Sunday, January 09, 2011

News on 2nd-4th-century Christian manuscripts

LARRY HURTADO has posted a list of Christian Literary Texts in Manuscripts of Second & Third Centuries (pdf file) in the Essays section of his blog. It is an updated version of the list in his 2006 book. Many Jewish manuscripts are included as well. The list includes Old Testament and Apocrypha manuscripts; New Testament manuscripts; manuscripts of Philo, Old Testament Pseudepigrapha, New Testament Apocrypha, Apostolic Fathers; and more.

Via Evangelical Textual Criticism.

And on a related note, from Unreported Heritage News:
A flax merchant from Egypt! Owner of 4th century New Testament papyrus identified

This papyrus contains the first seven verses of Paul's Letter to the Romans. Beneath the scripture a different author has scribbled in random phrases. It has been suggested that this papyrus may have been a writing exercise. New research has identified the owner of this document - a man named Aurelius Leonides.
Evidently this is the only ancient New Testament manuscript for which we have a named owner. And quite a bit of information about Aurelius Leonides survives.