Kirsopp Lake

The Serabit Expedition of 1930: I. Introduction

One of the incidental, but, as it proved, important results of the Harvard Expedition to Mount Sinai in 1927 was the rediscovery of the Sinaitic inscriptions on Serabit el-Khadim, a desolate mountain in the interior of the peninsula, rendered famous by the ruins of a temple of the Egyptian goddess Hathor and by many exhausted turquoise mines.

The Text of the Gospels and the Koridethi Codex

Since the time of Griesbach it has been generally recognized that the main problem of textual criticism in the New Testament is due to the existence of three distinct types of text, the Neutral, Western, and Syrian (or Antiochian). The great contributions of Westcott and Hort were the clear delineation of this problem and the establishment in considerable detail of the Neutral text. The Western text they only indicated in outline, and the Antiochian text was left with little further definition than that already provided by the Textus Receptus.

The Sinaitic and Vatican Manuscripts and the Copies Sent by Eusebius to Constantine

Eusebius in his Life of Constantine, chapters xxxvi f., gives an account of the MSS. of the Scriptures prepared in Caesarea at the command of the Emperor for the use of the churches in Constantinople, owing to the remarkable increase in the number of Christians after the conversion of the court. His account ends with a sentence which according to Schwartz, whose opinion seems obviously correct, is unfortunately incomplete. ταῦτα μὲν οῦν βασιλeὺς διeκeλeύeτο αὐτίκα δ᾽ ἔργον ἐπηκολούθeι τῷ λόγῳ, ἐν πολυτeλῶς ἠσκημένοις τeύχeσιν τρισσὰ καὶ τeτρασσὰ διαπeμψάντων ἡμῶν….

The Text of the De Virginitate of Athanasius

The edition of the “De Virginitate” of Athanasius by Eduard von der Goltz (Texte und Untersuchungen xxix, 1905) is one of the most important contributions made in modern times to the knowledge of the text of Athanasius, because of its full discussion of the variant readings of the manuscripts. The work, however, was handicapped by incomplete knowledge of the Patmos MS. (P), which von der Goltz regarded as the best, and by almost complete ignorance of the two Vatopedi MSS. quoted by him under the symbols W 1 and W 2 , but in the present article designated A and K, since that nomenclature was adopted in the first article on their contents in the Journal of Theological Studies , vol. v, 1903, pp. 108 ff. A visit to Athos and Patmos in 1925 has made it possible to build a little further on von der Goltzs foundation, and to correct some of the errors inevitable to the conditions under which he worked. We shall here give: (I) A fuller account of P. (II) A list of corrections to be made in von der Goltzs collation of P. (III) A collation, with von der Goltzs edition, of the text of the two Vatopedi MSS. A and K, and of a third MS. in the same library, which we call Q. (IV) Some discussion of the general problem of the text of the “De Virginitate.”

The Shepherd of Hermas

There is no danger that anyone will overlook the importance of Mr. Bonners article on the Michigan Papyrus of the Shepherd of Hermas in the number of this Review for April, 1925. The publication of a manuscript of the Shepherd of Hermas dating from the third century will be a real event in the history of the interpretation of early Christian literature. But there is one point in his statement which, though it will appeal at once to those who have worked on the Shepherd, is likely to escape the notice of others unless attention be drawn to it.

A Lost Manuscript of Eusebius's Demonstratio Evangelica Found

The textual condition of the Demonstratio Evangelica of Eusebius is unfortunately very defective. The only existing manuscripts appear to be copies of the great Paris codex 469, and the beginning and end of this manuscript are now missing.

The Problem of Christian Origins

THE purpose of this article is not so much to offer a review of the books mentioned above as to indicate briefly their nature and contents, and to discuss the varied yet similar points of view which they represent toward some of the problems in the story of Christian origins as studied today. Johannes Weiss will always hold a prominent place in the history of research into the meaning of early Christian literature. His treatment of 1 Corinthians, even for those who do not wholly accept his critical dissections, is one of the great commentaries on any single book of the New Testament; though for many his highest achievement will always seem to be his Die Predigt Jesu vom Reiche Gottes, especially in the first edition, of which the freshness and vigor were somewhat impaired by the emendations and additions in the second. It was a great loss to theological learning that he died so prematurely in 1914. His last book, Das Urchristentum, was left partly unfinished, and owes its final pages to Professor Knopf. It is a large book, but shows with sad clearness a certain hurriedness and lack of proportion due to the race with death which the author was running. The first 510 pages were published before his death, the rest were only partly ready, but were finished by Professor Knopf, and appeared in 1917. The whole

The Shepherd of Hermas and Christian Life in Rome in the Second Century

It was once remarked with much truth that the non-fulfilment of the expectation of the Parousia was the principal factor in the development of early Christianity. This is all the more important, because it was not the custom of the first Christians to speak of the “second” coming—that is a modern point of view—but of the “coming” of the Messiah. To them the Son of Man, Jesus, had come, and the resurrection proved that he was now the Messiah in heaven, but, as Professor Burkitt has recently pointed out, “Son of Man” does not mean “Messiah” in the full sense, but is rather the description given of the predestined and pre-existent Messiah, before he actually came as Messiah in function. The Parousia of the triumphant Messiah whom they expected was as much future for Christians as it was for Jews, and on this point the main difference between the two was that the former believed that they knew who the Messiah was.