The Green Collection Sappho Papyrus: Some New Details

Posted on December 13, 2018 by Brent Nongbri

I am in the process of working my way through videos of the lectures associated with the “Passages” travelling exhibition of Green Collection. At the prompting of David Bradnick who is also engaging in this pastime, I jumped ahead to “Season 2,” the group of lectures given in Atlanta in 2012. David mentioned that Scott Carroll had interesting things to say about some Christian manuscripts and also the Green Collection Sappho Papyrus. It is the latter that will be the topic of this post. Continue reading →

Posted in Antiquities Dealers and Collectors, Antiquities Market, Dirk Obbink, Green Collection, Green Collection Sappho, Mummy cartonnage, P.Sapph. Obbink, Passages Speakers Series, Robinson Papyri, Scott Carroll | 16 Comments

A “Second Century” Papyrus of Matthew in the Green Collection

Posted on December 12, 2018 by Brent Nongbri

In my last post, I mentioned I was watching a set of DVDs that documented the series of lectures that accompanied the “Passages” exhibition of the Green Collection. One of the Green Collection papyri that is mentioned in the lectures in these DVDs is perhaps the same papyrus that is mentioned as number 22 in a 2013 lecture by Scott Carroll:

Green Collection ListItem number 22 is described as “Gospel of Mt c. 140.” A papyrus with a somewhat similar description comes up during the “Passages” lectures in Oklahoma City in 2011. In his closing remarks after a talk by the British Library’s Scot McKendrick, Scott Carroll announced the discovery of a new manuscript: Continue reading →

Posted in Antiquities Market, Green Collection, Passages Speakers Series, Scott Carroll | 13 Comments

More on the Curious Green Collection 1 Samuel Papyrus

Posted on December 12, 2018 by Brent Nongbri

I’ve written several posts (like this one) on different aspects of the “Passages” travelling exhibition of the Green Collection that took place between 2011 and the opening of the permanent exhibition at the Museum of the Bible in 2017. Some of the early Christian manuscripts associated with the “Passages” exhibition seem to have gone out of the public eye, as they have not gone on display in the Museum of the Bible. Continue reading →

Posted in Antiquities Market, Green Collection, Green Collection 1 Samuel, Mummy cartonnage, Passages Speakers Series, Scott Carroll | 1 Comment

Ryan Kaufman on the Ending of John 20 in P.Bodmer 2

Posted on December 11, 2018 by Brent Nongbri

In a paper recently posted to academia.edu, Ryan Kaufman engages with some of my hypotheses about the ending of the Gospel According to John in P.Bodmer 2. His suggestions are excellent and in fact offer a simpler explanation for some of the strange features of page 149 that I pointed out in my article (discussed on the blog here).

Kaufman’s key insight is that the text of page 149 as reconstructed by the original editors, Victor Martin and J.W.B. Barns, is unlikely to be correct. Continue reading →

Posted in Bodmer Papyri, Codices, Codicology, P.Bodmer II | 6 Comments

Big Discount on God’s Library at Amazon

Posted on December 8, 2018 by Brent Nongbri

If for some reason you haven’t picked up a copy of God’s Library yet, it is currently being sold at amazon (US) at a discount of over 50%–$15.84 USD. It also makes a great Christmas gift. I have no idea how amazon pricing works, so this deal might not be around for long.

Amazon God's Library Sale

Posted in Manuscript Collections | Leave a comment

Once More: An Oxyrhynchus Papyrus of Exodus and Revelation, Part 2

Posted on December 4, 2018 by Brent Nongbri

In my previous post, I reviewed a recent article by Scott Charlesworth on British Library Pap. 2053, a papyrus from Oxyrhynchus with the ending of Exodus on one side (P.Oxy. 8.1075) and the opening verses of Revelation on its reverse (P.Oxy. 8.1079). In a 2013 article in Novum Testamentum, I had argued that this papyrus was probably a leaf from a codex rather than a portion of a roll, as was usually believed. Charlesworth’s claim that “all indications” point to this piece being a roll and not a codex was not persuasive.

POxy 8 1075 Detail

P.Oxy. 8.1075 (→ of British Library Pap. 2053); image source: The British Library

In the current (2019) issue of New Testament Studies, Peter Malik makes a case similar to that of Charlesworth, although Malik’s argumentation is more nuanced. Malik’s full article can be viewed here. Let’s have a look at his case. Continue reading →

Posted in Codices, Oxyrhynchus Papyri | 4 Comments

Once More: An Oxyrhynchus Papyrus of Exodus and Revelation, Part 1

Posted on December 2, 2018 by Brent Nongbri

Among the Christian papyri from Oxyrhynchus is an interesting piece now in the British Library (Pap. 2053) that contains the final verses of Exodus in Greek with an end title (P.Oxy. 8.1075) and on the reverse, in a different script, the opening verses of Revelation (P.Oxy. 8.1079):

British Library Papyrus 2053

British Library Papyrus 2053, showing P.Oxy. 8.1075 (Exodus) on the horizontal fibers (left) and P.Oxy. 8.1079 (Revelation) on the vertical fibers (right); image source: The British Library

The original editor (Arthur S. Hunt) published the texts separately and believed that the piece was a roll of Exodus that was later (but not much later) reused by copying the text of Revelation on the back of the roll. A few years ago, I suggested that this piece was equally likely (if not more likely) to be a leaf of a codex. The abstract of that article in Novum Testamentum laid out the lines of my argument: Continue reading →

Posted in Bodmer composite codex, Codices, Oxyrhynchus Papyri, Scott Charlesworth | 3 Comments

National Geographic’s “Bible Hunters” Article Online

Posted on November 28, 2018 by Brent Nongbri

I mentioned in an earlier post that cover story of the December 2018 issue of National Geographic magazine features “Bible Hunters”–the search for early Christian and Jewish manuscripts. The full story is now online (along with some images that are not in the print magazine). The link is here:

https://www.nationalgeographic.com/magazine/2018/12/inside-bible-collectors-search-other-original-christian-texts/

Posted in Antiquities Market, Find Stories | 1 Comment

National Geographic’s “Bible Hunters”: Some Observations

Posted on November 22, 2018 by Brent Nongbri

As Larry Hurtado mentioned on his blog a couple days ago, the cover story of the December 2018 issue of National Geographic magazine is on “Bible Hunters,” that is to say both nineteenth century figures like Constantine von Tischendorf and contemporary figures like Hobby Lobby’s president Steve Green. There’s actually a lot going on in both the scope and execution of this article. It is bookended with accounts of an ongoing American/Israeli led dig in caves near Qumran in the occupied West Bank, which is, as the article’s author notes, widely considered “illegal under international law.”  It also contains a discussion of the manuscript formerly known as “first-century Mark.” For now, I’ll just lay out some initial observations. Continue reading →

Posted in Antiquities Dealers and Collectors, Fakes and Forgeries, First Century Mark, Oxyrhynchus Papyri, P.Ryl. 3.457, Van Kampen Collection | 2 Comments

Tertullian and the Ending of the Gospel According to John

Posted on November 14, 2018 by Brent Nongbri

Tertullian BnF Latin 1622 De Anima 158v

Selection from Tertullian’s De anima (BnF Latin 1622, 9th century)

In response to my recent article on the ending of John in P.Bodmer 2, Michael Lattke brought to my attention an article of his that is relevant to the question of the circulation of the Gospel According to John without chapter 21 in the second and third centuries:

Michael Lattke, “Joh 20 30 f. als Buchschluß,” Zeitschrift für die Neutestamentliche Wissenschaft 78 (1987), 288-292

Lattke focuses on a passage in Tertullian’s Adversus Praxean that describes John 20:31 as “the conclusion of the gospel” (25.4, here in the Latin text of Kroymann): Continue reading →

Posted in Textual criticism | 8 Comments