Bradly Billings

Do This in Remembrance of Me (eBook, PDF)

The Disputed Words in the Lukan Institution Narrative (Luke 22.19b-20): An Historico-Exegetical, Theological and Sociological Analysis

• Format: PDF

Produktbeschreibung

This title posits a new explanation of the longstanding textual problem affecting the Words of Institution in St. Luke's Gospel, by arguing that the social situation of the early Christian community explains why such emendations were made. By examining the manner in which manuscripts function as windows into the social world of early Christianity, Billings provides a fruitful study of the longstanding gap in our knowledge of a significant textual problem represented by the Western Text of Luke.

Produktdetails

• Verlag: Bloomsbury eBooks UK
• Seitenzahl: 256
• Erscheinungstermin: 9. Juni 2006
• Englisch
• ISBN-13: 9780567338204
• Artikelnr.: 40779781

Autorenporträt

The Reverend Doctor Bradly Billings is an ordained Anglican priest in Melbourne, Australia, where he has lived and worked all of his life.

Inhaltsangabe

Introduction
The existence and nature of the textual problem under examination is
identified: although the vast majority of extant Greek manuscripts include
Luke 22:19b-20, a small number of manuscripts (principally Codex Bezae)
break off the narrative at the words "This is my body" omitting altogether
the words over the cup and the Dominical command to perpetual remembrance.
This produces two streams of text represented by the manuscript tradition -
the "Longer Text" including Luke 22:19b-20 and the "Shorter Text" which
omits this verse and a half.
PART ONE Chapter One: The Textual Problem A brief overview is conducted,
explaining the nature and significance of the textual problem represented
by Codex Bezae at the point of the Last Supper narrative in Luke.
Chapter Two: A Western Non-Interpolation? Examining the possibility that
the textual problem under examination is an incidence of the "Western
Non-Interpolations" as proposed by Westcott and Hort. Chapter Three: The
Codex Bezae (D, 05) A review of the Codex itself, its physical
characteristics, together with its history and provenance, leading to the
conclusion that the Codex was produced in a bi-lingual (Greek / Latin)
community of the second century of the Common Era, in the region of Lyons.
PART TWO
Chapter Four: The Non-Lukan Origins of the Disputed Words A detailed
source-critical exegesis of the disputed words of Luke 22:19b-20, focusing
on their lexicology and grammar. Examines the argument that the "Shorter
Text" is genuine, and that the "Longer Text" is to be explained as an
interpolation into the manuscript tradition, intended to harmonise Luke
with the institution narratives preserved by Matthew / Mark and by Paul (1
Cor 11:23-26).
Chapter Five: The Non-Lukan Theology of the Disputed Words An examination
of the alleged non-Lukan theology reflected by the disputed words. Focuses
on the argument that the "Shorter Text" is genuine, and that the "Longer
Text" is to be identified and understood as an interpolation into the
manuscript tradition that is essentially inconsistent with the theology of
Luke.
Chapter Six: Passover, History, and Liturgy in the Disputed Words A survey
of the narrative source in which the disputed words have been transmitted,
focusing in particular on the possibility that the Passover context has led
to a misunderstanding about the number of the cups involved. Chapter Seven:
Erroneous Scribal Emendation Considers the possibility that the textual
difficulty is the result of either an intentional or unintentional scribal
emendation.
Chapter Eight: The Disciplina Arcani. An exhaustive overview of the notion
of disciplina arcani as it may have affected early Christianity is
conducted, with special reference to the theory as it is articulated by
Joachim Jeremias (in his Eucharistic Words) to sustain the authenticity of
the "Shorter Text" on esoteric grounds.
PART THREE
Chapter Nine: The Text as Window. A preliminary discussion of the manner in
which individual manuscripts may function as windows into the social world
of the early Christian community, providing an insight into the world of
the scribes who produced them and the communities for whom they were
produced.
Chapter Ten: "Thyestean Banquets and Oedipodean Intercourse". The manner
and nature of the accusations leveled against the Christian community in
the period 100-200 CE are discussed, with particular reference to those
which have relevance to the meal practices of the Christian community, and
which may then have influenced the omission of Luke 22:19b-20 form Codex
Bezae.
Chapter Eleven: Why Codex Bezae was Altered: A Sociological Explanation.
The concluding chapter argues that the persecution of the Christian
community in Lyons (ca. 177 CE) provides a plausible Sitz im Leben in which
the exemplar of Codex Bezae may have been altered, so as to prevent any
further accusations of "Thyestean banquets" and to reduce the possibility
of further outbreaks of violence and of social ostracisation against the
Christian community. Conclusion The results of this study posit a
sociologically motivated explanation for a longstanding textual difficulty,
in the particular instance of the Western Text recension (principally Codex
Bezae) of St. Luke's Gospel. The "Longer Reading" inclusive of the
dominical command to a perpetual remembrance of the Lord's Supper is
accepted as genuine, and its authenticity is further affirmed by explaining
and accounting for the origin and existence of the enigmatic "Shorter
Text".