Cataloging biblical manuscripts
The cataloging of biblical manuscripts serves as an aid for biblical textual criticism , which tries to reconstruct the source text of the books of the Bible . Thousands of manuscripts have to be compared with one another. During the development of this branch of science, various catalog systems with their respective advantages and disadvantages emerged. Newly discovered documents must be consistently included in the catalog system in order to be able to work in an internationally standardized manner. The systems currently in use meet this requirement.
New Testament
The numerous printed editions of the biblical text since Novum Instrumentum omne of Erasmus had different counting methods for the various manuscripts and the same name was in the Gospels another manuscript described as in the Epistles. Each issue could have its own counting method. However, there was also a tendency towards standardization. The best-known capital letters were assigned certain capital letters over time, which were already a widespread standard at the time of Tischendorf . However, the names of the minuscules were always different depending on the edition. In the 19th century the number of known and cataloged manuscripts increased sharply, so that the comparison of manuscripts and text editions became more and more complicated and a generally binding naming of the manuscripts became more and more necessary.
From Soden
Hermann von Soden published a complex catalog system for the manuscripts in the first decade of the 20th century. He arranged the manuscripts on the basis of their content and assigned them a Greek prefix: δ for a complete New Testament, ε for the Gospels and α for the remaining part. However, this grouping was incorrect because some of the manuscripts from group δ did not contain the revelation and many manuscripts classified in α contained either the Catholic letters or the Pauline letters, but not both.
After the Greek prefix, von Soden added a number related to the date of the document. For example, the manuscripts δ1 – δ49 are from before the 10th century, while δ150 – δ249 are from the 11th century. This system proved problematic when manuscripts were re-dated or more manuscripts were discovered than the number of free numbers would allow for a given century.
Gregory-Aland
In 1908, Caspar René Gregory published a new catalog system with his book The Greek Manuscripts of the New Testament , which Kurt Aland continued and supplemented from 1950 , as new manuscript finds made this necessary. This system is still in use today and is kept up to date by the Institute for New Testament Text Research in Münster. Prior to this, Gregory had written to leading researchers in the field around the world in order to find an optimal solution together, and it met with broad approval. Gregory divided the manuscripts into four groups: papyri , uncials , minuscules, and lectionaries . This classification is sometimes arbitrary. The first grouping is based on the physical material (papyrus) that was used in the manuscript. The next two divisions are based on the script: uncials and minuscules (lower and upper case). The final grouping is based on content: lessonaries . Almost all papyrus manuscripts and lectionaries before the year 1000 are written in uncials. Nevertheless, there is a certain consistency, as most papyri are very old. From the 4th century, parchment began to replace papyrus as a writing material (although there are also papyri from the 8th century). Similarly, the majority of the uncials are dated before the 11th century, while the majority of the minuscules are dated after.
Old testament
Rahlfs numbers
As early as the 19th century, Paul de Lagarde suggested that a critical text edition of the Septuagint should be prepared. But only his student Alfred Rahlfs was able to start this project together with Rudolf Smend . To this end, the Göttingen Septuagint company was founded in 1908 . In order to reference the approximately 2000 Greek manuscripts, Rahlfs introduced the Rahlfs numbers , which have established themselves as the international standard. The list of Septuagint manuscripts offers a selection of manuscripts from the Old Testament with the respective Rahlfs numbers .
See also
Individual evidence
- ↑ Kurt Aland, Barbara Aland: The text of the New Testament. Introduction to the scientific editions as well as the theory and practice of modern textual criticism. 2nd, supplemented and expanded edition. German Bible Society, Stuttgart 1989, ISBN 3-438-06011-6 , pp. 40–41.
- ^ The Greek manuscripts of the New Testament by Caspar René Gregory in digitized form
- ↑ Kurt Aland, Barbara Aland: The text of the New Testament. Introduction to the scientific editions as well as the theory and practice of modern textual criticism. 2nd, supplemented and expanded edition. German Bible Society, Stuttgart 1989, ISBN 3-438-06011-6 , pp. 73-77
- ^ Reimar Paul (taz, May 20, 2008): Hundreds of versions of the same sacred text