"Myths About Autographs: What They Were and How Long They May Have Survived" in Elijah Hixson and Peter Gurry, eds. Myths and Mistakes in New Testament Textual Criticism (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press,Academic, 2019).
(Google Books)
Refereed Journal Articles
“Where Inspiration is Found: Putting the New Testament Autographs in Context,” in
Southern Baptist Journal of Theology 24.3 (Fall 2020): 83-101.
"Exposing Textual Corruption: Community as a Stabilizing Aspect in the Circulation of the New Testament writings during the Greco-Roman Era." JSNT 43.2 (December 2020): 266-298.
ABSTRACT
Because few manuscripts of the New Testament writings are preserved from the first three centuries of the Christian era scholars have debated the extent that modern critical editions of the New Testament reflect the text in circulation during these early centuries. In order to answer this question, this paper will set out the evidence for ancient publication through community transmission. It will consider examples from Cicero, Martial, Quintilian, Pliny the younger, and Galen. These authors reveal that they preferred social networks rather than commercial dealers to circulate their writings. These same communities that copied and distributed an author’s works inadvertently created an environment in which significant alterations and plagiarizing of these same writings became known. Matthew D. C. Larsen, who has recently approached the same problem addressed in this article by examining ancient publication conventions, is engaged with throughout. The conclusions drawn here press hard against Larsen’s assertions.
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"What are the NT Autographs? An Examination of the Doctrine of Inspiration and Inerrancy in Light of Greco-Roman Publication." JETS 59/2 (June 2016): 287-308.
ABSTRACT
This article explores the definition of the NT "autographs" as articulated in various inerrancy doctrinal statements. It begins by sketching the history of the doctrine of the inerrancy of the "autographs," followed by some modern criticisms of the doctrine. Greco-Roman publication composition and publication practices are surveyed by investigating three figures from the beginning of the Roman Imperial age through to its height: Cicero, Pliny the Younger, and Galen. Four extant examples of ancient papyrus "autographs" are examined, illustrating the draft and rewriting stages of composition. After analyzing Greco-Roman publication, a definition is proposed: in reference to the NT, the "autographs," as often discussed in biblical inerrancy doctrinal statements, should be defined as the completed authorial work which was released by the author for circulation and copying, not earlier draft versions or layers of composition.
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"Christian Papyri and the Ancient Church." Bibliotheca Sacra 173 (April–June 2016): 182–202.ABSTRACT
Modern scholarship and popular media outlets often depict the earliest Christians as holding wildly divergent beliefs about Jesus and reading and writing secret gospels that never made it into the New Testament. This view fails to take into consideration the material remains of early Christian manuscripts from the second and third centuries that have been discovered in Egypt. These manuscripts mainly consist of New Testament writings and contain certain para-linguistic and formatting features that highlight unique socio-culture aspects of the early Christians that stand in stark contrast to these modern theories of Christian origins.
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ABSTRACT
"Codex Sinaiticus is the oldest and most complete New Testament in Greek
known to exist. Its two colophons at the end of 2 Esdras and Esther
indicate a possible connection with Pamphilus’ famous library at
Caesarea in Palestine. Origen was head of a school for catechumens
during his days in Alexandria in Egypt and later began a similar school
in Caesarea. Pamphilus was Origen’s star pupil and later directed his
school in Caesarea. These colophons may connect Sinaiticus with an
ancient tradition of early Christian worship and instruction of new
converts, possibly exhibited in particular scribal features. These
scribal features are primarily located at “two-ways” lists of “virtue
and vice” in the New Testament, which were popular methods of
instructing the essentials of the faith and are found throughout early
Christian literature. These areas in the New Testament (and in the
epistle of Barnabas) were emphasized through paragraph ‘lists’ by the
scribes of Sinaiticus. These ‘lists’ were most likely recited by the
ancient reader in a distinctive way for the audience. It is possible
that the audience interacted with the reader as the text was recited.
This paper surveys the ancient practice of the public reading of scripture during Christian gatherings and the use of punctuation and lectional marking in manuscripts to aid readers in their task. A possible connection with earlier manuscripts is explored by a cursory examination of a similarity in formatting between Sinaiticus and P46, a second century copy of Paul’s epistles. When taken collectively, though sparse and fragmentary, the evidence suggests that Sinaiticus preserves an ancient practice of Christian instruction located in the unique paragraph ‘lists’ of the “two-ways” theme."
This paper surveys the ancient practice of the public reading of scripture during Christian gatherings and the use of punctuation and lectional marking in manuscripts to aid readers in their task. A possible connection with earlier manuscripts is explored by a cursory examination of a similarity in formatting between Sinaiticus and P46, a second century copy of Paul’s epistles. When taken collectively, though sparse and fragmentary, the evidence suggests that Sinaiticus preserves an ancient practice of Christian instruction located in the unique paragraph ‘lists’ of the “two-ways” theme."
Book Reviews
Jennifer Knust, Tommy Wasserman. To Cast the First Stone: The Transmission of a Gospel Story. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2019. (Bryn Mawr Classical Review 2019.10.07)
Matthew D. C. Larsen. Gospels Before the Book (New York Oxford University Press, 2018) (JETS 62.3 641-645)
Brent Nongbri. God’s Library: The Archaeology of the Earliest Christian Manuscripts (New Haven: Yale University Press, 2018)
Philip Wesley Comfort. A Commentary on the Manuscripts and Text of the New Testament. (Grand Rapids: Kregel, 2015)
William Varner. James: A Commentary on the Greek Text (Fontes Press, 2017)
Jeff Smelser. Walk Worthily: A Commentary on Ephesians. (Cillicothe, OH: DeWard Publishing Company, 2017).
Todd Scacewater. Grounded in the Faith: A Guide for New Disciples Based on the Apostles Creed. (Fontes Press, 2017).
Book review of ΕΠΙΣΤΟΛΑΙ ΙΓΝΑΤΙΟΥ: The Letters of Ignatius (Edited by Shawn J. Wilhite and Brian Renshaw. Volume 1 of Apostolic Fathers Greek Reader. Series edited by T. Michael W. Halcomb and Fredrick J. Long. Wilmore, KY: Glossa House, 2015)
Book review of Orthodoxy and Heresy in Early Christian Contexts: Reconsidering the Bauer Thesis (Edited by Paul A. Hartog. Eugene: Pickwick, 2015)
Book review of George W. Houston, Inside Roman Libraries: Book Collections and Their Management in Antiquity (Chapel Hill: UNC Press, 2014)
Jennifer Knust, Tommy Wasserman. To Cast the First Stone: The Transmission of a Gospel Story. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2019. (Bryn Mawr Classical Review 2019.10.07)
Matthew D. C. Larsen. Gospels Before the Book (New York Oxford University Press, 2018) (JETS 62.3 641-645)
Brent Nongbri. God’s Library: The Archaeology of the Earliest Christian Manuscripts (New Haven: Yale University Press, 2018)
Philip Wesley Comfort. A Commentary on the Manuscripts and Text of the New Testament. (Grand Rapids: Kregel, 2015)
William Varner. James: A Commentary on the Greek Text (Fontes Press, 2017)
Jeff Smelser. Walk Worthily: A Commentary on Ephesians. (Cillicothe, OH: DeWard Publishing Company, 2017).
Todd Scacewater. Grounded in the Faith: A Guide for New Disciples Based on the Apostles Creed. (Fontes Press, 2017).
Book review of Orthodoxy and Heresy in Early Christian Contexts: Reconsidering the Bauer Thesis (Edited by Paul A. Hartog. Eugene: Pickwick, 2015)
Book review of George W. Houston, Inside Roman Libraries: Book Collections and Their Management in Antiquity (Chapel Hill: UNC Press, 2014)
Book review of Mark Goodacre, Thomas and the Gospels: The Case for Thomas’s Familiarity with the Synoptics (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans Publishing Company, 2012)
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