Scholars are thrilled at the announcement that the Moore Theological College Library has received two significant donations dating from the early centuries of the church.
The first donation, received in January, is a very fine facsimile reprint of Codex Vaticanus, an important single manuscript probably dating from the fourth century.  Originating from Alexandria in Egypt the manuscript is now housed in the Vatican Library in Rome.
This manuscript originally contained the entire Bible in Greek and is written on Vellum (animal skin).
Some parts of the manuscript are now missing, including Genesis 1-46, Psalms 107-138, a portion of Hebrews, the entire books of I and II Timothy, Titus, Philemon, and Revelation. “It is one of the most important documents for the text of the New Testament,” said Librarian Rhonda Barry.
The second donation, a 10-volume work of the Bodmer Papyri, was received in March.
The Bodmer Papyri are a group of manuscripts that were discovered in Upper Egypt a few years after World War II. Most of these manuscripts were acquired by Swiss industrialist Martin Bodmer for his personal library, which has since become the Fondation Martin Bodmer.
The donors prefer to remain anonymous.
Ms Barry says of particular interest are the Biblical and early Christian literary texts in Greek, Coptic and Latin dating from the third to the ninth centuries.  These include substantial portions of the texts of Exodus, Deuteronomy, Joshua, Psalms, Proverbs, Song of Solomon, Isaiah, Jeremiah Lamentations, and Jonah.
The New Testament texts, which are primarily third and fourth century texts, include Matthew, Luke, John, 1 and 2 Peter and Jude.
“Access to original manuscripts is fundamental for research into textual studies and Biblical criticism as scholars are enabled to work with primary source materials,” Ms Barry said.
“Early manuscripts are important as they generally, but not always, provide a more reliable text.
“They are less subject to the scribal errors that can occur in the copying and transmission process. The longer the time span between the actual date of writing and the manuscript copy in hand, the more chance there is of error,” Ms Barry said.
Caesar’s Gallic War was written approximately 58-50 B.C. but the recognised manuscripts are dated approximately 900 A.D. giving a time span of nearly 1000 years. In contrast, the dating of Codex Vaticanus is 4th century and the New Testament texts in the Bodmer Papyri are mainly third and fourth century.