Codex Sinaiticus: The Story of the World's Oldest Bible

by D.C. Parker

"Codex Sinaiticus" is one of the world's most remarkable books. Written in Greek in the fourth century, it is the oldest surviving complete New Testament, and one of the two oldest manuscripts of the whole Bible. It also stands out as a complex and beautiful artefact. It is one of the most important texts for studying ancient Greek translations of the "Hebrew Bible", and for the study of the New Testament and the two other early Christian writings it contains, the "Epistle of Barnabas" and the "Shepherd of Hermas". For many centuries, it was preserved in St Catherine's Monastery on Mount Sinai. New pages were found in the monastery in 1975. Since 2002, a major international project has been creating an electronic version of the manuscript. This book tells the story of the the world in which it was made, how it was made, and its later history, including the story of Constantine Tischendorf's visits to the monastery in the nineteenth century, how parts of the manuscript found their way to Leipzig, St Petersburg and the British Library, and the international partnership which created the electronic version.

Genres: Religion, New Testament, Theology

208 pages, Hardcover

First published November 1, 2009

Reviews

[Rama Rao · Rating 5 out of 5]

Codex Sinaiticus, the oldest Bible

The term Codex Sinaiticus refers to the Greek manuscript of the Christian Bible, written in the middle of the fourth century, was found in the Greek Orthodox monastery of Mount Sinai. This is the same place where God is known to have appeared to Moses in the Burning Bush, and also the site where the holy relics of Saint Catherine are enshrined. This book is the story of the Codex Sinaiticus; the rehabilitation of the manuscript and its translations. The goal is to provide a better understanding of the text of the Codex and of the subsequent corrections to it. This gives insights into the way the texts of the Bible were copied, read and understood. This book does not go into the specifics of the corrections/modifications/alterations made into the individual verses of Bible, but gives an overview. The following website provides the photocopies of the original Greek manuscript and its translation into English: http://www.codexsinaiticus.org/en/

During the middle of the fourth century, scholars were still debating which book should be considered authoritative, and Codex Sinaiticus is one of the two earliest collections of such books, the other is Codex Vaticanus (Vatican Library, Rome). At this time Christian communities were not unified and coherent, but the monastery of Mount Sinai is the oldest and continuously inhabited Christian center. Since this manuscript contains the earliest copy of the New Testament pretty much in complete form. This paved the way for preaching and the practice of Christian beliefs. The Old Testament in Codex Sinaiticus is in a version known as the Septuagint. The text of both the New Testament and the Septuagint has been heavily annotated by a several early correctors. A glance at the transcription will show just how common these corrections are. They are especially frequent in the Septuagint portion. They range in date from those made by the original scribes in the fourth century to ones made in the twelfth century, and the alteration could be a single letter to the insertion of whole sentences. Codex Sinaiticus is known to contain approximately 27,305 alterations, and there is no information about the correctors.

A comparison of the Codex with modern and Hebrew versions illustrates some distinctive differences. For example, the Greek Septuagint in the Codex includes books such as 2 Esdras, Tobit, Judith, 1 & 4 Maccabees, Wisdom and Sirach, which are not found in the Hebrew Bible. Appended to the New Testament are the Epistle of Barnabas and 'The Shepherd' of Hermas. There were some omissions in Codex Sinaiticus which includes a key verse of Jeremiah 29.11; in fact Jeremiah stops at 29:7. Genesis starts with chapter 21:26, missing the early chapters and the key verse 1:1. Chapter 7 is one of the most interesting sections of the book that discusses the text of Codex Sinaiticus for both old and New Testament. The nature of the differences between the Septuagint and the English versions are also in the number and the order of the books and the differences in the wording. Some of the distinctive features in Codex Sinaiticus were caused by the scribes; the book makes specific references to changes in the chapters of Judges, Esther, Tobit, Jeremiah, and the Psalter. With regards to the New Testament, several specific hymns of canonized gospels have been discussed for variations, omissions and their origins. For example, the story of the woman taken in adultery (John 7.53-8.11) is one of the most popular stories in the Gospels is missing from Codex Sinaiticus. Apparently it was added at the end of the fourth century since this story was considered somewhat controversial for those times even though it is an important story. In the early days of Christianity, the written gospels were not treated as fixed entities, but they were treated as a witness to a tradition that later became a part of the beliefs and Christian way of life. The author concludes that this story was included later because it ensured that inclusion of such a story did not dilute the richness of the Christian tradition. Another key verse is 1 Corinthians 13 which is broken into short words and single phrases.

This is a very interesting book and reads effortlessly. I recommend this to anyone interested in the early Christianity and the history of Bible.

[Steve · Rating 4 out of 5]

A mostly very accessible, easy-to-read book about one of the most important biblical manuscripts in existence and the amazing web-based digital project centered around it. A very good introduction for the general reader to the Codex Sinaiticus, the oldest complete Greek Bible in the world. For those who think they are familiar with the story of Codex Sinaiticus there is new information and new interpretation here coming out of the cooperative digital project that you will want to know.

[Matthew Henry · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not a read you do in a comfortable chair but it is a good read nonetheless. A lot of good information and cleared up many misconceptions. The sheer quality of the paper and the images alone made for it to be worth 3 stars.

[Alex · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting book about the Codex, and how it was made, and found. Interesting description of the biblical text.

[Amanda Witt]

The first half of this book discusses the intimate details of the Codex - including differences in script and the materials used.
The second half describes the people involved in studying the manuscript since the 1850's.