Askeland John's Gospel

The Coptic Translations of its Greek Text
1. Auflage 2012
ISBN: 978-3-11-028143-9
Verlag: De Gruyter
Format: PDF
Kopierschutz: 1 - PDF Watermark

E-Book, Englisch, Band 44, 303 Seiten

Reihe: Arbeiten zur neutestamentlichen Textforschung

This monograph explores the history of the Coptic tradition of John’s gospel, considering when these ancient Egyptian witnesses are profitable for determining the earliest readings of their Greek source text. The standard critical edition of the Greek New Testament cites the Coptic versions no fewer than 1,000 times in John’s gospel. For these citations, that edition references six dialectally distinct Coptic translations: the Achmimic, Bohairic, Lycopolitan (Subachmimic), Middle Egyptian Fayumic, Proto-Bohairic, and Sahidic versions. In addition to examining these, this project considers newly published texts from the Fayumic and Middle Egyptian traditions.

Apart from a pivotal article on Coptic and New Testament textual criticism by Gerd Mink in 1972, Coptological research has progressed with only limited contact with Greek textual criticism. The discovery of various apocryphal Christian texts in Coptic translations has further diverted attention from Greek textual criticism. This project contributes to this subject area by applying recent advances in Coptology, and exploring the various facets of the Coptic translations. In particular, the monograph investigates (1) translation technique, (2) Greek-Coptic linguistic differences, (3) the reliability of the Coptic manuscript tradition, (4) the relationships between the Coptic versions, and (5) relevant contributions from the scholarly community.

John’s gospel is extant in more Coptic dialectal versions than any other biblical text. As a result, the gospel offers unique insight into the nature of the ancient Egyptian Christian communities.

Zielgruppe

Wissenschaftler, Bibliotheken, Institute

Autoren/Hrsg.

Askeland, Christian

Fachgebiete

• Geisteswissenschaften Christentum, Christliche Theologie Bibelwissenschaften Neues Testament: Exegese, Geschichte

Inhaltsverzeichnis

1;Foreword;5
2;Abbreviations;14
3;Chapter I: Introduction and summary;15
3.1;1. Project summary;15
3.1.1;a. Central argument;15
3.1.2;b. Project limitations;15
3.1.3;c. Genealogy and chance;16
3.2;2. Summary of contents;17
3.2.1;a. Text and translation, chapters 2-3;17
3.2.2;b. Manuscripts and traditions, chapters 4-5;17
3.2.3;c. Interrelation of the Coptic versions, chapter 6;18
3.2.4;d. Conclusions and considerations, chapter 7;19
3.3;3. Method;19
3.3.1;a. Statistics;19
3.3.2;b. Terminology and citation;20
3.3.3;c. Minimalism;21
4;Chapter II: Translation technique;23
4.1;1. Recent scholarship in literalism and translation technique;23
4.1.1;a. Linguistics;23
4.1.2;b. Septuagint studies;24
4.2;2. The Sahidic and Classical Bohairic compared with the NA27;26
4.2.1;a. Data collection;26
4.2.2;b. Normal deviation in the Greek tradition;27
4.2.3;c. Deviation between the NA27 and the Sahidic and Classical Bohairic New Testament;29
4.2.4;d. Summary of results: Coptic and Greek equivalency in John’s gospel;35
4.3;3. .a., e.te, te :: ..., ..-, ..;36
4.3.1;a. The .a. word group;36
4.3.2;b. Past tense, conjunctive, and circumstantial-relative asyndeton;38
4.3.3;c. Coordinate conjunctions;40
4.3.4;d. Intensive and emphatic .a.;40
4.3.5;e. Disjunctive asyndeton;42
4.3.6;f. Paraphrase/transmission;42
4.3.7;g. Other;43
4.3.8;h. Coptic .a. equivalents with no counterpart in the NA27;43
4.4;4. Other Coptic particles;43
4.4.1;a. d. :: ..;43
4.4.2;b. ..d., ..te, µ.d., µ.te :: ...., ...., (....), ....;45
4.4.3;c. µ.. :: ...;45
4.4.4;d. ... :: ../...;46
4.4.5;e. ... :: ...;47
4.4.6;f. p.... :: .., ..... .., .....;47
4.4.7;g. .... :: ....;47
4.5;5. Further instances of translational variation;48
4.5.1;a. Names;49
4.5.2;b. Demonstrative pronouns;49
4.5.3;c. Phonetic assimilation;50
4.5.4;d. Infixes and number;50
4.5.5;e. Stock phrases;51
4.5.6;f. Ellipsis;52
4.5.7;g. Distribution change;52
4.5.8;h. Assimilation and memorization;52
4.5.9;i. Amelioration;53
4.6;6. Conclusions on translation technique;53
4.6.1;a. Consistency and style in the Coptic versions;53
4.6.2;b. Coincidental agreement between Coptic and expansionistic Greek witnesses;56
4.6.3;c. Guidelines for Greek textual criticism;57
5;Chapter III: Translation languages and citation method;59
5.1;1. The linguistic unity of the Coptic dialects;59
5.1.1;a. Result clauses;60
5.1.2;b. Vocabulary;60
5.1.3;c. Temporalization;61
5.1.4;d. Focalization;61
5.1.5;e. Summary of dialectal difference;62
5.2;2. Greek-Coptic linguistic equivalence;62
5.2.1;a. Articles;63
5.2.2;b. Voice;63
5.2.3;c. Tense and aspect;63
5.2.4;d. Infinitive forms (Coptic conjunctive);64
5.2.5;e. Indicative and non-indicative moods;65
5.2.6;f. Participles;66
5.2.7;g. Determination;66
5.2.8;h. Possession;67
5.2.9;i. Clauses;67
5.2.10;j. Word order;68
5.2.11;k. Varia;69
5.3;3. Further Greek-Coptic linguistic equivalence issues;70
5.3.1;a. Definite articles;70
5.3.2;b. Lexical non-equivalence (expansion and compression);70
5.3.3;c. Greek-Coptic loanwords;71
5.4;4. Greek-Coptic linguistic equivalence and citation method;75
5.5;5. Conclusions;75
5.5.1;a. General caveats;75
5.5.2;b. Categorizing variants;76
5.6;6. An examination of the Coptic (co) citations;78
5.6.1;a. Preliminary remarks;78
5.6.2;b. Category one: manual edition citations;78
5.6.3;c. Category two: specialist edition citations;83
5.6.4;d. Category three: unreliable citations;89
5.6.5;e. Summary of the Coptic citations (co);92
6;Chapter IV: The Sahidic translation of John’s gospel;93
6.1;1. Introduction to the Sahidic tradition;93
6.1.1;a. Manuscript tradition;93
6.1.2;b. Sahidic: dialect, register or sociolect?;94
6.2;2. The primary witnesses to John’s gospel in Sahidic;97
6.2.1;a. sa1 Mark,;97
6.2.2;b. sa4;103
6.2.3;c. sa9;105
6.2.4;d. sa10;106
6.2.5;e. sa19;107
6.2.6;f. ly;108
6.3;3. The evolution of the Sahidic text;108
6.3.1;a. The Schüssler Sahidic evolution hypothesis;108
6.3.2;b. Sahidic variants contradicting the Schüssler hypothesis;111
6.3.3;c. Sahidic variants supporting Schüssler’s contention;112
6.3.4;d. Examples of unclear sa1 variants;113
6.3.5;e. Assessing variation in the Sahidic tradition;114
6.3.6;f. sa10;114
6.3.7;g. Agreements between sa1 and sa10;115
6.3.8;h. Disagreements between sa1 and sa10;116
6.4;4. Conclusions on the evolution of the Sahidic textual tradition;118
6.4.1;a. Manuscript age does not equal textual priority;118
6.4.2;b. sa1,4,5,9,10 and the Lycopolitan do not represent stages in a linear progression;118
6.4.3;c. False affinity due to lack of witnesses;119
6.4.4;d. sa10;120
6.4.5;e. The Lycopolitan text;120
6.5;5. Concluding remarks;121
6.5.1;a. Limitations of this study;121
6.5.2;6. Previous research on the Sahidic textual tradition;122
6.5.3;a. Paul Kahle;122
6.5.4;b. Rodolphe Kasser;123
6.5.5;c. Gonzalo Aranda Pérez;124
6.5.6;d. Anne Boud’hors;125
6.5.7;e. Frank Feder;125
6.5.8;f. Elina Perttilä;126
6.6;7. An examination of the Sahidic (sa) citations;126
6.6.1;a. Preliminary remarks;126
6.6.2;b. Category one: manual edition citations;127
6.6.3;c. Category two: specialist edition citations;132
6.6.4;d. Category three: unreliable citations;150
6.6.5;e. Summary of the Sahidic citations;153
7;Chapter V: Non-Sahidic witnesses to John’s gospel;155
7.1;1. Lycopolitan John (2:12-3:21; 4:6-7:10; 7:28-20:20);155
7.2;2. Achmimic John (.6);157
7.3;3. Middle Egyptian Fayumic John (PMich 3521);159
7.3.1;a. Dialect;159
7.3.2;b. Transcription;161
7.4;4. Middle Egyptian John (UC71048);162
7.4.1;a. Provenance;162
7.4.2;b. Transcription;164
7.4.3;c. Script;165
7.4.4;d. Dialect;166
7.4.5;e. Conclusions on Petrie Middle Egyptian fragment;168
7.5;5. Fayumic John;170
7.5.1;a. Diversity in the Fayumic tradition;171
7.5.2;b. fa 15 (Berlin P. 5569);171
7.5.3;c. fa 16 (Berlin P. 5542);172
7.5.4;d. fa 6 (CM 3890, BL Or. 5707 and CM 3827);172
7.5.5;e. fa 17 (IFAO inv. 218);178
7.5.6;f. fa 18(K 54);178
7.5.7;g. fa 19(K 10112);178
7.5.8;h. fa 7;179
7.5.9;i. fa 20 (K 3);179
7.5.10;j. fa 21 (K 3275, 2583, 3274 [2862, 2865]);180
7.6;6. Early Bohairic John (P.Bodm. 3);181
7.6.1;a. Early Bohairic manuscripts;182
7.6.2;b. Non-biblical Early Bohairic;184
7.6.3;c. Peculiarities of P.Bodm. 3;185
7.7;7. Classical Bohairic John;188
7.7.1;a. Greek-Bohairic language contact;188
7.7.2;b. Classical Bohairic manuscript tradition;190
7.7.3;c. Reflections on the Classical Bohairic and textual criticism;190
7.8;8. Conclusions on non-Sahidic manuscripts of Coptic John;193
7.8.1;a. The Minor dialects and textual criticism;193
7.8.2;b. The Bohairic tradition and textual criticism;194
7.8.3;c. Overview of the manuscripts;195
8;ChapterVI: Interversional history;197
8.1;1. Prior scholarship on Coptic interversional relationships;197
8.1.1;a. The Lycopolitan and Achmimic texts (Thompson, Bellet, Böhlig and Till);197
8.1.2;b. The Fayumic New Testament (Kahle);198
8.1.3;c. The Coptic versions of John (Kasser);199
8.1.4;d. John 10:1-18 in six Coptic dialects (Mink);200
8.1.5;e. Middle Egyptian Pauline epistles (Orlandi);200
8.1.6;f. Fayumic Mark (Aranda Perez);201
8.1.7;g. Achmimic Exodus (Nagel);201
8.1.8;h. Achmimic and Fayumic New Testament (Funk);202
8.1.9;i. Fayumic Ecclesiastes, 1 John and 1 Peter (Kasser/Schenke);203
8.1.10;j. Middle Egyptian Matthew and Acts (Schenke);203
8.1.11;k. Lamentations in Sahidic, Bohairic and Fayumic (Feder);204
8.2;1. Conclusions on interversional research;204
8.3;2. Method in analyzing interversional agreement;205
8.3.1;a. The textual instability of particles and infixes;206
8.3.2;b. Word order;206
8.3.3;c. Word choice;207
8.3.4;d. Coincidental agreement;207
8.3.5;e. Paraphrases and transformations;208
8.3.6;f. Conclusions concerning interdialectal similarities;208
8.4;3. John’s gospel in Lycopolitan and Sahidic;209
8.4.1;a. Shared Lycopolitan-Sahidic translational features;211
8.4.2;b. Lycopolitan and Sahidic have prominent differences;218
8.4.3;c. Conclusions on the Lycopolitan-Sahidic relationship;221
8.5;4. John’s gospel in Early and Classical Bohairic;223
8.5.1;a. Translational changes;223
8.5.2;b. Early-Classical Bohairic agreements;223
8.5.3;c. Early Bohairic shares qualities with both Sahidic and Classical Bohairic;229
8.5.4;d. Early Bohairic has Sahidic readings;230
8.5.5;e. Early and Classical Bohairic differ;233
8.5.6;f. The Early Bohairic and the Sahidic versions;248
8.5.7;g. The Early and Classical Bohairic versions;249
8.6;5. John’s gospel in Middle Egyptian Fayumic;250
8.6.1;a. Middle Egyptian Fayumic agrees with the Sahidic;250
8.6.2;b. Middle Egyptian Fayumic is independent;252
8.6.3;c. Middle Egyptian Fayumic agrees with Bohairic;252
8.6.4;d. Conclusions;253
8.7;6. John’s gospel in Fayumic;254
8.7.1;a. Stability of the Fayumic tradition;254
8.7.2;b. BL Or. 5707 and . 10112;254
8.7.3;c. Agreements between BL Or. 5707 and Borgia Copt 109 csc.2 fsc. 2;255
8.7.4;d. Fayumic-Sahidic agreements (BL Or. 5707);256
8.7.5;e. Fayumic-Bohairic agreements;257
8.7.6;f. Fayumic independence;258
8.7.7;g. Summary of Fayumic relationships;260
8.8;7. John’s gospel in Achmimic;261
8.8.1;a. Achmimic agrees with Sahidic;261
8.8.2;b. Achmimic is independent;262
8.8.3;c. Achmimic agrees with Bohairic;263
8.8.4;d. Conclusions;263
8.9;8. John’s gospel in Middle Egyptian;264
8.10;9. Summary of the Coptic versional family in John’s gospel;264
8.10.1;a. Method and objectivity;264
8.10.2;b. Summary of Coptic John relationships;265
9;Chapter VII: Coptic citation and textual criticism;267
9.1;1. Project Summary;267
9.2;2. Relevance to early Coptic literature;268
9.3;3. Future research;269
10;Plates;271
11;Bibliography;277
12;Index of biblical references (NT, John);297
13;Index of names;302

Über Autor(innen)

Christian Askeland, Kirchliche Hochschule Wuppertal/Bethel.

Christian Askeland, Kirchliche Hochschule Wuppertal/Bethel.