theological Tendency of Codex Bezae Cantabrigiensis in Acts had earlier raised issues now central to the discussions: textual variants as historically significant data rather than mere chaff to be discarded; the importance of “scribal tendencies”; and the fraught question of an “original” text. This essay looks back on Epp’s early achievement and its long-term effect on what is now a vibrant and thriving discipline.

J. Keith Elliott, “Eldon Jay Epp’s Exegesis. A Paper Honoring the Exegetical Work of Eldon Jay Epp” (pp. 97–101)

Abstract: Since the 1960s I have been reading with interest all that Eldon Epp has been publishing on New Testament Textual Criticism. He is clearly the doyen of the trade and his many papers (now carefully gathered together into two separate volumes) have been expertly and professionally reprinted and updated. Those articles, together with his two main books, have provided us with a splendid summary of his work. In this article I offer a brief review of his most important contributions including appreciative comments on what he has done more generally for our discipline.

See also Larry W. Hurtado, “Going for the Bigger Picture: Eldon Epp as Textual Critic” (TC 15 [2010])

Abstract: Eldon Jay Epp, who turned 80 in 2010, has made numerous contributions to NT textual criticism. In this essay, the focus is on his repeated efforts to promote greater efforts toward framing a fully-informed theory and history of the early textual transmission of NT writings. At various points over the last several decades, he has drawn upon his appreciable knowledge of the history of the discipline to criticize the slow pace in these matters. He has also promoted and demonstrated study of the earliest NT papyri as key evidence for any such theory and history of the NT texts. Moreover, he has urged that study of NT papyri be done with attention to the larger Roman-era environment of textual transmission.

Yii-Jan Lin, “The Multivalence of the Ethiopian Eunuch and Acts 8:37” (pp. 103–110)

Abstract: Modern textual critics have concluded that the Christological confession at Acts 8:37 is a later addition to the story of Philip and the Ethiopian Eunuch. It is therefore neglected by most contemporary exegetes. As Epp has argued, however, such “discarded snippets” open up new interpretive possibilities, inviting further reflection on the multiplicity of meaning and the changing role of texts in actual human lives. Building on Epp’s insight, this article reclaims Acts 8:37 as a site for the creative use of textual criticism.

An-Ting Yi, Jan Krans, and Bert Jan Lietaert Peerbolte, “A New Descriptive Inventory of Bentley’s Unfinished New Testament Project” (pp. 111–128)

Abstract: One of Eldon J. Epp’s areas of expertise is the scholarly history of New Testament textual criticism. He offers an excellent overview of its different stages, including Bentley’s unfinished New Testament project. Yet, many aspects can be refined by studying the materials left by Bentley, preserved at Wren Library of Trinity College (TCL), Cambridge. This contribution offers an up-to-date descriptive inventory of all the remaining archive entries, containing bibliographical information, precise descriptions, relevant secondary literature, and parts of the reception history.

Section on Digital Tools

Sarah Yardney, Miller Prosser, and Sandra R. Schloen, “Digital Tools for Paleography in the OCHRE Database Platform” (pp. 129–143)

Tuukka Kauhanen and Hannu Kalavainen, “Automated Semantic Tagging of the Göttingen Septuagint Apparatus” (pp. 145–147)

Reviews

Diane Apostolos-Cappadona, ed., Biblical Women and the Arts (Michael Sommer, reviewer) (pp. 149–151)

Alan Taylor Farnes, Simply Come Copying: Direct Copies as Test Cases in the Quest for Scribal Habits (Zachary Skarka, reviewer) (pp. 153–156)

Elijah Hixson, Scribal Habits in Sixth-Century Greek Purple Codices (Thomas Kraus, reviewer) (pp. 49–52)

Hugh A. G. Houghton, Christina M. Kreinecker, Rosalind F. MacLachlan, and Catherine J. Smith, The Principal Pauline Epistles: A Collation of Old Latin Witnesses (Thomas Kraus, reviewer) (pp. 53–55)

Didier Lafleur, with the assistance of Luc Brogly, Greek New Testament Manuscripts from Albania (Thomas Kraus, reviewer) (pp. 57–60)

AnneMarie Luijendijk and William E. Klingshirn, eds., My Lots Are in Thy Hands: Sortilege and Its Practitioners in Late Antiquity (Anna Oracz, reviewer) (pp. 157–159)

Markus Mülke, Aristobulos in Alexandria. Jüdische Bibelexegese zwischen Griechen und Ägyptern unter Ptolemaios VI Philometor (Thomas Kraus, reviewer) (pp. 61–64)

Mogens Müller and Heike Omerzu, eds., Gospel Interpretation and the Q-Hypothesis (Judith König, reviewer)(pp. 77–79)

Justin J. Soderquist and Thomas A. Wayment, A New Edition of Codex I (016): The Washington Pauline Manuscript (Dustin M. Rigsby, reviewer) (pp. 65–67)

Timothy C. F. Stunt, The Life and Times of Samuel Prideaux Tregelles: A Forgotten Scholar (An-Ting Yi, reviewer) (pp. 81–83)

Paul Trebilco, Outsider Designations and Boundary Construction in the New Testament (Michael Sommer, reviewer) (pp. 161–163)

Paolo Trovato, Everything You Always Wanted to Know about Lachmann’s Method: A Non-standard Handbook of Genealogical Textual Criticism in the Age of Post-Structuralism, Cladistics, and Copy-Text, 2nd ed. (Ven. Gyalten Jigdrel, reviewer) (pp. 69–76)