Pfaff's Faked Fragments of Irenaeus
In 1715, C. M. Pfaff, a highly respected professor at Tübingen, claimed to have discovered four short extracts of the Church father, Irenaeus of Lyons (late 2d cen.) in a library in Turin. However, the manuscript was never seen again and critics begin to suspect that they were not genuine. In 19th century, most had their doubts about the authenticity of the second fragment because Irenaeus never elsewhere attributed Hebrews to the Apostle Paul, and in 1900, A. Harnack proved that all four were scholarly fakes by Pfaff himself.
As a result, the Pfaff fragments are no longer part of contemporary scholarship for Irenaeus, but the Ante-Nicene Fathers series published an English translation of them before their inauthenticity had been settled. This is how they explained the controversy:
This extract and the next three were discovered in the year 1715 by [Christopher Matthew] Pfaff, a learned Lutheran, in the Royal Library at Turin. The MSS from which they were taken were neither catalogued nor classified, and have now disappeared from the collection. It is impossible to say with any degree of probability from what treatises of our author these four fragments have been culled. For a full account of their history, see Stieren's edition of Irenaeus, vol. ii. p. 381. [But, in all candor, let Pfaff himself be heard. His little work is full of learning, and I have long possessed it as a treasure to which I often recur. Pfaff's Irenaei Fragmenta was published at The Hague, 1715.]And here is their translation of the four fragments:
XXXVI. True knowledge, then, consists in the understanding of Christ, which Paul terms the wisdom of God hidden in a mystery, which 'the natural man receiveth not,' the doctrine of the cross; of which if any man 'taste,' he will not accede to the disputations and quibbles of proud and puffed-up men, who go into matters of which they have no perception. For the truth is unsophisticated (ἀσχημάτιστος); and 'the word is nigh thee, in thy mouth and in thy heart,' as the same apostle declares, being easy of comprehension to those who are obedient. For it renders us like to Christ, if we experience 'the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings.' For this is the affinity of the apostolical teaching and the most holy 'faith delivered unto us,' which the unlearned receive, and those of slender knowledge have taught, not 'giving heed to endless genealogies,' but studying rather [to observe] a straightforward course of life; lest, having been deprived of the Divine Spirit, they fail to attain to the kingdom of heaven. For truly the first thing is to deny one's self and to follow Christ; and those who do this are borne onward to perfection, having fulfilled all their Teacher's will, becoming sons of God by spiritual regeneration, and heirs of the kingdom of heaven; those who seek which first shall not be forsaken.
XXXVII. Those who have become acquainted with the secondary (i.e., under Christ) constitutions of' the apostles, are aware that the Lord instituted a new oblation in the new covenant, according to [the declaration of] Malachi the prophet. For, 'from the rising of the sun even to the setting my name has been glorified among the Gentiles, and in every place incense is offered to my name, and a pure sacrifice;"as John also declares in the Apocalypse: "The incense is the prayers of the saints." Then again, Paul exhorts us "to present our bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service." And again, "Let us offer the sacrifice of praise, that is, the fruit of the lips." Now those oblations are not according to the law, the handwriting of which the Lord took away from the midst by cancelling it; but they are according to the Spirit, for we must worship God "in spirit and in truth." And therefore the oblation of the Eucharist is not a carnal one, but a spiritual; and in this respect it is pure. For we make an oblation to God of the bread and the cup of blessing, giving Him thanks in that He has commanded the earth to bring forth these fruits for our nourishment. And then, when we have perfected the oblation, we invoke the Holy Spirit, that He may exhibit this sacrifice, both the bread the body of Christ, and the cup the blood of Christ, in order that the receivers of these antitypes may obtain remission of sins and life eternal. Those persons, then, who perform these oblations in remembrance of the Lord, do not fall in with Jewish views, but, performing the service after a spiritual manner, they shall be called sons of wisdom.
XXXVIII. The apostles ordained, that "we should not judge any one in respect to meat or drink, or in regard to a feast day, or the new moons, or the sabbaths." Whence then these contentions? whence these schisms? We keep the feast, but in the leaven of malice and wickedness, cutting in pieces the Church of God; and we preserve what belongs to its exterior, that we may cast away these better things, faith and love. We have heard from the prophetic words that these feasts and fasts are displeasing to the Lord.
XXXIX. Christ, who was called the Son of God before the ages, was manifested in the fulness of time, in order that He might cleanse us through His blood, who were under the power of sin, presenting us as pure sons to His Father, if we yield ourselves obediently to the chastisement of the Spirit. And in the end of time He shall come to do away with all evil, and to reconcile all things, in order that there may be an end of all impurities.
P52: The Oldest Surviving Manuscript of the New Testament
The John Rylands University Library of Manchester has large full-color images of what is believed to be the earliest manuscript evidence of the New Testament: a papyrus fragment, P52, of John 18:31-33, 37-38. Please see JRULM: Special Collections and Exhibitions: An Unpublished Fragment of the Fourth Gospel.
Directory of Theses in Progress
Here's something I wish there would be a similar resource for the United States plus one more focused on Biblical Studies: Directory of Theses in Progress. This directory is a long list of those studying the Classics and their dissertation topics in the UK and Ireland. Sometimes finding a knowledgeable person on what seems like an obscure topic can be very difficult, and this list helps to close the gap.
More Doubt on the James Ossuary?
A reader alerted me to a new article on The Bible and Interpretation site by Eric Meyers entitled Well-known Israeli Archeologist Casts More Doubt on Authenticity of James Ossuary. Meyers states:
In an interview with me in Atlanta at the ASOR/SBL meetings and in subsequent communications, a prominent Israeli archaeologist admitted seeing the so-called James Ossuary in an Antiquities shop on the Via Dolorosa in the mid-1990s.Importantly, "this well-known archaeologist who insists on anonymity has told me that at the time he saw the ossuary it lacked the 'brother of Jesus' element of the inscription." If true, this would be excellent evidence that the inscription on the James ossuary was forged. Unfortunately, the anonymity of the witness is a serious cause for concern, and until the person is willing to come forward and be "cross-examined" to determine if that's what he really told Meyers or whether his recollection is solid, the charge has to be considered pure hearsay. It is also unfortunate in terms of being able to evaluate the charge that "the dealer's shop has recently closed and the one-time owner of the ossuary has since moved to Europe." All we're left with is the word of an anonymous source, a level of reporting that is usually considered to be insufficient in modern journalism.
The writer of the article asks the following questions, perhaps out of frustration:
Why has this information, which seems to be so central to the case, not surfaced in public? Why does the attack on the Israel Antiquities Authority by Golan and his supporters appear to go on and on without legal answer? And why do so many readers in America seem to want to believe the impossible?I'll give a shot at answering them.
It is really difficult to second guess the tactics of the police in publicizing or not publicizing certain evidence they have, particularly before they have charged anybody with a crime. Perhaps, they're looking at big-time players other than the dealer in the hopes of making a bigger dent in the trafficking of forged antiquities. Alternatively, perhaps the police cannot corroborate the archaelogist's statements and they want to avoid weakening their own case before any trial by publicizing evidence that cannot withstand scrutiny. We simply don't know what the police already know, and their keeping it that way often helps their case more than it hurts.
I suppose the key the second question is "without legal answer," but I'm not sure what legal answer could be in mind. Libel? Censorship? I don't pretend to know Israeli law, but under the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, there is a strong respect for freedom of speech, especially that which involves criticism of governmental or quasi-government bodies. As for the IAA not responding, since the time the IAA has made their report in public, its members have been getting their more detailed findings published through the lengthy peer-review process. Golan's defenders publish in different outlets.
On the last question, forgery is premised on people's willingness to believe. Typically, the more important something appears, the less often the usual safeguards are followed to make sure everything is above board. That's why skepticism about things that appear to be too good to be true is healthy. So the answer is, if so many people in America weren't willing to believe in it, another object would have been chosen.
Early Manuscripts at Oxford University
Another lovely project featuring images of manuscripts is Early Manuscripts at Oxford University. Manuscripts of interest to this blog include:
- Bodleian, MS. Auct. D. 2. 16 - Latin gospels (IX/X)
- Corpus Christi, MS. 122 - The Corpus Irish Gospel (XII)
- Magdalen, MS. Gr. 2 - Dionysius the pseudo-Areopagite (XIV)
- Magdalen, MS. Gr. 7 - Pauline epistles in Greek (X/XI, Gregory-Aland 1907).
- Magdalen, MS. Gr. 9 - Greek N.T. (XII, Gregory-Aland 57).
- Merton, MS. 315 - Eusebius/Jerome, Chronicon (IX)
Treasures of Mount Athos
The Hellenic Ministry of Culture for Greece has a nice on-line exhibit called "Treasures of Mount Athos." Mount Athos is the place of many famous monsteries. Included in the website is a section featuring images of its Greek manuscripts.
Another site with images of Greek manuscripts from Mount Athos is the Mount Athos Manuscripts Digital Library. This project is very much in its infancy, but there are already some nice pictures.
Full On-line Text for Jerome's Letter to Hebidia
My external evidence page for Jerome on the origins of the synoptics includes an extract from his letter to Hebidia (Epistula 120) answering some of her exegetical questions. Unfortunately, on-line versions of this letter only have a summary of the letter's contents and not its text. A while ago someone emailed me about where to find the full text of this letter on-line, and at the time I didn't know where it could be found on-line.
It turns out that one of the manuscripts in the Codices Electronici Ecclesiae Coloniensis project I recently blogged about has the full Latin text, so if you don't mind reading a digitized manuscript, you can now find it at Codex 59, folio 91v. Somewhere down on my personal to-do list is preparing an English translation of it for my readers' non-commercial use.
