Early Manuscript of Hebrews Discovered | Evangelical Textual Criticism

Early Manuscript of Hebrews Discovered | Evangelical Textual Criticism

Early Manuscript of Hebrews Discovered

Brian Small, PhD student at Baylor University and regular reader of this blog, publishes the following startling announcement (Polumeros kai Polutropos)

Newly Discovered Manuscript Fragment on Hebrews
Baylor University is hosting a King James Bible conference this weekend. Concurrent with the conference is an exhibit showcasing ancient manuscripts and Bibles through the Middles Ages and Reformation and beyond. One of the manuscripts is a newly-discovered (three weeks ago!) papyrus fragment containing a portion of Hebrews 11. It was discovered in a funerary mask and is dated to the second century! I have pictures but I cannot post them here since the manuscript has been assigned to someone for study and publication.

Apparently, it seems to be Scott Carroll, Research Professor of Manuscript Studies and the Biblical Tradition at Baylor, who is the scholar in charge of this collection to which I assume the early papyrus belongs. On his webpage we read about Carroll that "He is presently directing the research of some of the earliest-known Greek literary papyri in the world which Dr. Carroll extracted from mummy cartonnage and some of the earliest biblical texts known to-date."

In the 1990's Carroll helped Robert van Kampen build the private Van Kampen Collection of Bibles and related material in Florida. Now he is working with another wealthy family, Green, to build up another great collection of bibles and manuscripts to be exhibited in a Bible museum in Dallas. More information about the Green collection in NY Times story here and here (slideshow). One of the MSS they acquired last year from Cambridge was Codex Climaci Rescriptus, which we reported about here (with further links). Apparently, Carroll himself is currently working on a publication of Codex Climaci Rescriptus.

In addition to the growing collection, there is the Green Scholars Initiative which has been organized allow scholars to research and produce scholarship around items in the Green Collection. Scott Carroll is Director and Principal investigator of the collection, whereasJerry Pattengale is Director of the Green Scholars Initiative.

While we wait for a scholarly edition of the Hebrews papyrus, hopefully including images, and adequate information about the provenience, we have to be extremely cautious about the claimed second-century date. In the past there have been numerous claims from representatives of collections like these including the Van Kampen collection, and of course there is, coupled with a strong interest to promote the items in the collection, a real danger to through out sensational claims about "earliest biblical texts known to-date," etc (which media just loves). For a discussion of the the "early dating issue" raised by Roger Bagnall recently, see Peter Head's postshere and here.

The papyrus is on display at Baylor University until tomorrow. Perhaps some reader of this blog, who lives nearby Baylor could go there and take a peek for us? Any significant readings?

BBC News - Anglo-Saxon 7th Century plough coulter found in Kent

BBC News - Anglo-Saxon 7th Century plough coulter found in Kent

Anglo-Saxon 7th Century plough coulter found in Kent

The coulter was discovered in Lyminge, Kent

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An archaeological discovery by the University of Reading is set to shed new light on the history of farming.

Dr Gabor Thomas and his team have found a 7th Century iron plough coulter during excavations at Lyminge, Kent.

A coulter is a vertical soil slicer mounted like a knife to cut through the soil ahead of a plough share to improve the plough's efficiency.

The coulter, one of the defining features of a 'heavy plough', transformed the landscape of England.

Anglo-Saxon monastery

Unlike the small fields associated with earlier light ploughs they cultivated the land in long narrow strips making the large open fields which would become a standard feature of the medieval countryside.

Previously it was believed heavy ploughs were introduced to Anglo-Saxon England in the late 10th Century or 11th Century, on the basis of representations in manuscripts of this period.

However, the Lyminge coulter can be firmly dated to the 7th Century.

A coulter cuts through the soil ahead of a plough share to increase efficiency

Compared to light ploughs, heavy ploughs, pulled by teams of eight oxen, were high-tech and fast.

They permitted the cultivation of heavier soils, especially in areas of poor drainage, by creating a deep furrow characteristically known as 'ridge and furrow'.

Dr Thomas, from the University of Reading's department of archaeology, said: "The coulter was discovered at the base of a structure known as a sunken featured building.

"It looks to have been carefully placed at the bottom of the pit on the building's abandonment, perhaps as a ritual offering with symbolic connotations."

Dr Thomas said the discovery of the Lyminge coulter was significant, as it enabled Anglo-Saxon landowners to maximise profits from their estates and increase productivity.

Continue reading the main story

“Start Quote

This is the object I have been waiting for all my life”

Dr Peter FowlerLeading Anglo-Saxon archaeologist

"This 7th-century wealth may have been invested in the establishment of England's earliest Christian monasteries as represented at Lyminge," he said.

Peter Fowler, a leading Anglo-Saxon archaeologist and former professor of archaeology at Newcastle University, said the find was of "huge significance".

"This is the object I have been waiting for all my life," Professor Fowler said.

"It was known in Roman Britain but apparently then forgotten, and with a lack of evidence we believed that such a plough was unknown in England before the Late Saxon period."

The 2010 excavation forms part of research in which archaeologists have been unearthing the remains of an Anglo-Saxon monastery preserved under the inhabited core of the village in Lyminge.

The excavations are being funded by the British Academy, Society of the Antiquaries and the Royal Archaeological Institute.

The coulter is currently undergoing analytical conservation by a team at the Institute of Archaeology, UCL.

BiblePlaces Blog: Western Wall Clean-Up

BiblePlaces Blog: Western Wall Clean-Up: "Western Wall Clean-Up

Western Wall Clean-Up

If you don’t check your mail for a while, at some point the mailbox will begin to overflow. The problem is increasing at the Western Wall with more and more visitors placing notes in the cracks between the stones. Authorities are now considering adding a third annual clean-up. From the Jerusalem Post:

Armed with wooden poles, Western Wall employees on Wednesday removed millions of handwritten notes, faxes and email printouts from between the ancient stones. The Western Wall Heritage Foundation, which gives the Kotel such a face-lift twice a year - before the upcoming Passover and ahead of the Jewish New Year – are considering a third annual clean-up, due to the growing influx of requests and notes.

The notes will be placed in a repository in accordance with Jewish law, with the laborers – working under the supervision of Western Wall and Holy Sites Rabbi Shmuel Rabinowitz – taking care to not read their content.

The full story is here.

Removing prayer notes from the Western Wall

Carchemish after a century | Ferrell's Travel Blog

Carchemish after a century | Ferrell's Travel Blog

Carchemish after a century

Posted on April 7, 2011 by ferrelljenkins| Leave a comment

The ancient site of Carchemish was identified by George Smith in 1876, and later excavated by the British Museum beginning in 1911. The various directors included Hogarth, Thompson, Wooley, and Lawrence. Many remains of Assyrian and Neo-Hittite periods were uncovered.

Surveys of the vicinity around Carchemish revealed tombs, pottery and weapons from the Middle Bronze Age. The photo shows one such collection displayed in the British Museum.

Pottery found near Carchemish between 1911-1914. Photo by Ferrell Jenkins.

The sign that accompanies this display of pottery says,

During the course of the British Museum’s excavations at Carchemish in north Syria between 1911 and 1914, the field directors, Leonard Wooley and T. E. Lawrence, made regular visits to various sites in the vicinity. One such site was Amarneh and it was from here that Wooley acquired large numbers of objects which had been looted from the associated ancient cemetery. The majority of the finds, consisting of pottery vessels and metal weapons, date to the third and early second millennnium BC. Although it is impossible to reconstruct the early tomb groups, it is clear from Lawrence’s notes and sketches that they were large, collective chambers, lined and roofed over with stone slabs, each tomb containing several individuals and hundreds of pots.

The border between Syria and Turkey is now immediately south of Carchemish. The tell is now in Turkey.

BiblePlaces Blog: Carchemish Excavations - Further Details

BiblePlaces Blog: Carchemish Excavations - Further Details

Carchemish Excavations - Further Details

The site of Carchemish is located on the Euphrates River, straddling the Turkey-Syria border. The first excavations in 1878-1881 were conducted by the British consul in Aleppo, Patrick Henderson. The main excavations at the site, however, took place in 1911-1914 and 1920. The first season was directed by D. G. Hogarth and R. Campbell Thompson. Subsequent seasons were directed by Sir C. Leonard Woolley with the assistance of T. E. Lawrence (aka Lawrence of Arabia) and, in the final year, with the assistance of P. L. O. Guy. The work was interrupted both by World War I (1914-1918) and by the Turkish War of Independence (1919-1923). After the Turkish War of Independence, the modern borders were established, and it became impossible to excavate Carchemish any further.

Carchemish, orthostat in the British Museum with relief of the Storm-god.

Now, 91 years later, work is underway to resume excavations at the ancient site. We remarked on this before, but an online news article now gives additional details. According to a piece in Hurriyet Daily News, the renewed excavations will be conducted by Italian and Japanese archaeologists and are set to begin sometime this year. In preparation for excavations, a contractor had to clear 1,200 landmines from the site. During the mine-clearing, some coins and other objects were retrieved from the site and turned over to the Ministry of Culture and Tourism.

HELL and the NEW TESTAMENT

This is the third and final discourse on this subject in this series. Interesting to say the least, is the statement made by some, that the writers of the New Testament (Jesus' disciples) are "virtually silent on the subject." Well, in one aspect, they are correct. Only two mention it specifically. Yet, this does not mean that they are silent on the matter.

In a previous blog post, we reviewed that Jesus HIMSELF did speak upon the subject directly, and indirectly. The parable of the Wheat and Tares speaks to it as well. Paul talks about what will happen in the end of time and found it enough to encourage his hearers "But you are not in darkness, brothers, for that day to surprise you like a thief. The implication here is simple, what happens if one is a thief and caught? In the physical world, they are arrested, tried and if found guilty sent to jail or prison. If so in the physical world, Paul assumes that his audience knows that this is also true in the spiritual world, and that they do not want to face this outcome.

Let's now place out attention on the books of Acts to Revelation and ask ourselves of the writers that DO mention it specifically, WHAT do they say?

1. James 3:6 "And the tongue is a fire, a world of unrighteousness. The tongue is set among our members, staining the whole body, setting on fire the entire course of life, and set on fire by hell." HELL - in this passage is our familiar word "gehenna." It means the same here as we have seen it mean before. What is James saying, is that the person that is unable to control their tongue has their destiny before them. Just like you would pour a trail of gasoline, or gunpowder and light it - both will track back to their original source. In this case, the course is "gehenna," the place of eternal punishment.
2. 2 Pet.2:4 “For if God did not spare angels when they sinned, but cast them into hell and committed them to chains of gloomy darkness to be kept until the judgment; ..." This passage is interesting because it introduces us to a couple of things. 1.) Angels that have sinned and 2.) Hell here is the word "tartarus” I cannot speculate on the "angels that sinned" part because I know nothing of the realm. I know here only what the text says, that evidently they can-did and there is punishment/judgment awaiting them as well. What is interesting here, is Peter's use of a pagan term to talk about what awaits these. Perhaps this is due to the audience to which he is writing. Let's explore the term. "tartarus" - is a word associated with Greek and Roman mythology. The Greeks viewed this as the lowest corner of the deepest abyss. It gained its conception from the deepest recesses of castles where prisoners were taken for either severe incarceration to be shut off from the outside world altogether, or to be taken for the purposes of torture. The Romans viewed this as the place where sinners go, a world once entered that you could never leave, guarded by hydras and overseen by a sleepless whip master to assure that those who entered never rested either. Now, what do you think Peter is trying to tell people here? That this is to be considered a vacation in Hawaii? He adds more. Peter also used the expression that these are "reserved in chains of darkness (KJV)" This expression is questioned, because some manuscripts contain it and others do not. What is interesting, is that the EARLIEST manuscripts of Peter's statement here, record this as being bound in chains in gloomy pits or corn bins. These were the dark "root cellars" of the day, that contained no light and were cool and damp (to preserve the vegetables placed in them). For humans, this was a bad place to be "housed" because they were infested with all sorts of snakes, rodents and insects. Notice that the text here says that they were "held" in this place to await Judgment. Peter's words, not mine.
3. Revelation - has four distinct places where it talks about this, but it does not come out and call this HELL. Yet, the imagery used is unmistakable for the serious reader.

• In Rev.2:11 "He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. The one who conquers will not be hurt by the second death." Here, to the audience, John states the words of God given to Jesus and revealed to John, that there is something beyond a physical world with a physical death. There is a 2nd life and a 2nd death. Those in this passage who overcome, will not be harmed or injured by this 2nd death (at this point not defined other than this).
• Rev. 20:6 "Blessed and holy is the one who shares in the first resurrection! Over such the second death has no power, but they will be priests of God and of Christ, and they will reign with him for a thousand years." Now, let's stick to point here because its easy to jump off the deep end and start all sorts of speculation on 1000 years, etc. Our study regards further definition of this 2nd death that we learned of in Rev.2:11. Notice again, that those who have part on the 1st Resurrection are not affected by the 2nd death. What is the first resurrection? Rom.6:4 "We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life"
• Rev.20:12-15 "And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne, and books were opened. Then another book was opened, which is the book of life. And the dead were judged by what was written in the books, according to what they had done. And the sea gave up the dead who were in it, Death and Hades gave up the dead who were in them, and they were judged, each one of them, according to what they had done. Then Death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. This is the second death, the lake of fire. And if anyone's name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire." This is a scene of judgment. The DEAD are the DEAD those no longer living in a physical world. Either they have died physically (implied by text) or they have been changed (1 Cor.15). They are now immortal spiritual beings standing before the judge. The text here says that they are judged according to what was written in the books and what they had done. Now at this point, death (taking of physical life) and Hades ( the realm or dungeon that housed the dead) are no longer required and are thrown into "the lake of fire." We are told here that this "lake of fire" is "THE SECOND DEATH." Now notice vs.15, because it tells you of those judged in the previous verses whose name was not found written in the book of life, was "thrown INTO the lake of fire (i.e. 2nd death)." God's words, not mine.
• Rev.21:7,8 "The one who conquers will have this heritage, and I will be his God and he will be my son. But as for the cowardly, the faithless, the detestable, as for murderers, the sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars, their portion will be in the lake that burns with fire and sulfur, which is the second death." Here again, the one who conquers, who is part of the 1st Resurrection, is not affected by the 2nd death. They are God's and part of God's heritage. Yet, those who are wicked have their heritage as well. It is 'the lake of fire (i.e., the 2nd death)." Notice further descriptions are given that it is a lake that "burns" with "fire and brimstone." What is the imagery cast here? A lake the burns with fire and brimstone, even to the people of this day would conjure images of a lava pit in a volcano. Doubtless they would have the image of either the Santorini eruption, or Mt.Vesuvius, both of which they would have know about at the latter part of the first century. They would have understood, that to be caught in something like this would be an unimaginable and painful death.

Someone will jump in here and say, "but there's nothing in this that says that this is eternal!" Well...first, whether eternal or not this isn't the point. The point is, is this something that you want to go through? Not from what I can see the text describe. Second, go back to Jesus' own use of the terminologies that we have been discussing. It was HE that used expressions such as "their worm dies not and the fire is not quenched (Mk.9:48)" and "weeping, wailing, and gnashing of teeth (Mt.13:42; 24:51)."

You may argue with men, you may disagree with me. That's fine, because I'm not the one you have to argue with. Remember Jesus' words in Jn.12:48 "he one who rejects me and does not receive my words has a judge; the word that I have spoken will judge him on the last day." He and God are the one's you have to argue with. Are you sure you want to do that?

CONDEMN - OR HAVE MERCY! - WHAT SAY YOU?

Many who are "outsiders" would describe Christians in general as being judgmental. We might scuff this off as their being ignorant of Christ, or the way of God. Granted, there may be times when these perceptions are biased, but if we take a sincere look inside our hearts it is hard to deny that there is truth behind these perceptions. What is perhaps just as disturbing is that many times we don’t even realize the nature of our own hearts. So, if we feel that part of the problem is ourselves, how do we change that? If you are still unsure on whether you struggle in this area, take the following short quiz.

Take out a piece of paper. Write two names near the top: “Rahab” and “Woman at the Well.” Now write a short description of each person. Write whatever pops into your head first. (If these biblical characters are new to you, read about them in Josh. 2 and John 4).

• Now, what about Rahab? What's the first thing that comes to mind? Harlot - prostitute! Yet, do we consider that she is one of the few women mentioned in Hebrews 11 as a woman of great faith? But what is she more often called? Rahab the Faithful, or Rahab the Prostitute? Do we even mention that she was in the genealogy of Christ? Yet, we frown upon her because of what she was, we do not praise her for what she became.
• Now, how many wrote something about the woman at the well being immoral? It is interesting, that many have the perception that immorality is what she has become most known for, yet the actual biblical text says nothing of the sort. She might have been. We might even say, "Well the text does say that she had had five husbands and the man she was living with was not her husband." She could have been immoral, or each of her husbands could have died leaving her to return to her father childless and without a provider for her, and in her day that certainly would make her an outcast. But, we naturally assume the worst. Why not try to assume the best? Let’s say that the text made it clearer, and said specifically that she really had behaved in immoral ways. Why is it that this is still the first thing we associate her with? Do we even stop to think that she believed Jesus was the Messiah and brought many people to hear him? Do we stop to consider that it was through her that many came to believe (Jn.4:39)? What faith she must have had!

These two women are not alive in our time, but it shows us that even when it comes to the deceased we can have negativity. None of us are immune to a critical or judgmental attitude. We sometimes are so quick to criticize the wrongs in society , yet in turn, so slow to do what we know is right. Scripture clearly says, “Anyone, then, who knows the good he ought to do and doesn't do it, sins” (James 4:17). Sin can be a sin of commission (i.e., done deliberately) or of omission (i.e., something that should have been done but was not). The Bible also says, “For whoever shall keep the whole law, and yet stumble in one point, he is guilty of all” (James 2:10). All sin is the same in God’s eyes. Some sins might yield worse consequences than others, but we are all sinners who have fallen short of God’s glory (Rom. 3:23).

The "prodigal brother" could not find compassion in his heart for his returning brother. He could NOT see the good! He states, "'Look, these many years I have served you, and I never disobeyed your command, yet you never gave me a young goat, that I might celebrate with my friends. But when this son of yours came, who has devoured your property with prostitutes, you killed the fattened calf for him!' (Lk.15:19,20)." He could not see the faith it took for the son to return, or the attitude with which he had to return. He should be judged! He disobeyed! What say you?

Be careful of your answer - it may come back to bite you (Heb.4:12)!

Jim