Codex Bezae Cantabrigiensis is an important early manuscript of the Greek New Testament, whose Gospel text has received relatively limited attention. Because Matthew was the most widely used Gospel among the first Christian communities, the study of its textual form is of utmost significance for the understanding of the early transmission of the New Testament. The research proposed in this thesis is therefore to take a fresh look at the Bezan text of Matthew. It will challenge the commonly accepted view of its readings as reflecting scribal reworking, albeit performed at an early stage. A principal ground for viewing the text as secondary is the apparently extensive harmonisation between the Gospels. The approach adopted here has been to thoroughly re-examine the Greek text of Matthew, comparing its form in Codex Bezae with that of Codex Vaticanus, a manuscript generally accepted as having a greater claim to authenticity. After noting all the variant readings and classifying them according to the type of material they represent, the study pays particular attention to the significance of word order differences, applying the tools of discourse analysis. Thereafter, the focus of the thesis is on the issue of harmonisation, as all the instances of the feature noted in the current edition of the Greek New Testament are systematically scrutinised. The results of this work suggest that the judgement that the Bezan text of Matthew has a harmonising tendency is predominantly based on external criticism, or on the choice of the particular passage with which there is alleged harmonisation. It will be suggested that the existence of common material in Codex Bezae where it is absent in other manuscripts may not be only a consequence of genuine harmonisation but also of the simple fact that the text was originally in agreement. It is hoped that the research presented in this thesis may serve to advance the study of Matthew’s Gospel, in particular with reference to harmonisation, in the field of New Testament textual criticism as well as in the related field of Synoptic studies.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:bl.uk/oai:ethos.bl.uk:683380 |
| Date | January 2015 |
| Creators | Pinchard, Laurent |
| Publisher | University of Wales Trinity Saint David |
| Source Sets | Ethos UK |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Electronic Thesis or Dissertation |
| Source | http://repository.uwtsd.ac.uk/564/ |
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