The Greek manuscripts of the New Testament

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Binding of the reprint of the GDR, 1973
Title page of the book

The Greek Manuscripts of the New Testament is a work by Caspar René Gregory from 1908. After thirty years of work, he published a new catalog system for the Greek manuscripts of the New Testament . It is still used today in the form expanded by Kurt Aland as a numbering after Gregory-Aland .

motivation

In his introduction on pages 1 to 31, he explains the motivation for creating this list. Desiderius Erasmus had already made a list of various manuscripts when compiling his Novum Instrumentum omne in 1516 . Over time, more and more manuscripts became available and a uniform designation was necessary. Brian Walton and Johann Jakob Wettstein used capital letters in Latin. Konstantin von Tischendorf designated the Codex Sinaiticus with the Hebrew letter א. Correspondingly, some other manuscripts were designated with consecutive Hebrew letters. At the time, these letters were not available in all printing works and thus cause difficulties when used in printing works for research and teaching.

In addition, in the previous catalogs a distinction was made according to the content of the manuscripts and individual documents were listed several times in different lists. The Leicester manuscript (minuscule 69) can be found in the Gospels under 69, but in Acts under 31, in the Pauline letters as 37 and in Revelation under 14. The 69, on the other hand, in Acts denotes a manuscript in Wolfenbüttel (minuscule 429), in the Pauline letters a manuscript in Vienna (minuscule 421) and for the Revelation a manuscript in Rome (minuscule 628). The Sodens system used Greek letters. With the Soden system, those 4 lists disappeared, but were replaced by 20 to 30 new ones.

Gregory decided to create a new uniform catalog that should simplify the work. To this end, he wrote to numerous scholars of international standing and name in the textual criticism and asked for their approval, cooperation and suggestions. On pages 10 to 13 those 35 experts from Germany and 61 scholars from 15 other countries are listed. He changed some of his own ideas in favor of the majority. Broad approval came not only from the part of the textual criticism, but also from the camp of the other New Testament scholars and from the users of the scientific text editions.

Classification

With the new classification, each manuscript is only assigned to one of the following 4 lists:

  1. Large fonts ( uncials )
  2. Papyri
  3. Booklets ( lowercase )
  4. Reading books ( lessonaries )

At the time of publication, 161 large fonts were known to Gregory. For the first 45, he adopted the sigla that had been in use for a long time , consisting mainly of Latin and Greek capital letters. Examples are א as a designation for the Codex Siniatiticus, A for the Codex Alexandrinus or G p for the Codex Boernerianus . He left the corresponding numbers blank. Starting with the number 046 (for the Codex Vaticanus Graecus 2066 ) he designated the large fonts with bold Arabic sans serif numerals. To distinguish it from the minuscule, the numbers always start with a zero. In mid-2012, 322 large fonts were known.

Gregory suggests using a to identify the papyri in Fraktur, followed by a superscript sequential number. Alternatively, a peculiar, conspicuous P or the syllable Pap can be used. In 1908 only 14 papyri were known, but it was foreseeable that their number would increase considerably.

The small letters are numbered consecutively with normal numbers. Based on the previous tradition of being able to draw conclusions about the content from the designation, some of the numbers are extended by lowercase letters in superscript. The four letters eapr are available. The appropriate assignment is e - Gospel , a - Acts of the Apostles , p - Pauline letters and r - Revelation (Latin revelatio ). 131 p, for example, refers to Paul's letters in the minuscule manuscript 131, which is currently kept in the Vatican library. The assignment of the letters was not easy, because an o for Revelation is only evident in German, in English an a for Apocalypse and Acts would have led to confusion. A Greek π, on the other hand, stands for both Acts and Paul. As a supplement, a c can be used for the Catholic letters . Gregory lists 2292 of these manuscripts, by mid-2012 2911 minuscules were cataloged.

The reading books or lectionaries are designated with the code ℓ and a consecutive number. The content can also be indicated by using superscript Latin letters. If nothing is noted, the Gospels are included. A ℓ + a indicates readings from the Acts of the Apostles, while ℓ a only has readings from the Acts of the Apostles. The latter applies to Lectionary 23 , for example . Gregory lists 1540 reading books, the Institute for New Testament Text Research in Münster had cataloged 2453 lectionaries by mid-2012.

distribution

The catalog is used and continued to this day. In 1973, an unchanged photomechanical reprint of the original 1908 edition was made in the GDR by the Central Antiquariat of the German Democratic Republic from the copy in the Leipzig University Library . The printing was done by the national printing house VOB National, 1055 Berlin. Gregory's system is continued to this day in the Institute for New Testament Text Research . Newly added manuscripts are assigned an internationally valid number.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Caspar René Gregory, The Greek Manuscripts of the New Testament , Leipzig, 1908, page 2
  2. ↑ ibid, from page 13
  3. ↑ ibid, page 26
  4. ↑ ibid, page 123
  5. ↑ see page II of this reprint, Ag 509/27/73 186

Web links

See also