P46!
http://www.lib.umich.edu/news/epistles_of_st_paul
Monday, January 14, 2013
Thursday, January 10, 2013
René Kieffer (1930-2013) R.I.P.
René Kieffer, Professor emeritus of Uppsala University, has passed away on 8 January at the age of 82. He was born in Aumetz in France and raised in Luxembourg. After studies in Paris and Germany he felt a call to become a priest and theologian in the Dominican order in Paris. This process started with eight years of studies in philosophy and theology. Because of his interest in the Bible, Kieffer was sent to the École Biblique in Jerusalem for two years of special education in order to become a professor there, but he felt isolated in this environment and longed for a pastoral work.
Eventually he came to Sweden in 1965 where he settled down. After further studies in exegesis he received a doctoral degree at Uppsala University in 1968 for his thesis Au delà des recensions?: l'évolution de la tradition textuelle dans Jean VI, 52-71 (Coniectanea Biblica New Testament Series 3; Uppsala: Almqvist & Wiksell, 1968) in which he used Colwell's quantitative analysis and other qualitative methods to test received hypotheses on different text-groups (recensions).
During 1972-1989 he was Professor at Lund University, and from 1990-1995 at Uppsala University. After his retirement he moved back to Lund and continued with research and was very active in the New Testament research seminar in Lund.
His major publications include:
Kieffer has also published several works in Swedish including the following bible commentaries:
The first chapter of his Evangeliernas Jesus: myt och verklighet (Örebro: Libris 2001) is self-biographical. Kieffer provides a shorter biographical and bibliographical account in English in the first part of his article "From Linguistic Methodology to the Discovery of a World of Metaphors," Semeia 81 (1988): 77-93.
I first contacted Kieffer when I became interested in New Testament textual criticism around 2000. We had a long conversation and he encouraged me to pursue doctoral studies, although he declined to be my supervisor, since by then he had already retired. However, he wrote a letter of recommendation and continued to give me his support through the writing process and provided helpful comments in the research seminar at Lund University. Further, he was on the board of examiners for my thesis and subsequently wrote a very favorable review of it in Journal of Theological Studies.
Apart from being a first rate scholar, René Kieffer was a gentle and warm friend. I miss him very much.
The funeral will be held in Sankt Thomas kyrka, Lund, on Thursday 24 January, 1PM.
Eventually he came to Sweden in 1965 where he settled down. After further studies in exegesis he received a doctoral degree at Uppsala University in 1968 for his thesis Au delà des recensions?: l'évolution de la tradition textuelle dans Jean VI, 52-71 (Coniectanea Biblica New Testament Series 3; Uppsala: Almqvist & Wiksell, 1968) in which he used Colwell's quantitative analysis and other qualitative methods to test received hypotheses on different text-groups (recensions).
During 1972-1989 he was Professor at Lund University, and from 1990-1995 at Uppsala University. After his retirement he moved back to Lund and continued with research and was very active in the New Testament research seminar in Lund.
His major publications include:
- Essais de méthodologie néo-testamentaire. ConBNTS 4; Lund: Berling 1972.
- Le primat de l'amour: commentaire épistémologique de 1 Corinthiens 13. Paris: Cerf 1975.
- Nytestamentlig teologi. Lund: Verbum 1977.
- Foi et justification à Antioche : interprétation dʹun conflit (Ga 2, 14-21). Paris: Cerf 1982.
- Existence païenne au début du christianisme : présentation de textes grecs et romains (with Lars Rydbeck). Paris: Cerf 1983.
- Die Bibel deuten - das Leben deuten : Einführung in die Theologie des Neuen Testaments. Regensburg: Pustet 1987.
- Le monde symbolique de Saint Jean. Paris: Cerf 1989.
- Jésus raconté: théologie et spiritualité dans les évangiles. Paris: Éd. du Cerf 1996.
- La main de Dieu: Die Hand Gottes (with Jan Bergman). Tübingen: Mohr 1997.
Kieffer has also published several works in Swedish including the following bible commentaries:
- Johannesevangeliet 1-10. KNT 4a. Stockholm: EFS-förlaget 1987.
- Johannesevangeliet 11-20. KNT 4b. Stockholm: EFS-förlaget 1988.
- Filemonbrevet, Judasbrevet och Andra Petrusbrevet. KNT 18. Stockholm: Verbum 2001.
The first chapter of his Evangeliernas Jesus: myt och verklighet (Örebro: Libris 2001) is self-biographical. Kieffer provides a shorter biographical and bibliographical account in English in the first part of his article "From Linguistic Methodology to the Discovery of a World of Metaphors," Semeia 81 (1988): 77-93.
I first contacted Kieffer when I became interested in New Testament textual criticism around 2000. We had a long conversation and he encouraged me to pursue doctoral studies, although he declined to be my supervisor, since by then he had already retired. However, he wrote a letter of recommendation and continued to give me his support through the writing process and provided helpful comments in the research seminar at Lund University. Further, he was on the board of examiners for my thesis and subsequently wrote a very favorable review of it in Journal of Theological Studies.
Apart from being a first rate scholar, René Kieffer was a gentle and warm friend. I miss him very much.
The funeral will be held in Sankt Thomas kyrka, Lund, on Thursday 24 January, 1PM.
Elliott Reviews Parker, Textual Scholarship
In 2011, the Lyell Lectures in Bibliography at Oxford were given by David Parker. His five public addresses offer an insight into a twenty-first-century approach to New Testament textual criticism. Parker surveys the varied manuscript heritage of the New Testament, the interrelationships of the witnesses, and the shape of a future, electronicaly created critical edition of the text based on the earliest recoverable text of each book, an authorial original being a chimera. ... Much of what David Parker has to say about the New Testament in this enthusiastically written book is applicable to other literatures, especially those that also have such a rich but fluid manuscript and literary heritage.
Monday, January 07, 2013
Is there really a ‘Wife-Beater’s Bible’?
An e-mail correspondent recently sent me a list of famous Bible misprints and mistranslations of which the Wicked Bible probably contains the most famous.
This list informed me of the existence of the ‘Wife-Beater’s Bible’ in these words:
5) It would require significantly different printings of the Matthews Bible in 1537.
This list informed me of the existence of the ‘Wife-Beater’s Bible’ in these words:
“Wife-Beaters’ Bible” (Matthew’s Bible, 1537): A footnote to I Peter 3:7 is rendered “And if she be not obedient and healpeful unto him, endevoureth to beat the fear of God into her
head, that thereby she may be compelled to learn her duty and do it.”
Since I have the Hendrickson facsimile of the Matthew’s Bible I turned to it, and found no such reference. There are, however, references to this Bible at various points on the web, e.g. Paul Gardner, Parchment and Pen Blog, Marcus Tutt, and (currently) Wikipedia.
Since I have the Hendrickson facsimile of the Matthew’s Bible I turned to it, and found no such reference. There are, however, references to this Bible at various points on the web, e.g. Paul Gardner, Parchment and Pen Blog, Marcus Tutt, and (currently) Wikipedia.
I am sceptical as to whether there ever was such a Bible, but am asking all you sapientes out on the Web whether you can find hard textual evidence to rid me of my doubts.
My reasons for scepticism include, but are not limited to, the following:
1) The various pages referencing this all appear to use very similar wording, sometimes including context, which is a feature of internet myths, and suggests a single online textual source.
2) Use of the word ‘footnote’ for a time when notes were marginal suggests a lack of familiarity with the period.
3) The syntax ‘endevoureth’ (3rd person for 2nd), spelling (probably confusing devour and endeavour), and idiom ‘to beat the fear of God into her head’ suggest a modern, relatively uneducated, origin for the wording.
4) What would it mean for a footnote to be ‘rendered’?
5) It would require significantly different printings of the Matthews Bible in 1537.
6) It’s the sort of drivel our age likes to invent and believe about the Bad Olde Dayes.
So, friends, is there any evidence for the existence of such a version? Can anyone trace the origin of the hoax?
Next question: where can I see a copy?
Here is what Metzger has to say:
“Edmund Becke’s Bibles (1549; 1551)In the short reign of Edward VI, the open Bible came once again into favor, and some fourteen Bibles and thirty-five New Testaments were printed. These were reprints of Tyndale,Matthew, and Taverner, some of them of interest only for the light they throw on the liberties that publishers felt free to take with books and parts of books in producing a “hybrid” edition. One such printer/publisher was Edmund Becke, who also tried his hand at some desultory revising. Occasionally called “Bishop Becke’s Bibles,” these comprise essentially Taverner’s Old Testament and Tyndale’s New Testament, compiled by John Daye and revised and edited by Becke.
The edition of 1549 is printed in a rather peculiar black-letter type in double columns. The majority of the notes are gathered together after the chapter to which they pertain. Present also are Tyndale’s prologues, including the long prologues to Jonah and Romans (eleven pages)and that to the New Testament.
The edition of 1551 includes 3 Maccabees in the Apocrypha. A cut of the Evangelist appears before each Gospel, and at the beginning of the dedication stands a woodcut initial,representing Becke offering his book to the young king, Edward VI, and instructing him in the duties of his high station.
Becke’s alterations in this edition of the New Testament are deplorable. By reverting in nearly every instance to Tyndale’s version, he has done injustice to Taverner by perpetuating mistakes that the latter had corrected.
Both editions contain the notorious “wife-beater” note on 1 Peter 3:7, where men are exhorted to live with their wives “according to knowledge.” Becke explains this to mean
that taketh her as a necessary helper, and not as a bond servaunt or bonde slave. And if she be not obedient and healpeful unto hym: endeavoureth to beate the feare of God into her heade, that therby she maye be compelled to learne her dutye and do it. But chiefely he must beware that he halte not inanye parte of hys dutye to her warde. For hys evyll example shall destroye more than all entruccion she can give shall edifye.”
UPDATE:
Based on the Metzger reference in Ryan’s comment I’m now convinced that some such thing existed, though it is rather different from what is found in the various sources I noted above. The spelling above is not original. The reference to a ‘footnote’ is an anachronism. It did not occur in a 1537 Bible and is not a Matthews Bible, but what it is is less clear. Metzger says it’s closer to Tyndale than Taverner and his mention of Coverdale doesn’t make it clear that Coverdale was actually a textual source. So it’s not a hoax as I first thought, but just a very corrupt version of a historical core.Next question: where can I see a copy?
Here is what Metzger has to say:
“Edmund Becke’s Bibles (1549; 1551)In the short reign of Edward VI, the open Bible came once again into favor, and some fourteen Bibles and thirty-five New Testaments were printed. These were reprints of Tyndale,Matthew, and Taverner, some of them of interest only for the light they throw on the liberties that publishers felt free to take with books and parts of books in producing a “hybrid” edition. One such printer/publisher was Edmund Becke, who also tried his hand at some desultory revising. Occasionally called “Bishop Becke’s Bibles,” these comprise essentially Taverner’s Old Testament and Tyndale’s New Testament, compiled by John Daye and revised and edited by Becke.
The edition of 1549 is printed in a rather peculiar black-letter type in double columns. The majority of the notes are gathered together after the chapter to which they pertain. Present also are Tyndale’s prologues, including the long prologues to Jonah and Romans (eleven pages)and that to the New Testament.
The edition of 1551 includes 3 Maccabees in the Apocrypha. A cut of the Evangelist appears before each Gospel, and at the beginning of the dedication stands a woodcut initial,representing Becke offering his book to the young king, Edward VI, and instructing him in the duties of his high station.
Becke’s alterations in this edition of the New Testament are deplorable. By reverting in nearly every instance to Tyndale’s version, he has done injustice to Taverner by perpetuating mistakes that the latter had corrected.
Both editions contain the notorious “wife-beater” note on 1 Peter 3:7, where men are exhorted to live with their wives “according to knowledge.” Becke explains this to mean
that taketh her as a necessary helper, and not as a bond servaunt or bonde slave. And if she be not obedient and healpeful unto hym: endeavoureth to beate the feare of God into her heade, that therby she maye be compelled to learne her dutye and do it. But chiefely he must beware that he halte not inanye parte of hys dutye to her warde. For hys evyll example shall destroye more than all entruccion she can give shall edifye.”
UPDATE 2 - Here it is:
Sunday, January 06, 2013
Review of Karlheinz Schüssler's 2011 volume of Biblia Coptica
A quirky RBL review of Schüssler's 2011 volume of his long-term project of cataloging Coptical biblical manuscripts. The project is prelude to a much needed critical edition of the Coptic Bible.
Schüssler Review (http://www.bookreviews.org/pdf/8464_9269.pdf )
This latest review may be compared with Stephan Witetschek's review of an earlier volume discussed and posted here: Witetschek's Review (http://evangelicaltextualcriticism.blogspot.com/2012/03/review-of-schussler-biblia-coptica-die.html)
Schüssler Review (http://www.bookreviews.org/pdf/8464_9269.pdf )
This latest review may be compared with Stephan Witetschek's review of an earlier volume discussed and posted here: Witetschek's Review (http://evangelicaltextualcriticism.blogspot.com/2012/03/review-of-schussler-biblia-coptica-die.html)
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