Tag: Patristics

Daily Gleanings: Manuscript Matters (15 August 2019)

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Leigh Ann Thompson and Andrew Patton discuss four types of ektheses, or visual markers of textual divisions, in New Testament manuscripts and provide a helpful example illustration of each.

Peter Montoro discusses textual stability in Patristic literature and this literature’s function in textual criticism of the Greek New Testament. Montoro particularly focuses on Chrysostom’s homilies on Rom 8 as a helpful illustration. A repeated refrain is that

it seems sometimes to be forgotten that the task of “proper evaluation” [of the witness that Patristic citations give to the text of the Greek New Testament] is incomplete without a careful investigation of the manuscript transmission of the work in which a given patristic citation is located.

It needs to be more clearly recognized, in practice as well as in theory, that the usability of patristic citations is directly dependent upon their stability within the manuscript tradition of the work from which they derive. (italics original)

Yes, and yes. For the balance of Montoro’s discussion, see his original guest post.

Daily Gleanings: CSC Plenaries (5 August 2019)

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Lubbock Christian University hosted the 2019 Christian Scholars’ Conference. As usual, there were a number of stimulating papers given and discussed. Most of the plenary session video recordings are now also available, and I’m sharing here those most relevant for biblical studies.

Among these was John Fitzgerald’s lecture about Greco-Roman and early Christian advice about child rearing and family life. With some definite wit, Fitzgerald narrates the life of a fictional male Roman through the various stages that cause him to encounter the different kinds of contemporary advice available on the domestic situations he faces.

Brian Daley discusses the interpretation of Christ as God’s wisdom personified in the early Greek fathers.

Boersma, “Scripture as real presence”

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Boersma, New this year from Baker is Hans Boersma’s Scripture as Real Presence: Sacramental Exegesis in the Early Church. According to the book’s blurb,

This work argues that the heart of patristic exegesis is the attempt to find the sacramental reality (real presence) of Christ in the Old Testament Scriptures. Leading theologian Hans Boersma discusses numerous sermons and commentaries of the church fathers to show how they regarded Christ as the treasure hidden in the field of the Old Testament and explains that the church today can and should retrieve the sacramental reading of the early church. Combining detailed scholarly insight with clear, compelling prose, this book makes a unique contribution to contemporary interest in theological interpretation.

For more information or to order, see the Baker website, Amazon, or other retailers.

Graves, ed., “Biblical interpretation in the early church”

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Graves, ed., "Biblical Interpretation in the Early Church" coverAvailable in Fortress’s Ad fontes series is Biblical Interpretation in the Early Church, edited by Michael Graves. According to the volume’s blurb,

Biblical Interpretation in the Early Church is part of Ad Fontes: Early Christian Sources, a series designed to present ancient Christian texts essential to an understanding of Christian theology, ecclesiology, and practice. The books in the series will make the wealth of early Christian thought available to new generations of students of theology and provide a valuable resource for the Church. This volume focuses on how Scripture was interpreted and used for teaching by early Christian scholars and church leaders.

Developed in light of recent Patristic scholarship, Ad Fontes volumes will provide a representative sampling of theological contributions from both East and West. The series aims to provide volumes that are relevant for a variety of courses: from introduction to theology to classes on doctrine and the development of Christian thought. The goal of each volume is not to be exhaustive, but rather representative enough to denote for a non-specialist audience the multivalent character of early Christian thought, allowing readers to see how and why early Christian doctrine and practice developed the way it did.

SBL Press on citing Migne’s “Patrologia Graeca”

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SBL Press logoSBL Press continues to be quite responsive on its blog to questions submitted by users of the SBL Handbook of Style. One of the latest examples is the Press’s clarification of how to format citations from J.-P. Migne’s Patrologia Graeca. The 161-volume series is available online in the public domain from various sources, including Patristica.net and Document Catholica Omnia.

For a previous string of comments by the Press about citing Migne’s Patrologia Latina, see Fun with Multiple Editions of Migne’s Patrologia Latina, Migne’s “Patrologia Latina”: Mystery Solved, and A further update on Migne’s “Patrologia Latina.”

Justin’s Dialog with Trypho in Greek (redux)

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Justin Martyr presents a book to the emperor, paper etching, print made by Jacques Callot, published by Israël Henriet, 1632–1635 [PD-1923]
To date, one of this site’s more popular posts has been this one about W. Trollope’s Greek edition of Justin Martyr’s Dialog with Trypho.

J.-P. Migne’s edition would, of course, be more standard. Justin’s Dialog is available in volume 6 of Migne’s Patrologia graeca, and that text has been made available online at: