Author Archives: Brent Nongbri

Palimpsests among the Tura Codices

Posted on May 11, 2018 by Brent Nongbri

A question concerning papyrus (rather than parchment) palimpsests came up recently in the comments over on Bart Ehrman’s blog. I thought I would post here a good example of a papyrus palimpsest, namely the papyrus codex containing the commentary on … Continue reading →

Posted in Codices, Palimpsests, Tura Papyri | Leave a comment

A Working List of Funerary Sculpture Attributed to Oxyrhynchus

Posted on May 5, 2018 by Brent Nongbri

As I have been looking into a set of sculptures attributed Oxyrhynchus (in previous posts here and here), some patterns have emerged in terms of acquisition. It seems that the best thing to do is to make a list of … Continue reading →

Posted in Antiquities Market, Find Stories, Oxyrhynchus Sculpture, William Matthew Flinders Petrie | 2 Comments

A Bit More on Sculpture Attributed to Oxyrhynchus

Posted on April 30, 2018 by Brent Nongbri

In an earlier post, I discussed a set of limestone sculptures usually described as funerary reliefs found at Oxyrhynchus. One of the pieces was a portrait of a woman acquired by the Boston Museum of Fine Arts in 1972. I … Continue reading →

Posted in Antiquities Market, Oxyrhynchus Sculpture | 1 Comment

Faces from Oxyrhynchus?

Posted on April 28, 2018 by Brent Nongbri

Earlier this year I had the pleasure of visiting the University of Edinburgh. In addition to chatting with a fascinating group of graduate students, I was able to squeeze in a quick trip to the National Museum of Scotland. While … Continue reading →

Posted in Antiquities Market, British Museum, Fakes and Forgeries, Oxyrhynchus Sculpture, William Matthew Flinders Petrie | 4 Comments

The Barcelona-Montserrat Greek-Latin Codex: Another “Bodmer” Codex with Mixed Contents

Posted on April 21, 2018 by Brent Nongbri

In addition to the so-called Bodmer composite codex (LDAB 2565, which I described in some detail here), the same ancient collection seems to have included another papyrus codex with equally (if not more) diverse contents. The Barcelona-Montserrat “miscellaneous” codex (LDAB … Continue reading →

Posted in Barcelona-Montserrat Greek-Latin Codex, Bodmer Papyri, Codices, Robinson Papyri | 9 Comments

Justin Martyr and the Gospel(s)

Posted on April 11, 2018 by Brent Nongbri

Over on his blog, Larry Hurtado has responded to my last post on textual transmission, and I fear we may be talking past each other. Just to try to clarify the actual points of our disagreement: Hurtado writes: “Nongbri seems … Continue reading →

Posted in Justin Martyr, Textual criticism | 6 Comments

Guest post: Mike Holmes and Matthew Larsen on Finished and Unfinished Ancient Texts

Posted on April 9, 2018 by Brent Nongbri

My recent invocation of Matthew Larsen’s article has generated a good bit of discussion both on and off the blog. In one of these exchanges, Mike Holmes raised some good questions about the article and agreed to let me post … Continue reading →

Posted in Textual criticism | 6 Comments

Early Christian Textual Transmission, Part 3

Posted on April 9, 2018 by Brent Nongbri

In my first posting prompted by Larry Hurtado’s reflections on textual transmission, I brought up a recent article by Matthew Larsen, “Accidental Publication, Unfinished Texts and the Traditional Goals of New Testament Textual Criticism.” In a response (here), Hurtado has … Continue reading →

Posted in Justin Martyr, Textual criticism | 6 Comments

Early Christian Textual Transmission, Part 2

Posted on April 7, 2018 by Brent Nongbri

I posted yesterday some initial thoughts about questions of textual fluidity and stability in early Christian manuscripts generated in conversation with a post by Larry Hurtado. Larry has responded in a lengthy post here. I’ll take up some his points in … Continue reading →

Posted in Textual criticism | 4 Comments

Early Christian Textual Transmission, Part 1

Posted on April 5, 2018 by Brent Nongbri

Recently on his blog Larry Hurtado has been reflecting on issues of textual stability and fluidity of early Christian manuscripts. It’s an interesting question to ponder, but as Larry notes, assertions in either direction are tricky because just about everyone … Continue reading →

Posted in Textual criticism | 13 Comments