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Early Christian Manuscripts: Examples of Applied Method and Approach

In Amulets, Brill, Dan Batovici, Early Christianity, Egypt, New Testament, Oxyrhynchus, Papyrology, Patristics, Reception history, Scripture, Textual Criticism, Thomas KRAUS, Tobias NICKLAS on June 13, 2012 at 6:12 pm

2012.06.13 | Thomas J. Kraus and Tobias Nicklas, eds. Early Christian Manuscripts: Examples of Applied Method and Approach. Texts and Editions for New Testament Study 5. Leiden, Boston: Brill, 2010. xx + 243 pp. ISBN: 9789004182653.

Reviewed by Dan Batovici, University of St Andrews.

Many thanks to Brill for kindly providing us with a review copy.

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This volume is intended as a papyrological follow-up of a previous volume, New Testament Manuscripts: Their Texts and Their World, published in the same series (TENT 2) in 2006. It features nine articles forming nine chapters varying in size between 15 and 45 pages. Read the rest of this entry »


Manuscripts and their Texts: Perspectives on Textual Criticism – The 2012 St Andrews Graduate Conference for Biblical and Early Christian Studies

In Call for papers, Grant MACASKILL, Johannes MAGLIANO-TROMP, Karla POLLMANN, Kristin De TROYER, Peter M. HEAD, St Andrews Graduate Conference for Biblical and Early Christian Studies, Textual Criticism on March 1, 2012 at 9:10 pm

8-9 June 2012, St Mary’s College

The 2nd St Andrews Graduate Conference for Biblical and Early Christian Studies is aimed at graduate students and early career scholars. Contributors are welcomed from the following fields of research: Old Testament / Hebrew Bible, Pseudepigrapha & Dead Sea Scrolls, New Testament, and Early Christianity.

We are glad to have with us the following plenary speakers:

  • Prof. Kristin De Troyer (St Andrews)
  • Dr. Johannes Magliano-Tromp (Leiden)
  • Dr. Peter M. Head (Cambridge)
  • Prof. Karla Pollmann (St Andrews),

In addition, we will also have a special invited lecture from Dr. Grant Macaskill (St Andrews), on his edition of the Slavonic text of 2 Enoch.

Read the rest of this entry »


Early Christian Books in Egypt

In Dan Batovici, Early Christianity, Egypt, Papyrology, Princeton University Press, Roger S. BAGNALL, Textual Criticism on November 22, 2011 at 12:30 am

2011.11.09 | Roger S. Bagnall, Early Christian Books in Egypt. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2009. Pp. xv + 109. ISBN: 9780691140261 (Cloth).

Reviewed by Dan Batovici, University of St Andrews.

RBECS would like to thank Princeton University Press for kindly providing us with a review copy. You can find RBECS on facebook, here.

A shorter version is now published in Sacra Scripta 9.2 (2011).

This is a stirring small volume from a prominent papyrologist, containing the published form of four lectures offered in May 2006 at the École Practique des Haute Études of Paris, which were published simultaneously in French (with Droz, see here). Read the rest of this entry »


N. T. Wright, “Scripture and God’s Authority: Case Studies and Further Questions”

In N. T. WRIGHT, Rebekah Devine, SEMINAR REPORTS, St Andrews, St Andrews Graduate Conference for Biblical and Early Christian Studies on September 28, 2011 at 9:54 pm

This is a report on a paper presented by Prof N. T. Wright as a keynote address at the 1st St Andrews Graduate Conference for Biblical and Early Christian Studies, 15 June 2011. The conference theme was “Authoritative Texts and Reception History”. The programme of the conference is available here.

The conference facebook page is here. This blog’s facebook page is here.

Wright’s paper addresses what he views as the most contested and problematic moment in reception history:  “The moment when those first-century Jews who believed that Jesus of Nazareth was Israel’s Messiah and the world’s Lord began to re-read their scriptures with this belief as the controlling filter.”  The paper is a re-presentation of the main issues examined in Wright’s book, Scripture and God’s Authority.  As is suggested by the title, Wright emphasizes that the authority of scripture is not in the text itself; rather, the authority of God is somehow mediated through the text.  Read the rest of this entry »


Paul’s Letter to the Galatians & Christian Theology

In Call for papers, Galatians, Paul, St Andrews on June 22, 2011 at 7:58 pm

Paul’s Letter to the Galatians & Christian Theology

10-13 July 2012, St Andrews

We are pleased to announce the fourth St Andrews conference on Scripture and
 Christian Theology. Since the first conference on the Gospel of John in
 2003, the St Andrews conferences have been recognized as amongst the most
 important occasions when biblical scholars and systematic theologians are
 brought together in conversation about a biblical text. With the book of Galatians as our key text, biblical scholars and theologians of the Christian tradition will gather to work out how exegesis and theology meet, critique and inform each other.

Registration will open shortly, here.

Read the rest of this entry »


Scribal Habits of Codex Sinaiticus

In Codex Sinaiticus, Dan Batovici, Dirk JONGKIND, Gorgias, New Testament, Scribal habits, Scripture, Septuagint, Textual Criticism on June 2, 2011 at 12:33 pm

2011.06.05 | Dirk Jongkind. Scribal Habits of Codex Sinaiticus. Texts and Studies 5; Piscataway, NJ: Gorgias, 2007. Pp. xvii + 323. ISBN: 9781593334222. Hardback

Reviewed by Dan Batovici, University of St Andrews.

Visit us on facebook too. Many thanks to Gorgias Press for the review copy. A shorter version of this review is now published in Sacra Scripta 9.2 (2011).

This is the published version of Dirk Jongkind’s doctoral dissertation, written under Peter Head at Cambridge and defended in 2005. Read the rest of this entry »


The 1st St Andrews Graduate Conference for Biblical and Early Christian Studies: Authoritative Texts and Reception History

In SEMINAR REPORTS, St Andrews on May 17, 2011 at 5:37 pm

With an emphasis on textual reception history, the first St Andrews Graduate Conference for Biblical and Early Christian Studies is aimed at graduate students and early career scholars.

Some details are offered here. The initial CfP is available here.

Authoritative Texts and Reception History

Aspects and Approaches. 15-16 June 2011

St Mary’s College, School of Divinity, University of St Andrews

Wednesday 15th June

9.00 am: Kristin de Troyer, On Reconstructing the History of the Biblical Text Read the rest of this entry »


The 1st St Andrews Graduate Conference for Biblical and Early Christian Studies: Authoritative Texts and Reception History

In Call for papers, DSS, HB/OT, New Testament, Patristics, Reception history, Septuagint, St Andrews on February 1, 2011 at 1:39 pm

[see the CfP for the 2nd StAnGCBECS (2012) here and the Facebook page of the conference here]

Authoritative Texts and Reception History

Aspects and Approaches

15-16 June 2011

With an emphasis on textual reception history, the first St Andrews Graduate Conference for Biblical and Early Christian Studies is aimed at graduate students and early career scholars. Contributors are welcomed from the following fields of research: Old Testament / Hebrew Bible, Pseudepigrapha, Dead Sea Scrolls, New Testament and Early Christianity.

Some other details, here. Information about registration are posted here. You can download the conference poster from here.

We have four invited plenary speakers:

Prof. Kristin De Troyer

Prof. James R. Davila

Prof. N. T. Wright

Dr. Mark W. Elliott

Conference sessions will be chaired by plenary speakers followed by papers grouped by topic.

Papers will be 20 minutes. Deadline to send in your 250-word abstracts is 15 March 2011. Abstracts should be e-mailed to StAnGCBECS [at] gmail.com Read the rest of this entry »


Author’s response to RBECS’ reviews on Augustine’s Text of John. Patristic Citations and Latin Gospel Manuscripts

In Augustine, Cornelia Linde, Dan Batovici, H. A. G. HOUGHTON, John, NT reception history, Oxford University Press, Patristics, Textual Criticism on January 24, 2011 at 6:30 pm

2011.01.04 | H. A. G. Houghton. Augustine’s Text of John. Patristic Citations and Latin Gospel Manuscripts. Oxford: OUP, 2008. (13.8×21.6), 424 p. ISBN 978-0-19-954592-6. Hardback.

This is Hugh Houghton’s response in the review-session dedicated to his Augustine’s Text of John, at the International Medieval Congress, Leeds, July 2010, (session 1630). The two reviews, signed by Cornelia Linde and Dan Batovici are available here and here.

First of all, I’d like to thank Cornelia and Dan for the time they’ve spent preparing for this session and for their very detailed and careful reviews: it has been a real pleasure to hear such constructive engagement with the text. Read the rest of this entry »


The Legacy of John: Second Century Reception of the Fourth Gospel

In Brill, Charles E. HILL, Dan Batovici, John, New Testament, NT reception history, Second century, Tuomas RASIMUS on January 17, 2011 at 8:37 am

2011.01.02 | Tuomas Rasimus, ed. The Legacy of John: Second Century Reception of the Fourth Gospel. Supplements to Novum Testamentum 132. Leiden/Boston: Brill, 2010. Pp. xi + 406. ISBN: 9789004176331. Hardback

Reviewed by Dan Batovici, University of St Andrews.

The book is a fine collection of twelve essays on several second-century texts and their relation to the Fourth Gospel. The editor mentions in the very dense introduction the need to ‘abandon the old division between “orthodox” and “heterodox” forms of Christianity as misleading and anachronistic.’

It is commendable, indeed, to seek for the early reception of John beyond such a distinction, and this fresh view stands well in a context in which the two most recent major contributions on the early reception of John tend to focus on either the “orthodox” or the “heterodox” reception. Read the rest of this entry »