Michael Lattke REVIEW
https://www.academia.edu/6729960/Rezension_von_Tischendorf_und_die_Suche_nach_der_ältesten_Bibel
Foteini Kolovou;
Ulrich Johannes Schneider (ed.), Tischendorf and the search for the oldest Bible (Fonts from the Leipzig University Library, Vol. 21), Leipzig: Leipziger Universitätsverlag 2011, 68 pages, ISBN 978-3-86583-561-1, ! 19.80
This booklet is the catalog for the exhibition in the Bibliotheca Albertina (February 18 - May 29, 2011) with contributions by
Christfried Böttrich, Martin Hanus, Foteini Kolovou, Alexandra Pitzing and Jonas Schollmeyer. The foreword comes from the library director Schneider, who is also a member of the Institute for Cultural Studies at the University of Leipzig. All in all, the catalog with numerous interesting illustrations (photos, drawings, documents, manuscripts, book titles and newspaper clippings) reports on the »story of the discovery of the Codex Sinaiticus « (p. 5). Of course, the "educational phase of the Christian religion" (p. 5) did not begin in the fourth century, that is, the period to which this majuscule codex is dated.
The Greifswald New Testament scholar Böttrich, who occupies a prominent place in the targeted literature references (p. 66 f.), contributes a biographical contribution in broad strokes, from Tischendorf's early undertakings to his adventurous discoveries, editorial work, private developments, scientific controversies, the disputes about this code up to the Russian relations including the nobility diploma and the last honors in Leipzig (pp. 6-13).
After a brief sketch of the poet and Professor Tischendorf (p. 17),
Pitzing writes a vivid report on "Tischendorf's Travel Reports" (pp. 20-32). After all, the scholar, who is often criticized for his self-reflection, "also made a considerable and very entertaining contribution to 19th-century travel literature" (p. 22).
Schollmeyer, who is also a student assistant at the University of Leipzig (p. 33-40), reports on the “Bible researcher Tischendorf” within the history of New Testament textual criticism from Lachmann to Aland 64 f.).
Editor Kolovou's contribution is about "Tischendorf and the Greek" (pp. 41-52). In the description of typical errors in "Pi-Omega" (p. 43) she unfortunately left one of the rare careless mistakes. More serious is their assertion that the New Testament papyri "are generally dated to the second century" (p. 42). For out of around 100 papyri, only two or three come from this early period, around half, however, from the 3rd to 4th centuries, while the rest is even more recent.
The concluding contribution by
Hanus, a colleague of Prof. Kolovou, is devoted to the »falsifications of Konstantin Simonides« (pp. 53-63) uncovered by Tischendorf, to which »palimpsests with the shepherds of Hermas « (p. 56). The irony of history is that this writing, which is counted among the Apostolic Fathers, “was not lost”: “
Only three years after Tischendorf published the Leipzig hermas as a forgery, he found in St. Catherine's Monastery the almost complete text of this scripture, which today is no longer officially part of the Christian Bible” (p. 57). The catalog presented is instructive even for specialists and can be recommended to everyone who is interested in the Bible and the history of science.
