Codex Sinaiticus was written in
the 4th century between 325 and 360 CE. It could not have been written before
325 because it contains the Eusebian Canons and it could not have been written
after 360 because of certain references to Church fathers in the margin. Some
scholars believe that Codex Sinaiticus was one of the fifty copies of the Bible
commissioned from Eusebius by Roman Emperor Constantine after his conversion to
Christianity.
Codex
Sinaiticus contains the earliest
complete copy of the Christian New Testament. The hand-written text is in
Greek. The New Testament appears in the original vernacular language (koine)
and the Old Testament in the version, known as the Septuagint, that was adopted
by early Greek-speaking Christians. In the Codex, the text of both the
Septuagint and the New Testament has been heavily annotated by a series of
early correctors.
Codex
Sinaiticus was copied by more than one scribe. Constantine Tischendorf (the man who discovered the manuscript) identified
four in the nineteenth century. Subsequent research decided that there were
three, but it is possible that a fourth (different from Tischendorf’s fourth
scribe) can be identified. Each of the three undisputed scribes has a
distinctive way of writing which can be identified with practice.
The
significance of Codex Sinaiticus for the reconstruction of the Christian
Bible's original text, the history of the Bible and the history of Western
book-making is immense. By the middle of the fourth century there was wide but
not complete agreement on which books should be considered authoritative for
Christian communities. Codex
Sinaiticus, one of the two earliest collections of such books, is
essential for an understanding of the content and the arrangement of the Bible,
as well as the uses made of it.
The
Greek Septuagint in the Codex
includes books not found in the Hebrew Bible and regarded in the Protestant
tradition as apocryphal, such as 2
Esdras, Tobit, Judith, 1 & 4 Maccabees, Wisdom and Sirach. Appended to the New Testament are the Epistle of Barnabas and 'The
Shepherd' of Hermas.
The
Codex Sinaiticus Project is an international collaboration to reunite the
entire manuscript in digital form and make it accessible to a global audience
for the first time. Drawing on the expertise of leading scholars, conservators
and curators, the Project gives everyone the opportunity to connect directly
with this famous manuscript.
The Codex Sinaiticus Project
provides you with a very important cutting edge tool that you can use in your
Bible studies. Keep in mind that prior to this tool, only scholars had access
to this information. The website provides you with a way to view the actual
manuscript along with a transcription and English translation of the text you
are viewing when you click on “See The Manuscript”
tab.
Go to The Codex Sinaiticus Project by clicking on -- http://codexsinaiticus.org/en/
No comments:
Post a Comment