where are the original manuscripts of the bible

Where are the original manuscripts of the bible series#

It is the purpose of the present article to trace, as far as it can be done in a clear and untechnical manner, the process of connection between the original writings and this, one of the latest of the editions of the Greek New Testament. Professor Eberhard Nestle speaks of the Greek text of the New Testament issued by Westcott and Hort as the 'nearest in its approach to the goal.' Professor Alexander Souter's student's edition of the Revisers' Greek New Testament, Oxford, 1910, no doubt attains even a higher watermark. Now however, the science of textual criticism has so far advanced and the textual problems of the Greek Testament have been so well traversed that one may read the Christian writings with an assurance approximating certainty. It thus appears that the documents of the Christian faith are both so many and so widely scattered that these very facts more than any others have embarrassed the final determination of the text. To these copies of the text itself may be added the very important and even more ancient evidence of the versions of the New Testament in the Latin, Syriac, and Egyptian tongues, and the quotations and clear references to the New Testament readings found in the works of the early Church Fathers, as well as the inscriptions and monumental data in Syria, Asia Minor, Africa, Italy, and Greece, dating from the very age of the apostles and their immediate successors.

Of the New Testament, however, we have two splendid manuscripts of the 4th century, at least ten of the 5th, twentyfive of the 6th and in all a total of more than four thousand copies in whole or in part of the Greek New Testament. Of Vergil but one copy is earlier than the 4th century, and but a fragment of all Cicero's writings is even as old as this.

Of Herodotus there is no manuscript earlier than the 10th century. Of Homer there is no complete copy earlier than the 13th century. Of the sacred books of the Hebrew Bible there is no known copy antedating the 10th century A.D.

Where are the original manuscripts of the bible series#

The literary evidence to the text of the New Testament is vastly more abundant than that to any other series of writings of like compass in the entire range of ancient letters. NECESSITY OF SIFTING AND CRITICIZING THE EVIDENCE List of Manuscripts of the Greek New Testament

Greek Copies or Manuscripts of the New Testament TextĤ. Papyrus Fragments of the Greek New Testamentģ. Autographs of the New Testament WritersĢ. SOURCES OF EVIDENCE FOR THE TEXT OF THE NEW TESTAMENTġ. TEXT AND MANUSCRIPTS OF THE NEW TESTAMENT For the material, writing instruments, form of manuscripts, etc., see BOOK and especially the literature under WRITING. For discussion of the textual aspects, see the articles on TEXT AND MANUSCRIPTS OF THE NEW TESTAMENT, TEXT OF THE OLD TESTAMENT, on VERSIONS, and especially the SEPTUAGINT. The subordinate sources, versions and quotations have also their text problem, and manuscripts of the versions and of the church Fathers, and other ancient writers who refer to Biblical matters, play the same part in establishing the true words of the version or the writer that the Hebrew and Greek manuscripts play in establishing the original of Scripture. The Hebrew and Greek manuscripts of the Old Testament and New Testament, respectively, form the primary sources for establishing the text or true original words of the respective authors. More loosely, but commonly, the term is used as synonym of the codex. In a narrower sense they are handwritten codices, rolls and folded documents, as distinguished from printed books on the one hand and inscriptions, or engraved documents, on the other. Man'-u-skripts: In the broadest sense manuscripts include all handwritten records as distinguished from printed records. International Standard Bible Encyclopedia MANUSCRIPTS