GALaCSy: The Earliest Translations of the Pauline Epistles
Lead Research Organisation:
University of Birmingham
Department Name: School of Philosophy Theology & Religion
Abstract
The GALaCSy project will undertake a fresh examination of the earliest translations of the Pauline Epistles. Versions in Gothic, Aethiopic, Latin, Coptic and Syriac provide important evidence for the textual history of the New Testament in antiquity and also shed light on the reception of these letters in different early Christian communities. The German partners will review the numerous Coptic manuscripts which have been identified since the edition of Horner (1920) and make full electronic transcriptions of manuscripts of Galatians and Ephesians in Sahidic and the minor Coptic versions. The British partners will prepare the comprehensive Vetus Latina edition of the Old Latin evidence for Galatians, replacing the outdated and partial edition of Sabatier (1743). In the final year, the contributors will come together to examine the versional evidence in the light of the fresh material assembled for the Editio Critica Maior of the Greek New Testament, in company with formal project partners from Italy, the USA and Germany working on Gothic, Aethiopic and Syriac. The results will include new scholarly resources to examine the early transmission of Paul's Letters (such as a digital synopsis of Coptic witnesses and a reconstruction of early Latin text-types), a better understanding of the relationship between these early linguistic traditions, and the integration of this material in the Editio Critica Maior, the most comprehensive edition of the New Testament ever to be produced. As has recently been shown, the evidence gathered by the project has the potential to change the text of the Pauline Epistles both in scholarly editions of the Greek text and in modern translations, and thus influence Christian theology and practice in the present day.
Publications
| Description | The project has identified the different phases of the earliest Latin translation of the Epistle to the Galatians. These have been reconstructed and brought together in a scholarly edition to be published in the Vetus Latina series. New insights include a better appreciation of the textual tradition of the Latin writer known as Ambrosiaster and the relative importance of surviving biblical manuscripts. In particular, the manuscript VL 135 has been shown to preserve an Italian form of the Old Latin biblical text in Galatians. The project has integrated textual information from early translations of the New Testament into Latin, Coptic, Syriac, Ethiopic, Gothic and Christian Palestinian Aramaic into the apparatus of the Greek Editio Critica Maior edition of Galatians and Ephesians. The project has reviewed a corpus of over 6,500 quotations of Galatians in Greek and Latin in preparation for their being integrated into the apparatus of the same edition. This is a significant improvement to the accuracy and reliability of this research data, and improvements have also been made to the structure and search facilities of the database in which they are held and available for access. The partners to this project in Germany have identified and transcribed almost all surviving witnesses to Galatians and Ephesians in the Sahidic, Lycopolitan and Mesokemic dialects of Coptic. These have been published on their own web-based 'Virtual Manuscript Room'. |
| Exploitation Route | The edition of the Old Latin forms of Galatians will become the standard reference work for the textual history of this biblical book, enabling further study of the text and its reception. The data created by the project will be incorporated into the Editio Critica Maior. In addition to informing editorial decisions about the earliest attainable text of the New Testament in that edition, it will be used by researchers to explore the early textual history, transmission and reception of the letters of Paul. In particular, the methodology and resource infrastructure developed by the project can be adopted by teams working on other Pauline Epistles. Additionally, the improved database of biblical citations for these two books can be accessed and queried in order to assess the use and text of these letters by early Christian writers from the 2nd to the 6th century. |
| Sectors | Culture Heritage Museums and Collections |
| Title | ITSEE Citations Database |
| Description | A database of full-text quotations of the New Testament in Greek and Latin from the first eight centuries. |
| Type Of Material | Database/Collection of data |
| Year Produced | 2016 |
| Provided To Others? | Yes |
| Impact | The Galacsy project has developed this database by refining the entries for the Epistle to the Galatians and improving the author and work references. |
| URL | https://itsee-wce.birmingham.ac.uk/citations/ |
| Description | Collaboration with Frank Feder and Coptic team at Göttingen |
| Organisation | University of Göttingen |
| Country | Germany |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| PI Contribution | Birmingham is one of three partners in the GALaCSy project. Our focus is on project management, and the gathering of Latin and patristic data to shed light on the earliest translations of the Epistle to the Galatians. |
| Collaborator Contribution | Göttingen is one of two participants in the GALaCSy project funded by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft. Their focus is to transcribe and edit the early Coptic translations of the Epistle to the Galatians. |
| Impact | Electronic transcriptions of Coptic Manuscripts |
| Start Year | 2022 |
| Description | Partnership with Carla Falluomini (University of Perugia) |
| Organisation | University of Perugia |
| Country | Italy |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| PI Contribution | We provided an apparatus of Greek readings and a digital interface for versional data to be added |
| Collaborator Contribution | Prof. Dr. Carla Falluomini entered Gothic versional data to the Greek apparatus of the Gospel of John. This collaboration continues, in that Prof. Dr. Falluomini is a formal partner in the GALaCSy project, where she will provide the same analysis of Gothic versional data for the Epistle to the Galatians. |
| Impact | Data currently stored in server in anticipation of publication in the Editio Critica Maior of John. |
| Start Year | 2011 |
| Description | Partnership with Christina Kreinecker (1COR) |
| Organisation | University of Leuven |
| Country | Belgium |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| PI Contribution | We provided data in the form of manuscript transcriptions and biblical citations, along with training in digital editing software used and developed in Birmingham, and shared expertise through regular meetings in work towards critical editions of the Latin and Greek New Testament. |
| Collaborator Contribution | The team at Leuven refined and improved the data gathered in Birmingham, and used it to prepare critical editions of 1 Corinthians. The regular meetings between the two teams also permitted the sharing of expertise and approaches, informing Birmingham's own work on Galatians. |
| Impact | 30 published and proofread transcriptions of Greek manuscripts of 1 Corinthians 20 published and proofread transcriptions of Latin manuscripts of 1 Corinthians 10 transcriptions of Vulgate manuscripts of 1 Corinthians 34,000 Latin quotations of 1 Corinthians 15,000 Greek quotations of 1 Corinthians |
| Start Year | 2022 |
| Description | Partnership with Curt Niccum (Abilene Christian University) |
| Organisation | Abilene Christian University |
| Country | United States |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| PI Contribution | We provided an apparatus of Greek readings and a digital interface for versional data to be added. |
| Collaborator Contribution | Prof. Niccum entered Ethiopic versional data to the Greek apparatus of the Gospel according to John. This collaboration continues, in that Prof. Niccum is a formal partner in the GALaCSy project, where she will provide the same analysis of Gothic versional data for the Epistle to the Galatians. |
| Impact | Data currently stored in server in anticipation of publication in the Editio Critica Maior of John. New collaboration developed in 2020 with Prof. Niccum for work on Colossians. |
| Start Year | 2011 |
| Description | Buckingham presentation |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Regional |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | Presentation on the Latin Bible as part of a two-day workshop on biblical texts arranged in conjunction with Buckingham Parish Church, with 35 participants. The leader then asked to participate in activities at the University. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2024 |
| Description | Durham NT Seminar |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Regional |
| Primary Audience | Postgraduate students |
| Results and Impact | Presentation to Durham University New Testament Seminar on 14.2.2022 "Towards a New Text of the Pauline Epistles: Editing the New Testament in the Digital Age" |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022 |
| Description | Tewkesbury presentation |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Regional |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | Presentation to about 25 people on the History and Manuscripts of the Latin Bible as part of the Musica Deo Sacra festival at Tewkesbury Abbey. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2023 |
| URL | https://www.birmingham.ac.uk/news/2023/itsee-director-speaks-at-music-festival |