Periodical Reviews -- By: Anonymous

Journal: Bibliotheca Sacra
Volume: BSAC 158:629 (Jan 2001)
Article: Periodical Reviews
Author: Anonymous


Periodical Reviews

By the Faculty and Library Staff of Dallas Theological Seminary

Robert D. Ibach, Editor

“Some Recently Published NT Papyri from Oxyrhynchus: An Overview and Preliminary Assessment,” Peter M. Head, Tyndale Bulletin 51 (2000): 1-16.

In the last three years our fund of New Testament papyri has increased dramatically. The latest volumes of the Oxyrhynchus Papyri—64, 65, and 66 (the last of which is not yet available in the States) contain seventeen New Testament papyri, bringing the total New Testament papyri officially to 115 (although some of these fragments are part of other extant papyri, bringing the actual total to about 111). These latest fragments contain portions from Matthew, Luke, John, Acts, Romans, Hebrews, James, and Revelation. The dates of these manuscripts should be underscored: three from as early as the second century (P77 [new portion], P103, 104), eleven from as early as the third century (P100, 101, 102, 106, 107, 108, 109, 111, 113, 114, 115), and only one dated as late as the sixth century (P105 [the editors date it at V/VI]). In addition several of the papyri have punctuation marks, rough breathings, or even paragraph notations.

Head notes that the longest of these fragments is P100, having portions of about twenty verses. He surmises that the fragmentary nature of the Oxyrhynchus New Testament papyri (including virtually all of the forty-seven that have been discovered there) has kept textual critics from giving this material more attention.

In his analysis Head notes the popularity of Matthew and John at Oxyrhynchus (seven of the papyri are from Matthew, four are from John). In addition he notes that P100, which contains portions of James 3:13–4:4 and 4:9–5:1, has page numbers in the upper margins, beginning with page 6 (ς). This is significant because this third- or fourth-century fragment probably indicates that James headed up a codex of several catholic letters, perhaps even all of them.

Among the more interesting readings found in these papyri, two are especially noteworthy. P106 (III century) reads ὁ ἐκλεκτός at

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