The field of New Testament textual criticism is a vast area with a multitude of manuscripts to examine. Codex Bezae Cantabrigiensis (hereafter referred to as D) is one of the most diverse manuscripts and has fascinated scholars for centuries with its many peculiar and notable read-ings. Where, in textual criticism, the Alexandrian text-type is the normative, D is a landmark within the “Western” text-type. This thesis examines D by collating it and one of the Alexan-drian text-type’s most attested manuscripts, codex Vaticanus (hereafter B). The collation is done using Nestle-Aland’s critical edition Novum Testamentum Graece 28 ed., because of its critical apparatus. However, due to the size of the critical apparatus the collation involves only the Gospel of John. The aim of this thesis is to search for readings in D that could indicate what context it was written in and, further, finding what tradition lies behind D. For this purpose, a database has been constructed, containing all differences between the manuscripts, classified according to types of differences and the parts of speech they involve.This thesis argues that D clarifies many of the readings of the Gospel of John with stylistic and narrative techniques, such as narrative explanations and the addition of prepositions, accu-satives, genitives and reflexive pronouns. Thus, implicit structures are avoided. Because of said clarifications this thesis argues that D was written in an environment where it was necessary to clarify uncertain aspects of the storyline. It is proposed that while Greek was the main language in the context where D was written it was not the first language of the scribe, and dialects may have affected the language in D.This thesis also argues that D reinforces the perception of the story. The Gospel of John uses the perfect tense more often than any of the other gospels, which results in the story often being perceived as ongoing rather than finished, as would be the perception of the reader. D has reinforced this tendency and also avoids theological utterances applicable to anybody, conse-quently keeping the perception in the gospel that of the story. Some passages in D also show that D has incorporated thinking from the synoptic gospels and created its own tradition.In summary, this thesis argues that some of D’s differences in comparison to B are related to provisions made for needs present in the context it was written in.

This dissertation examines to what extent the transmission history of Codex Bezae’s Greek text of Acts shows awareness of the explicit quotations’ Old Testament origin, and to what extent this awareness played a role in the final formation of this manuscript’s text. The dissertation limits itself to explicit quotations from the Psalms, Isaiah and the Minor Prophets. Each explicit Old Testament quotation of these three books is discussed in the order of their appearance in Codex Bezae. In these discussions, special attention is paid to the layout of the text of the manuscript, the introductory formula of each explicit quotation and the text of each quotation as it appears in the codex. The aim of this discussion is to discern whether the variant readings and layout of the manuscript (i.e., variant as opposed to other Greek New Testament manuscripts) show Old Testament awareness or possible influence from the OT as opposed to the “initial” text of the New Testament. The variant readings of Codex Bezae are therefore measured against the pertinent Old Testament traditions (Hebrew, Greek and Latin). The aim of this investigation is to determine whether Old Testament awareness played any role in the formation of the text of Codex Bezae, not necessarily to solve textual difficulties in the given explicit quotations. By paying close attention to the awareness of the Old Testament in the Bezan tradition, an opportunity is afforded to glimpse into the stages of the transmission history of this text, to learn more about its users and the users of the text of previous manuscripts in its tradition, and to discover more about how the Old Testament was perceived in the early stages of Christianity. / Thesis (DD)--University of Pretoria, 2013. / gm2014 / New Testament Studies / unrestricted

I denna uppsats jämförs det interna narrativets utveckling hos Apg 8:4-15:35 i en läsning av ursprungstexten såsom den presenteras i B2000 med det utökade narrativet såsom det presenteras i Codex Bezae (D). Apg 8:4 tar vid efter att Stefanos stenats och vid 15:35 har apostlamötet i Jerusalem ägt rum och Paulus missionsresor börjar.  Genom att göra denna jämförelse går det att se OM och i sådanafall i vilken utsträckning Codex Bezae påverkar förståelsen av det interna narrativet. I denna uppsats undersöks även olika möjligheter i den pågående debatten kring den narrativa enheten hos Lukasevangeliet och Apostlagärningarna. Detta genom att undersöka vilken "sida" i debatten (enhetligt eller ej enhetligt narrativ) som till störst del stödjs av det undersökta narrativet i Apg. De två olika sidorna i debatten representeras av Robert C. Tannehill respektive Richard R. Pervo. Respektive forskares resonemang kring de verser som behandlas inom denna uppsats ställs motvarandra.