Program / Course 17: Defending Scripture / Lesson 3.1
What you will learn
- Describe the materials and forms of ancient books: papyrus, parchment, scroll and codex.
- Explain how scribes copied the Bible and the kinds of mistakes they made.
- Name the most important families of biblical manuscripts and what they show.
- Explain why the existence of copying errors does not by itself settle questions of reliability.
The big idea
No original manuscript of any biblical book survives. What we have are copies of copies, made by hand over many centuries. Scribes were sometimes careful and sometimes tired, and copying errors, along with a few deliberate changes, entered the tradition. Because there are so many copies, and because they come from different places and times, scholars can compare them and often work out where a mistake began. Understanding how copying worked is the first step to judging what the manuscript evidence can and cannot show.
Key terms
- Manuscript
- A document written by hand. The word comes from Latin words for hand and written.
- Papyrus
- A writing material made from the stem of a reed that grew along the Nile. Most of the earliest New Testament manuscripts are on papyrus.
- Parchment
- A writing material made from animal skin, more durable than papyrus. It became common for Bibles from the fourth century.
- Codex
- A book form made of pages bound at one side, as in modern books. Christians were early adopters of the codex.
- Uncial and minuscule
- Two styles of Greek script. Uncials are capital-style letters used until about the ninth century. Minuscules are smaller, joined letters used afterward.
- Nomina sacra
- Latin for sacred names. A scribal habit of abbreviating words such as God, Lord, Jesus and Christ with a line above them.
- Colophon
- A note at the end of a manuscript in which a scribe may record his name, the date or a remark about the work.
Background
Printing in Europe began in the fifteenth century. Before it, every copy of a book had to be written out by hand. In the earliest churches, individuals who could write copied letters and Gospels for their communities. By the third and fourth centuries, there were professional scribes, and from the early Middle Ages, monastic scriptoria produced Bibles for the church. The Hebrew Scriptures were copied by Jewish scribes under strict rules, and the work of the Masoretes, from about the sixth to the tenth centuries, was especially careful.
The surviving manuscripts are a tiny fraction of what once existed. Papyrus does not last in damp climates, so most early survivals come from dry places like Egypt. Scholars therefore describe the evidence as accidental in distribution but, for the New Testament, very large. The Greek New Testament has more than five thousand manuscripts in whole or in part, together with many thousands of manuscripts in Latin, Syriac, Coptic and other languages, and quotations in the church Fathers.
Step-by-step explanation
Step 1: Materials and forms
The Old Testament was first written on scrolls, rolls of papyrus or leather sewn together. A scroll of a long book such as Isaiah was large, and one scroll usually held only one book or a group of books. Christians took up the codex early. The codex was cheaper, easier to carry and easier to find a passage in. It also made it practical to bind together all four Gospels or the letters of Paul in a single volume.
The earliest surviving manuscripts of the New Testament are small pieces of papyrus. A scrap of the Gospel of John, known as Papyrus 52 and kept in Manchester, is usually dated to the first half of the second century. Larger papyrus codices of the third century, such as the Chester Beatty and Bodmer papyri, preserve much of the Gospels and Paul’s letters. Great parchment codices from the fourth century, Codex Vaticanus and Codex Sinaiticus, contain most of the Bible in Greek.
Step 2: How a scribe worked
A scribe either copied by eye from a model or wrote from dictation read aloud, as in a scriptorium. Ancient Greek was often written with no spaces between words, in what is called scriptio continua, so that a scribe had to decide where words ended. Copying a long book by hand was slow, tiring work, and some scribes left notes (colophons) at the end of a manuscript to record their names or to say that they were weary.
Scribes copied to different standards. Some papyri of the early centuries were made by private individuals with little training, and they show many slips. Later manuscripts from monasteries and professional workshops are usually more careful. Jewish scribes of the Masoretic tradition counted letters and words to check their work. The habits of the scribe are among the main things scholars study.
Step 3: Kinds of mistakes
Most variations are unintentional. The eye may skip from one line to a later line that ends with the same word, losing the text in between, which is called homoioteleuton. The scribe may write a letter or word twice (dittography) or once instead of twice (haplography). Because Greek vowels were often pronounced alike, scribes sometimes wrote the wrong word that sounded the same, which is called itacism. Words may be transposed, and notes in the margin may be copied into the text.
Some changes were deliberate. A scribe might smooth a difficult grammar, harmonize two Gospel accounts so that they say the same thing, or add a clarification. A few changes may have been made for doctrinal reasons, though the scribe usually believed he was restoring the right reading. Scholars debate how often this happened and how to judge motives.
Step 4: What the numbers mean
Defenders of the Bible often point out that the New Testament is better attested than any other ancient work, in the number of manuscripts and in how close they are to the time of writing. For many classical authors, such as Tacitus, the earliest copies are some centuries after the author and only a few manuscripts exist. This is a fair point, and writers like Bruce make it.
Critics make a fair reply. Large numbers of copies also mean large numbers of differences, and the earliest manuscripts are fragments with gaps. The number of manuscripts does not prove that every word is certain. The better statement is that the New Testament has an unusually rich body of evidence, which allows scholars to recover the text with high confidence in most places, and to know the places where they cannot.
- Why would the early Christian adoption of the codex have mattered for the gathering of the New Testament?
- What kinds of errors do you think are easiest to catch by comparing manuscripts?
- How would you explain homoioteleuton to a friend?
- Why is it important that manuscripts come from different regions?
- Is it fair to compare the New Testament with Tacitus or Plato? What are the limits of the comparison?
- What would you want to know about a scribe before trusting his copy?
Examples
A skipped line
Imagine a copyist copying a list in which two lines both end with the word king. His eye lands on the second king after copying the first line, and he continues from there. The line between them is lost. A second manuscript made independently would retain it, and the comparison reveals the loss.
Nomina sacra
In early Greek manuscripts, the name Jesus is often written as the first and last letters with a line above. Such abbreviations show a shared scribal habit among Christians from the second century. They also help scholars date and identify manuscripts.
Sinaiticus
Codex Sinaiticus, from the fourth century, was found at St. Catherine’s Monastery on Mount Sinai in the nineteenth century, and today its parts are held in several libraries. It contains the entire New Testament in Greek, with some books not in the canon, such as the Epistle of Barnabas and the Shepherd of Hermas. It shows corrections by several hands.
Different perspectives
Catholic
The church has long valued the work of copying and preserving Scripture, and it has encouraged textual study. The Second Vatican Council called for accurate translations from the original texts. Catholic scholars take part fully in the critical editions used by all.
Orthodox
The Orthodox churches have traditionally used the Byzantine text of the New Testament in worship, and many Orthodox Christians value its long use in the church. Orthodox scholars are also active in textual study, and some are open to critical editions while others prefer the traditional text.
Protestant
Protestants have been leaders in textual criticism since Erasmus published a Greek New Testament in 1516. Some conservative Protestants prefer the traditional text underlying the King James Version, while the majority use critical editions. They typically stress that no doctrine of the faith depends on a disputed reading.
Jewish
Jewish scribal practice is highly developed. The Masoretes preserved a standard text with notes on its reading, and rules for writing Torah scrolls remain in force. Jewish scholars take part in textual study of the Dead Sea Scrolls and the Masoretic text.
Scholarly
Textual critics of all convictions agree that the New Testament text can be recovered with a high degree of confidence in most places. They debate how to weigh variants in particular passages, and how much the earliest period of copying changed the text. Skeptics such as Bart Ehrman stress the number of variants, while others such as Metzger emphasize that most are minor.
Why it matters
Claims about the reliability of the Bible often rest on the history of its copying, and they are made in both directions. Some say the text is hopelessly corrupted, and others say it is perfectly preserved. Neither claim survives a close look at the evidence. Learning how scribes worked lets you judge such claims for yourself, and it prepares you to read the notes of a critical edition or a study Bible with understanding.
Common misunderstandings
Misunderstanding: Because we have no originals, we cannot know what the Bible originally said.
Correction: The absence of originals is true of nearly all ancient writings. Comparison of many manuscripts allows scholars to recover the likely original wording in most places and to identify the places where it is uncertain.
Misunderstanding: Scribes copied the Bible perfectly.
Correction: They did not. Errors and deliberate changes can be found in all kinds of manuscripts. The strength of the evidence lies in the number of copies, not in the perfection of any single scribe.
Misunderstanding: The Bible was copied like a game of telephone.
Correction: The analogy is misleading. In a game of telephone each person hears only one earlier version. Manuscripts were copied from many sources in many places, and later scholars can compare them.
Misunderstanding: More manuscripts means a more accurate text in every case.
Correction: More manuscripts means better chances of recovering the original, but the age, quality and independence of the copies also matter. A thousand copies of a late and flawed model count for less than a few early independent ones.
Knowledge check
What is the difference between a scroll and a codex, and why does it matter?
A scroll is a long roll of papyrus or leather read by unrolling, while a codex is made of pages bound at one side like a modern book. Christians adopted the codex early, and it made it easier to find passages and to bind several books, such as the four Gospels, together. This helped the gathering of the New Testament writings.
Name three kinds of unintentional scribal error.
The eye may skip between two lines ending with the same word, which loses text (homoioteleuton). A scribe may copy a letter or word twice (dittography) or once where two are needed (haplography). Greek vowels that sounded alike could be confused (itacism). Margin notes could also be copied into the text, and words could be reordered.
What is Papyrus 52 and why is it significant?
It is a small fragment of papyrus containing a few verses from the Gospel of John, kept in Manchester, and is usually dated to the first half of the second century. It is significant as one of the earliest surviving pieces of the New Testament, showing that John was copied and circulated in Egypt early. It is a fragment, so it supports only a limited set of conclusions.
Why does the number of New Testament manuscripts not prove every word is certain?
A large number of manuscripts gives more evidence for scholars to compare, but it also yields many differences. The earliest copies are often fragmentary, and the quality and independence of copies matter. The number supports the view that the text is well attested and mostly recoverable, while leaving some passages uncertain.
Think it through
- What does it mean to you that the Bible reached you through centuries of human copying?
- How might a believer and a skeptic each use the same facts about manuscripts differently?
- What would you want to look for if you could examine a manuscript yourself?
Independent assignment
Make a copying experiment
In your own notebook, copy by hand a passage of about 200 words, such as Psalm 23 or the first chapter of John, from a printed Bible. Do not look at your own work as you go. Then compare your copy with the original and list every difference. Classify each difference using the terms in Step 3. Write 150 to 250 words about what the exercise taught you. Do not send this to anyone or post it anywhere.
Further study
- Bruce M. Metzger and Bart D. Ehrman, The Text of the New Testament: Its Transmission, Corruption, and Restoration Read selectively on manuscripts, scribal habits and the kinds of errors.
- F. F. Bruce, The New Testament Documents: Are They Reliable? A short older defense of the reliability of the documents; compare its tone with Metzger’s.
- Jewish Publication Society, The Hebrew Bible in English (JPS translation) Read the introduction for how the Hebrew text has been handed down.
- Justo L. Gonzalez, The Story of Christianity Read the sections on the spread of Christianity to see the setting of early copying.
- 2 Timothy 4:13 Paul asks for the books, especially the parchments.
- Colossians 4:16 A letter to be read and shared among the churches.