Gospel Books And Early Latin Manuscripts

Gospel books are the most numerous and important of surviving early medieval Latin manuscripts, and these essays represent stages in an examination of their structure, arrangement, contents, and texts. New details and aspects of the books, links between Gospel texts of different regions and scriptoria, and much new information has been uncovered, starting with the preliminary survey of 1949, and including now classic studies of the Irish pocket Gospel book, and of the Book of Kells. The chronological scope also includes Anglo-Saxon Gospels of the 10th and 11th centuries, and the only survey of these books, hitherto accessible in an expensive facsimile edition, is made available here. The subject matter of these essays has been widened by including a preliminary examination of citation marks in early Latin manuscripts, and a review of the oldest Biblical manuscripts.

The ORIGINAL GOSPELS presents a very literal English translation of each of the four Gospels from the most ancient manuscripts. Although this translation is literal, it uses a modern English vocabulary, grammar and syntax. There is an introductory chapter on the life and times of Jesus in first century Palestine. It draws upon selections from such ancient writers and historians as Josephus, Philo of Alexandria, Tacitus, Suetonius, Dio, the Dead Sea Scrolls and the ancient Talmud. This historical background sets the stage for what unfolds in the gospels. All of the ancient theologians agreed that Matthew originally wrote in the native tongue of Palestine - Aramaic (also known as Syriac). This book translates the oldest Aramaic manuscripts directly into English. It includes numerous footnotes with alternate definitions of key Aramaic words, to help the reader fully appreciate what Jesus said and did - these Aramaic words have been transliterated into English characters to give the reader an idea of how they were pronounced. Many ancient and medieval sources claimed that MARK was written in Latin at Rome, rather than Greek. The very best Old Latin manuscript, the Codex Vercellensis, which has NEVER been previously translated into English, is now available for the first time! Lost portions of the Vercelli book have been replaced with readings from closely related Old Latin manuscripts, including the nearly identical Codex Sangallensis (n). The reader will discover that the Old Latin version lacks the "difficult" readings that plagued the Greek text, such as Mark 3:21, which said that the followers of Jesus thought He was out of his mind. LUKE and JOHN were indeed written in Greek, but only in the last 50 years have second century manuscripts been found. Unlike other manuscripts, these copies are nearly complete. Luke has been translated from Papyri 4 and 75, and John from Papyrus 66. The lacunae from these manuscripts have been filled in from the Codex Vaticanus, a 4th century text. Disputed and latter-day corrupted readings have been appended in separate sections at the end of each Gospel along with notations as to which of the other ancient manuscripts support them. Like the text of Matthew, the reader does not need to know Latin or Greek to appreciate the translation of Mark, Luke and John. This book was designed for pastors, teachers and students who desire to have a deeper understanding of what Jesus said and did according to the four evangelists.

This book provides a comprehensive introduction to the history and development of the Latin New Testament and a user?s guide to the resources available for research and further study. The first five chapters offer a new historical synthesis, bringing together evidence from Christian authors and biblical manuscripts from earliest times to the late Middle Ages. Each witness is considered in its chronological and geographical context, to build up the bigger picture of the transmission of the text. There are chapters introducing features of Latin biblical manuscripts and examining how the Latin tradition may serve as a witness for the Greek New Testament. In addition, each book of the New Testament is considered in turn, with details of the principal witnesses and features of particular textual interest. The three main scholarly editions of the Latin New Testament (the Vetus Latina edition, the Stuttgart Vulgate, and the Oxford Vulgate) are described in detail. Information is also given about other editions and resources, enabling researchers to understand the significance of different approaches and become aware of the latest developments. The Catalogue of Manuscripts gives full details of each manuscript used in the major editions, with bibliographical references and links to sets of digital images. The Appendices include concordances for the different ways in which manuscripts are cited in scholarly literature. An extensive reference bibliography of publications on the Latin New Testament is also supplied.

The Codex Vercellensis is one of the great treasures of the Vercelli library, containing the four Gospels. Written during the fourth century, it is the oldest remaining Latin manuscript of the Greek New Testament and one of the most important witnesses to the early understanding of the Gospels. In this edition, Weissenrieder and Visinoni provide the Latin text of the work parallel to spectral images, indicating abbreviations, lineation, foliation and staurograms as well as a (reconstructed) critical edition with references to the most important texts of the Old Latin tradition as well as Greek and Syriac manuscripts and a commentary to this unique Latin translation. The analyses involved will be: (1) digital methods, (2) philological and theological, (3) translation theories in antiquity as well as (4) genealogical. The authors call into question assumptions about the text preserved in the manuscript, arguing that it represents an early stage of the Latin Gospels. The manuscript will be examined in light of its wide-ranging cultural and historical context. As such, the project aligns itself methodologically with the field of manuscript studies and attempts to integrate the specialized expertise of various disciplines in the study of a single object.

This book is the first overall study of the texts and language of the Old Latin Gospels, the versions of the four Gospels that predate the Vulgate of Jerome. In this book three main questions are addressed. Do the various extant manuscripts represent the remains of many originally separate versions, or local variants of a single main tradition? How do we analyse the translation techniques used to produce these texts? What do these translations tell us about the development of post-classical, non-literary Latin, and vice versa? Dr Burton approaches the issue of monogenesis versus polygenesis through a systematic analysis of the vocabulary of each individual Gospel. He reassess the traditional description of these Gospels as 'literal' and 'vulgar', examining the extent to which these terms are meaningful and applicable.

The Codex Vercellensis is one of the great treasures of the Vercelli library, containing the four Gospels. Written during the fourth century, it is the oldest remaining Latin manuscript of the Greek New Testament and one of the most important witnesses to the early understanding of the Gospels. In this edition, Weissenrieder and Visinoni provide the Latin text of the work parallel to spectral images, indicating abbreviations, lineation, foliation and staurograms as well as a (reconstructed) critical edition with references to the most important texts of the Old Latin tradition as well as Greek and Syriac manuscripts and a commentary to this unique Latin translation. The analyses involved will be: (1) digital methods, (2) philological and theological, (3) translation theories in antiquity as well as (4) genealogical. The authors call into question assumptions about the text preserved in the manuscript, arguing that it represents an early stage of the Latin Gospels. The manuscript will be examined in light of its wide-ranging cultural and historical context. As such, the project aligns itself methodologically with the field of manuscript studies and attempts to integrate the specialized expertise of various disciplines in the study of a single object.

What sort of Bible did Augustine have? How did he quote from it - and was he accurate? Do Augustine's biblical citations transmit readings not found in any surviving manuscripts? This book is part of a major project on the Old Latin versions of the Gospel according to John, and uses Augustine as a test-case to examine the importance of the evidence provided by the Church Fathers for the text of the Gospels. The early history of the Latin Bible is reconstructed from Augustine's comments in his treatise De doctrina christiana (On Christian teaching). Details are assembled from sermons, letters, and other writings to show how Augustine and his contemporaries used the Bible in the liturgy of the Church, public debates, and in composing their own works. Augustine's own methods of citing the Bible are analysed, and features are identified which are characteristic of citations produced from memory rather than read from a gospel codex. The second part of the book is a chronological survey of the biblical text in Augustine's works, showing how he switched from using the older versions of the Gospel to the revised text of Jerome, which later became known as the Vulgate. Finally, a verse by verse commentary is provided on all the significant readings in Augustine's text of John, assessing their significance for the history of the Latin Bible, and in some cases the Greek tradition as well. Details are also given of Augustine's exegesis of particular verses of the Gospel, making this an indispensable handbook for biblical scholars and church historians alike.

This book represents an important departure in Gospel studies and textual criticism, providing an innovative introduction to the discipline.