Table Of ContentManuscripts of the Book of Revelation: New Philology, Paratexts, Reception
Garrick V. Allen
https://doi.org/10.1093/oso/9780198849056.001.0001
Published: 2020 Online ISBN: 9780191883323 Print ISBN: 9780198849056
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https://doi.org/10.1093/oso/9780198849056.002.0003 Page iv ttp
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Published: June 2020 ://a
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Subject: Biblical Studies .o
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contained in any third party website referenced in this work. 7
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Chapter 2 is a reworked version of the article a
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‘Paratexts and the Reception History of the Apocalypse,’ 8
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JTS 70 (2019): 600–632, used with permission. 63
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Chapter 4 is a reworked version of an article by U
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the same title published in B. A. Anderson, ed., f N
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From Scrolls to Scrolling: Sacred Texts, Materiality, and C
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Dynamic Media Cultures, JCIT (Berlin: De Gruyter, 2020), lin
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used with permission h
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This book received �nancial support from the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences l H
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Book Publication Scheme at Dublin City University a
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The author is a research associate of the School of Ancient and Modern Languages i L
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and Cultures at the University of Pretoria e
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Preface d
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The idea for this book arose directly from my time working as a d
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Wissenschaftlicher Mitarbeiter for the DFG funded ECM-Apk project at ic
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the Kirchliche Hochschule Wuppertal/Bethel under the leadership of u
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Prof. Dr Martin Karrer. My main job was to sit alone in my office and .co
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make electronic transcriptions of manuscripts that would then be col- /b
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lated to produce the Editio Critica Maior (ECM) of the book of k
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Revelation. The project is on-going and I am no longer in Wuppertal, 37
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but the experience of sitting down with a cup of coffee every day to read 7/c
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late antique and medieval minuscule manuscripts was a rich experience ap
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afforded to few scholars. (I did not understand how valuable it was at r/2
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the time.) And as I was working, I began to notice things about the 8
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manuscripts that transcended the textual concerns of modern critical 5
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editions, items that I was not sure how to encode in the digital transcrip- 2 b
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tion workspace, things that I had never thought of as significant for bib- U
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lical studies. Forms of indentation and segmentation, instances of iv
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artistic emphasis, the variable boundary markers between text and com- f N
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mentary, different chapter systems, marginal notes I could not immedi- rth
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ately decipher, and many other items led me to rethink what constitutes a
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the essential substance of the book of Revelation. And this does not even lin
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include the many non-biblical texts juxtaposed with Revelation in the at C
manuscripts, many of which I had never read nor seen as part of any h
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Bible or critical edition of the New Testament. My previous work had at el H
that point focused mostly on the New Testament, and Revelation in par- ill H
ticular, as a species of early Jewish literature, emphasizing the way that ea
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the supposed authors of these works knit together the complex texture S
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of allusion and rewriting that defined their modes of literary produc- i L
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tion. But now I was confronted with the sometimes overwhelming pres- u
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ence of material in and around the text of Revelation in manuscripts r o
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that seemed as essential as the text itself. Where did these items come 1
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viii Preface
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from? Who produced them? How did they function as arbiters of the n
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tradition? Why were they so obviously subject to change? d
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My curiosity around these questions compelled me to cobble together fro
this book, a book that ultimately constitutes an attempt to understand m
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what the works of the New Testament are and what the New Testament ttp
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is as a corpus by considering most prominently the work that stands at ://a
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the fuzzy border of the canonical: the book of Revelation. Are the works d
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purely the product of individual ancient intellects transmitted imper- ic
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fectly to us through less capable tradents? Is reconstructing these u
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authors’ intentions, insofar as that is even possible, the only key for .co
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interpreting the work? Or does the tradition continue to reshape, frame, /b
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and ultimately remake the book of Revelation each time it is copied? k
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Are scholars still partaking in this remaking when we make digital 37
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transcriptions of particular manuscripts? When I was reading these 7/c
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manuscripts and forming these questions I was woefully unaware of the ap
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substantial tradition of scholarship that preceded me in identifying, r/2
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cataloguing, and interpreting these features, going back at least to von 8
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Soden and De Bruyne. I learned of course that many of these items are 5
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now called paratexts, devices that mediate the text to readers, informing 2 b
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(and also constraining) interpretive impulses, and providing enumera- U
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tive information for the parts of a complex literary corpus like the New iv
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Testament. Focusing on the paratextual features of manuscripts demon- f N
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strates that the New Testament is as much a product of tradition as it is a rth
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producer of tradition. I came to this conclusion by spending significant a
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time not only with the manuscripts, but by exploring the intellectual lin
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heritage of philological research on manuscript paratexts, sifting at C
through many catalogues, editions, databases, and out-dated articles in h
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sometimes-defunct journals. The story of the manuscripts as a signifi- el H
cant part of Christian tradition, as part of the lives of real people who ill H
produced and read them, as evidence of constant interpretive engage- ea
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ment with the text, and as a foundational part of modern critical schol- S
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arship was one that I wanted to try to tell. i L
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Through all this, many friends and colleagues have spent their pre- u
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cious time reading drafts and helping me to form my thoughts on r o
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various issues through conversation. My colleagues at Dublin City 1
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University’s School of Theology, Philosophy, and Music have certainly S
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contributed to the shape and content of the book. Brad Anderson read te
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Preface ix
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multiple chapters and provided the initial impetus to write Chapter 4. n
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Jonathan Kearney also read drafts and I benefitted greatly from conver- d
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sations with Joseph Rivera and Ethna Regan. Beyond DCU, Juan fro
Hernández Jr graciously read and provided detailed feedback on m
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Chapters 1 and 3 and Thomas Kraus and Martin Karrer endeavoured to ttp
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read the entire manuscript—for this I am grateful. Chapter 4 also bene- ://a
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fitted from the attentive and critical feedback of Annette Yoshiko Reed d
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and Karl Shuve, who graciously responded to a draft as respondents to ic
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the Paul J. Achtemeier Award for New Testament Scholarship at the u
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Society of Biblical Literature’s Annual Meeting in Denver in 2018. .co
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I would also like to thank the invitees and delegates at the Hoskier /b
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conference that convened in Dublin in August 2017. The conversation at k
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this event and my ensuing experience reading contributors’ articles for 37
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the eventual publication deeply informed and nuanced my approach in 7/c
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this book. So did my time reading the work of David Brown in prepar- ap
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ation for co-editing The Moving Text: Interdisciplinary Studies on David r/2
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Brown and the Bible (SCM Press, 2018), which reinforced for me the 8
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idea that changes to scripture need not invalidate its significance for 5
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either academic or faith communities. His Tradition and Imagination: 2 b
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Revelation and Change (Oxford University Press, 1999) was particularly U
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formative. Change is an inherent part of the tradition and shows, among iv
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many other things, the enduring relevance of these works. Many thanks f N
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to Christopher Brewer for constantly encouraging me to engage with rth
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Brown’s work and for also providing detailed notes on Chapter 1. This a
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book is even more indebted to the work of another significant British lin
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David—David Parker. The first inklings of this book came to mind when at C
I read The Living Text of the Gospels (Cambridge University Press, 1997) h
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while I was working on the editorial project in Wuppertal. That first el H
reading helped me to see the possibilities of the critical significance of ill H
reading manuscripts and encouraged me to continue transcribing day ea
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by day. The fingerprints of his work (and the work of many others) are S
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visible throughout the pages that follow. A final professional debt must i L
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be paid to my former colleagues in Wuppertal: Martin Karrer, Darius u
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Müller, Marcus Sigismund, and Matthias Geigenfeind. My time working r o
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with them was when I first learned to read and appreciate the manu- 1
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scripts and I hope this book sheds some more light on the important S
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work that they continue to do with the book of Revelation. te
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x Preface
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Chapter 3 of this book was supported by a Charlemont Grant from n
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the Royal Irish Academy, which allowed me to research at the Bayerische d
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Staatsbibliothek in Munich and the University of Regensburg. The views fro
in this book do not necessarily represent the view of the Academy. Many m
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thanks to Martin Wallraff, Tobias Nicklas, and their colleagues for their ttp
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kind welcome and thoughtful feedback on the project. ://a
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Finally, I want to thank Andrea for being a true partner in our mul- d
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tiple international moves, the pros and cons of expat life, and whatever ic
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is to come. I am so thankful to live life alongside you and I am very u
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happy that Eloise and Ivy are along for the ride. .co
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I dedicate this book to the three teachers in my academic life who /b
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have not only taught me how to read the book of Revelation in different k
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ways, but who also modelled ways to navigate life within the academy in 37
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a thoughtful, amiable, and critical way. I can only pretend to be a scholar 7/c
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today because of the examples of Ronald Herms, William Tooman, and ap
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Martin Karrer. r/2
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List of Figures d
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2.1 GA 2604 (Dublin, CBL W 139) 119v. 58 d
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2.2 GA 82 (Paris, BnF gr. 237) subscription (242r). 62 ic
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2.3 GA 2846 (Paris, BnF gr. 977) inscription (226v). 64 up
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3.1 GA 2047 (Paris, BnF gr. 240), Rev 1:5 (fol. 10). 80 om
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3.2 GA 2065 (Vatican City, Ottob. gr. 154), Rev 2:13b–16 (18r). 82 o
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3.3 Script subordination in the frame commentary and main text of /3
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GA 2042 (Naples, Bib. Naz. Ms II.A.10) Rev 22:10–17 (148r). 84 9
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3.4 GA 1876 (Sinai, St Catherine’s gr. 279), 244r. 85 h
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3.5 GA 1876 (Sinai, St Catherine’s gr. 279), 247r. 86 te
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3.6 GA 632 (Rome, Bib. Vallicell. B. 86), Rev 16:17–17:4 (246v). 87 88
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3.7 GA 1248 (Sinai, St Catherine’s gr. 267), select scholia on Rev 1:1–2:13 5
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with kephalaia notations in the left margins (219v–220r). 89 5
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3.8 GA 2019 (Naples, Bib. Naz., Cod. Neopol. Ex Vind.11), keph. 7, U
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Rev 3:1 (8r). 103 iv
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3.9 GA 88 (Naples, Bib. Naz., MS. II.A.7), keph. 7 (123r). 104 f N
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4.1 GA 2027 (Paris, BnF gr. 491) comment on Rev 13:18 (289r). 133 rth
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4.2 GA 1732 (Athos, Lavra, A 91) comment on Rev 13:18. 134 aro
4.3 GA 2073 (Athos, Iviron, 273), Comment on Rev 13:18 (73v). 137 lina
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4.4 GA 051 (Athos, Pantokratoros, 44) comment on Rev 13:18 (15r). 139 t C
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4.5 GA 2814 (Augsburg, Univ. Bib. I.1.4.1) comment on Rev 13:18 (49r). 145 ap
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5.1 GA 61 (Dublin, TCD MS 30) 21v–22r. 166 l H
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