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.
The Habits of New Testament Copyists 401
(that is readings that are probably due to the scribe, but are also represented in
one or two non-related sources).
This study examines the singular readings in the papyrus manuscripts of
John’s Gospel that can be dated with some confidence to the fourth century or
earlier. Clear singular readings from each manuscript will be noted; singular
readings deduced on the basis of what a fragmentary text reveals about line
length will be noted as a special category, but will be credited for our
purposes only when the reconstruction of the original editor is confirmed by
subsequent scholarship. In this study (unlike the earlier one), I shall investi-
gate the manuscripts in something that approximates to chronological order
(depending not on a full independent analysis, but on consensual positions).
Our task has been made simpler by the publication of the Johannine papyri (at
least those which were then available) by W.J. Elliott and D.C. Parker for the
International Greek New Testament Project (11). This includes twelve
manuscripts from the fourth century or earlier. More recently four new
manuscripts of John from Oxyrhynchus have been published by W.H.
Cockle (12). We thus have sixteen early papyri of John’s Gospel. The three
most extensive of these — P45, P66 & P75 — have already been treated
generally by both Colwell and Royse and are therefore not discussed here
(with the exception of two leaves of John in P45 and two newly identified
portions of P66 which were published subsequent to these earlier studies). That
leaves thirteen other fragmentary texts, which have not previously been
studied in relation to their scribal habits, which will be the focus of our study
(three of these manuscripts close to our upper temporal limit — P22, P39 and
P80 — contain no singular readings and are simply noted at the appropriate
chronological point).
2. Singular Readings in the early Johannine Papyri
P52 (Manchester, Rylands Library, Gr. P. 457) is normally dated to the
first half of the second century. It is in fact a very small fragment, consisting
of the top corner of one leaf of a codex with portions of 18,31-33 on one side
and of 18,37-38 on the other. The scribe exhibits a tendency to leave slight
gaps between words, and may, on one occasion, have corrected his text by
over-writing (the epsilon in alhqeia" in 18,37; verso line 3). In two places
we find singular readings involving ei/i variation: hme[in (recto line 1; 18,31);
is[hlqen (recto, line 4; 18,33). C.H. Roberts, supported by Elliott & Parker,
also asserted that for reasons of space, ei" touto must have been omitted at
the second occurrence of the phrase in 18,37 (from verso, line 1) — with ei"
touto the line would be 39 letters long, compared with an average of
(11) The New Testament in Greek IV. The Gospel According to St. John. The Papyri
(eds. W.J. ELLIOTT – D.C. PARKER) (NTTS XX; Leiden 1995) which includes the
Johannine material up to P95 (including a taxonomy of proposed dates, pp. 17-18). This
includes plates of all the twenty-two papyrus manuscripts with portions of John (although
only samples of P66 and P75), and attempted to give enough information so that it would be
able “to contribute to our knowledge of scribal practice†(p. 5).
(12) OxyPap LXV (ed. M.W. HASLAM et al.) (London 1998); P. Oxy 4445–4448 on
pp. 10-20 (ed. W.E.H. COCKLE). On these and other new material see P.M. HEAD, “Some
Recently Published NT Papyri from Oxyrhynchus: An Overview and Preliminary
Assessmentâ€, TynB 51 (2000) 1-16.