[B-Greek] Cairo Genizah and LXX
Albert Pietersma
albert.pietersma at sympatico.ca
Tue Jan 18 13:37:51 EST 2011
Thanks, Bryant. Since de Lange's research opens up a new avenue of
research on the Greek text of the Bible, it seems to me to be of
interest to subscribers to B-Greek. Furthermore, Cameron Boyd-Taylor,
a former student of mine, has worked with de Lange on the Cambridge
for its duration and has agreed to respond to the Bryant's question
(though not before this evening). As some of you no doubt saw, the
project was also noted recently on the Classics list.
Albert
On Jan 18, 2011, at 1:17 PM, Bryant J. Williams III wrote:
> Dear List,
>
> The following article was sent to the B-Hebrew list for
> informational purposes.
> I, then, asked Ken Penner and Albert Pietersma to comment. My post
> to Ken was
> non-deliverable, but Albert responded and suggested that this put to
> the B-Greek
> list.
>
> It appears that some issues regarding translation practice,
> transliteration of
> names and places and text-critical issues needs to be addressed;
> although
> limited to list guidelines. I do think that this shows that the
> Diaspora was
> using the LXX for lot longer than we thought. I do not think that
> the LXX was
> being used as much within the ancient lands of Israel/Judah;
> although, areas of
> larger Gentile populations would, e.g. Galilee, may have used the
> LXX in their
> Greek-speaking synagogues.
>
> Any thoughts.
>
> En Xristwi,
>
> Rev. Bryant J. Williams III
>
> Ancient Bible Fragments Reveal a Forgotten History
> News from Cambridge University:
>
> Ancient Bible fragments reveal a forgotten history
> New research has uncovered a forgotten chapter in the history of
> the Bible,
> offering a rare glimpse of Byzantine Jewish life and culture.
>
> The study by Cambridge University researchers suggests that,
> contrary to
> long-accepted views, Jews continued to use a Greek version of the
> Bible in
> synagogues for centuries longer than previously thought. In some
> places, the
> practice continued almost until living memory.
>
> The key to the new discovery lay in manuscripts, some of them mere
> fragments, discovered in an old synagogue in Egypt and brought to
> Cambridge at
> the end of the 19th century. The so-called Cairo Genizah manuscripts
> have been
> housed ever since in Cambridge University Library.
>
> Now, a fully searchable online corpus (http://www.gbbj.org) has
> gathered
> these manuscripts together, making the texts and analysis of them
> available to
> other scholars for the first time.
>
> "The translation of the Hebrew Bible into Greek between the 3rd
> and 1st
> centuries BCE is said to be one of the most lasting achievements of
> the Jewish
> civilization - without it, Christianity might not have spread as
> quickly and as
> successfully as it did," explained Nicholas de Lange, Professor of
> Hebrew and
> Jewish Studies in the Faculties of Divinity and Asian and Middle
> Eastern
> Studies, who led the three-year study to re-evaluate the story of
> the Greek
> Bible fragments.
>
> "It was thought that the Jews, for some reason, gave up using Greek
> translations and chose to use the original Hebrew for public reading
> in
> synagogue and for private study, until modern times when pressure to
> use the
> vernacular led to its introduction in many synagogues."
>
> Close study of the Cairo Genizah fragments by Professor de Lange
> led to the
> discovery that some contained passages from the Bible in Greek
> written in Hebrew
> letters. Others contained parts of a lost Greek translation made by
> a convert to
> Judaism named Akylas in the 2nd century CE. Remarkably, the
> fragments date from
> 1,000 years after the original translation into Greek, showing use
> of the Greek
> text was still alive in Greek-speaking synagogues in the Byzantine
> Empire and
> elsewhere.
>
>
> Read the whole story here. http://www.admin.cam.ac.uk/news/dp/2010122002
>
> Access the database "Greek Bible in Byzantine Judaism" here.
> [The link for the database did not work].
>
> See also this earlier report on the digitization of the Cairo
> Genizah fragments
> by Christian Askeland, one of our men in Cambridge.
> http://evangelicaltextualcriticism.blogspot.com/2010/04/digitization-of-cairo-genizah-fragments.html
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> Ancient Bible Fragments Reveal a Forgotten History
> News from Cambridge University:
>
> Ancient Bible fragments reveal a forgotten history
> New research has uncovered a forgotten chapter in the history of
> the Bible,
> offering a rare glimpse of Byzantine Jewish life and culture.
>
> The study by Cambridge University researchers suggests that,
> contrary to
> long-accepted views, Jews continued to use a Greek version of the
> Bible in
> synagogues for centuries longer than previously thought. In some
> places, the
> practice continued almost until living memory.
>
> The key to the new discovery lay in manuscripts, some of them mere
> fragments, discovered in an old synagogue in Egypt and brought to
> Cambridge at
> the end of the 19th century. The so-called Cairo Genizah manuscripts
> have been
> housed ever since in Cambridge University Library.
>
> Now, a fully searchable online corpus (http://www.gbbj.org) has
> gathered
> these manuscripts together, making the texts and analysis of them
> available to
> other scholars for the first time.
>
> "The translation of the Hebrew Bible into Greek between the 3rd
> and 1st
> centuries BCE is said to be one of the most lasting achievements of
> the Jewish
> civilization - without it, Christianity might not have spread as
> quickly and as
> successfully as it did," explained Nicholas de Lange, Professor of
> Hebrew and
> Jewish Studies in the Faculties of Divinity and Asian and Middle
> Eastern
> Studies, who led the three-year study to re-evaluate the story of
> the Greek
> Bible fragments.
>
> "It was thought that the Jews, for some reason, gave up using Greek
> translations and chose to use the original Hebrew for public reading
> in
> synagogue and for private study, until modern times when pressure to
> use the
> vernacular led to its introduction in many synagogues."
>
> Close study of the Cairo Genizah fragments by Professor de Lange
> led to the
> discovery that some contained passages from the Bible in Greek
> written in Hebrew
> letters. Others contained parts of a lost Greek translation made by
> a convert to
> Judaism named Akylas in the 2nd century CE. Remarkably, the
> fragments date from
> 1,000 years after the original translation into Greek, showing use
> of the Greek
> text was still alive in Greek-speaking synagogues in the Byzantine
> Empire and
> elsewhere.
>
>
> Read the whole story here. http://www.admin.cam.ac.uk/news/dp/2010122002
>
> Access the database "Greek Bible in Byzantine Judaism" here.
> [The link for the database did not work].
>
> See also this earlier report on the digitization of the Cairo
> Genizah fragments
> by Christian Askeland, one of our men in Cambridge.
> http://evangelicaltextualcriticism.blogspot.com/2010/04/digitization-of-cairo-genizah-fragments.html
>
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—
Albert Pietersma PhD
21 Cross Street,
Weston ON Canada M9N 2B8
Email: albert.pietersma at sympatico.ca
Homepage: http://www.chass.utoronto.ca/~pietersm
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