News from the Virtual Manuscript Room

As we have announced previously, the Kurzgefasste Liste is now online, which means that changes will be effective immediately. Naturally, such updates will largely go unnoticed unless the specific entry is consulted by someone.

However, more significant updates, and changes of other nature (technical, design etc) are published under "News" in the main entrance of the Virtual Manuscript Room, so to speak. These notices are published only in German for now, but English versions are planned for the future. In the meantime, the developers can always hope that there are some benevolent bloggers who help translate and disseminate the news ;-)

The latest major news (2010-03-02) is that several entries for the Albanian MSS have been updated. There were 30 MSS registered in Tirana in the 2d ed. of the Liste, and so far it has been verified that 23 of them are still there: 043, 1141, 1143, 1705, 1706, 1707, 1709, 1764, 2244, 2245, 2246, 2247, 2252, 2253, 2514, L758, L882, L1204, L1207, L1433, L1434, L2353, L2372.

Another one, 1142, is now in the US, divided between Cambridge/Mass., Harvard University Houghton Library (MS Typ 215), and Washington/D. C., Dumbarton Oaks (acc. no. 58.105). The latter only has one illuminated folio with John. (In this connection I should point out that I have found there are plenty similar loose leaves with miniatures out there, e.g., one in Stockholm - it has very popular to rip them out.)

In sum, six MSS previously registered in Tiranan have not been located there. On the other hand, eleven new MSS in Tirana have been registered: 2900, 2901, 2902, 2903, L2439, L2440, L2441, L2442, L2443, L2444, L2445. In 2007, the CSNTM photographed the Albanian MSS. Thus, you can view the MSS online here, but I think the CSNTM will now have to update the left column with Gregory-Aland numbers according to the latest information from Münster.

The next in the row of lectionaries, by the way, is L2446 (Iviron 1404 or s.n.) – a manuscript that I suggested for registration some time ago. I am glad it has now received a number, but more on that soon.

Albanian MSS Catalogued

Jeff Hargis, Field Director of Center for the Study of New Testament Manuscripts (CSNTM) reports via the TC discussion list that five Albanian MSS have been catalogued by INTF.

Five Albanian Manuscripts Cataloged by INTF
Jeff Hargis
Wednesday, January 13, 2010

In 2007, the Center photographed the collection of New Testament manuscripts at the Albanian National Archives in Tirana, Albania. Some of these were already cataloged in the Kurzgefasste Liste der griechishen Handschriften des Neuen Testaments (the "K-Liste"), while many others were previously unknown to scholars. In addition, the identities of several of the manuscripts remain uncertain as they have not been examined thoroughly for many decades, if at all.

Since the time we made these discoveries, CSNTM, with the assistance of other scholars as well as the Institut für neutestamentliche Textforschung (INTF, translated as Institute for New Testament Textual Research) in Münster, Germany, have been working to clarify the identity of all of the Albanian manuscripts and to assign new catalog numbers to those whose existence was previously unknown.

We are pleased to announce that INTF has now assigned Gregory-Aland Numbers to five of the manuscripts from the Albanian National Archives as follows:

ANA 7 = GA lect 2439
ANA 11 = GA lect 2440
ANA 13 = GA lect 2441
ANA 16 = GA lect 2442
ANA 77 = GA lect 2443

On the "Manuscripts" page of the CSNTM website, these five manuscripts have been reassigned from their original status as "not yet cataloged" to their new designation as cataloged lectionaries. The Center is grateful to INTF for their work in cataloging these new manuscripts.

Three TC articles at CT

Over Christianity Today there are three articles on textual criticism including:

1. On the Pericope adulterae with Is 'Let Him Who Is Without Sin Cast the First Stone' Biblical? by Sarah Eekhoff Zylstra. It includes this quote:

"Such judgments [about the inauthenticity of the pericope] raise questions about what words like canonicity and inspiration mean for evangelicals. If we reserve the word inspired for the text in the earliest manuscripts, yet accept that other material (such as the pericope adulterae) should be included in our biblical canon, are we implying that select biblical passages may be canonical yet not inspired? If so, what should we do with this distinction?"

2. There is some Q & A with Dan Wallace about his trip to Albania by Derek Keefe.

3. Finally, there is a "classic" article on Textual Criticism and Inerrancy by J.I. Packer which answers the question, "How can I reconcile my belief in the inerrancy of Scripture with comments in Bible translations that state that a particular verse is not 'in better manuscripts'?"