Doctoral Thesis
The ancient witnesses of the epistle to the Hebrews: A computer-assisted analysis of the papyrus and uncial manuscripts of [pros Hebraios]
Doctor of Philosophy (PhD), Murdoch University
1999
Abstract
The text of the Greek New Testament is subject to variation because it was copied by hand for fourteen hundred years. The task of documenting the variation has never been completed because of the enormous number of manuscripts (over five thousand), although several critical editions have made important contributions towards summarising the evidence.
There have been few attempts to record the exact contents of the manuscripts, largely because of the daunting scale of such an undertaking. As a rule, collations which form the basis of critical editions level orthographical variation and apparent errors. By contrast, a complete collation retains these details but requires a greater effort to produce. If the information contained in such features is significant for plotting the history of the text, then complete collation should be the rule rather than the exception.
As a test case for the rest of the New Testament, this thesis sets out to record the ancient text of the epistle to the Hebrews and extract information pertinent to its journey through time and space. Multivariate analysis of a complete collation of the extant papyrus and uncial Greek manuscripts is employed to map the text's trajectories with respect to textual and orthographical variation. When combined with the evidence of the Church Fathers and early versions, the same analysis permits assessment of the degree to which modem editions conform to the ancient text.
Details
- Title
- The ancient witnesses of the epistle to the Hebrews: A computer-assisted analysis of the papyrus and uncial manuscripts of [pros Hebraios]
- Authors/Creators
- Timothy John Finney
- Contributors
- Richard Moore (Supervisor)
- Awarding Institution
- Murdoch University; Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)
- Identifiers
- 991005545300407891
- Murdoch Affiliation
- Division of Social Sciences, Humanities and Education
- Language
- English
- Resource Type
- Doctoral Thesis
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