Peter M. Head, «The Habits of New Testament Copyists. Singular Readings in the Early Fragmentary Papyri of John», Vol. 85 (2004) 399-408
After an introduction that discusses the role that singular readings have played in the analysis of scribal habits, including an earlier study of synoptic gospel manuscripts by the same author, this study examines singular readings in the early fragmentary papyri of John’s Gospel. The study confirms earlier research showing that the most common singular readings concern spelling and that word order variations, word substitutions and harmonisations to context are also not uncommon. Omission of words is more common than addition.
400 Peter M. Head
the analysis to the three other major papyri: the scribe of P46 was rather error-
prone and often confused similar sounds and abbreviations in his exemplar,
he often harmonised to the context and regularly omitted material (although
160 corrections suggest that it was a controlled situation); the scribe of P47
exhibits numerous spelling errors, frequent omissions often due to scribal
leaps, harmonisation to context, and a tendency to grammatical and stylistic
improvements. P72 had a careless scribe with very irregular spelling, a habit of
omitting one word at a time; and a theological interest in the deity of
Christ (5).
On more general matters Royse concluded that the commonest form of
corruption was harmonisation, normally to the immediate context; stylistic
and grammatical improvements and transpositions were also frequently
found. His conclusions came to a pronounced focus on the consistent habitual
omission of material: “the fact is that the six papyri studied here all
demonstrate a tendency to shorten the text†(6). This conclusion was at odds
with the old rule “prefer the shorter readingâ€.
In my earlier study similar tendencies were observed among the early
papyri of the synoptic gospels: most singular readings concerned spelling,
particularly place and personal names; harmonisation both to immediate
context and to synoptic parallels were found, as well as frequent transpo-
sitions of word order (7). Omission was more common than addition of
material. In general this supported Royse’s conclusions, drawn, as we have
already mentioned, from a much larger study (8).
My own brief study has been relatively well received with an important
qualification which has implications for the method used in this article. In
several places I was not sufficiently rigorous in proving the singularity of a
reading with the result that some readings were inappropriately included (9).
In order to be clearer in this study I shall take a singular reading to be one that
is not known from NA27, Tischendorf8, von Soden and Swanson (10). We have
not invoked the category of readings that might be described as sub-singular
(5) ROYSE, Scribal Habits in Early Greek New Testament Papyri, 282-283, 360, 488
for the respective summaries.
(6) ROYSE, Scribal Habits in Early Greek New Testament Papyri, 601-602.
(7) HEAD, “Some Observations on Early Papyri of the Synoptic Gospelsâ€, 246.
(8) ROYSE accepted that “A subsequent study by Peter M. Head has given yet further
confirmation of this view [i.e. the tendency to omit]â€, in “Scribal Tendencies in the
Transmission of the Textâ€, 246. The connection with Royse’s fuller study relativises
Birdsall’s critique that it is impossible to draw such broad general conclusions from such a
brief survey, see J.N. BIRDSALL, “A note on the textual evidence for the omission of
Matthew 9:34â€, Jews and Christians: The Parting of the Ways A.D. 70 to 135. The Second
Durham Tübingen Research Symposium on Earliest Christianity and Judaism (Durham,
September, 1989) (ed J.D.G. DUNN) (WUNT 66; Tübingen 1992) 117-122, on pp. 121-122.
(9) ROYSE, “Scribal Tendencies in the Transmission of the Textâ€, 247, n. 51.
(10) C. TISCHENDORF, Novum Testamentum Graece: ad antiquissimos testes denuo
recensuit apparatum criticum omni studio perfectum apposuit Commentationem Isagogi-
cam praetexuit Constantinus Tischendorf. Editio octava critica maior. Vol 1: Matt, Mark,
Luke, John (Lipsiae, 1869); H.F. VON SODEN, Die Schriften des Neuen Testaments in ihrer
ältesten erreichbaren Textgestalt hergestelt auf Grund ihrer Textgeschichte. Text und
Apparat (Göttingen, 1913 [Sonderausgabe]); R. SWANSON (ed.), New Testament Greek
Manuscripts. Variant Readings Arranged in Horizontal Lines against Codex Vaticanus.
John (Sheffield – Pasadena, CA 1995).