from Syriac, Greek, and Coptic sources in the seventh to the ninth centuries. Arab writers say that John I, a Jacobite Patriarch of Antioch (631-648), translated the Gospels from Syriac into Arabic. Another John, Bishop of Seville in Spain, is said to have produced Arabic Gospels from the Vulgate around 724. The final form of the Arabic New Testament rested most heavily on the Coptic Bohairic. Because of their late date and mixed background, Arabic texts have had little importance in textual studies. Slavonic Version Though the Slavs were one of the great ethnic groups contiguous to the centers of early Christianity, Bible translations into Slavonic cannot be traced earlier than the ninth century. Two brothers, Constantine and Methodius, sons of a Greek nobleman, began by putting church liturgy into Slavonic. With the approval of popes Adrian II and John VIII (as noted above), they translated the Bible. Constantine (who later changed his name to Cyril, 827-869) and Methodius (826-885) worked among the Slavs and Moravians. Constantine invented the alphabet that bears his saint name—Cyrillic—to facilitate the translation. Manuscript portions from the tenth or eleventh centuries survive, but the oldest manuscript of the whole Bible is the Codex Gennadius in Moscow, which is dated 1499 and is too late to be of much value for textual study. Bibliography Ackroyd, P. R. and C. F. Evans, eds. Volume I, The Cambridge History of the Bible, From the 1975. Beginnings to Jerome, Greenslade, S. L, ed. Volume III, The Cambridge History of the Bible, The West from the 1975. Reformation to the Present Day, Lampe, G. W., ed. Volume II, The Cambridge History of the Bible, The West from the Fathers to 1975. the Reformation, Metzger, Bruce. The Text of the New Testament—Its Transmission, Corruption, and Restoration, 1968. The Early Versions of the New Testament—Their Origin, Transmission, and ————. 1977. Limitations, Price, Ira Maurice. 1956. The Ancestry of Our English Bible, Weiser, Arthur. 1968. The Old Testament: Its Formation and Development,
from Syriac, Greek, and Coptic sources in the seventh to the ninth centuries. Arab writers say that John I, a Jacobite Patriarch of Antioch (631-648), translated the Gospels from Syriac into Arabic. Another John, Bishop of Seville in Spain, is said to have produced Arabic Gospels from the Vulgate around 724. The final form of the Arabic New Testament rested most heavily on the Coptic Bohairic. Because of their late date and mixed background, Arabic texts have had little importance in textual studies. Slavonic Version Though the Slavs were one of the great ethnic groups contiguous to the centers of early Christianity, Bible translations into Slavonic cannot be traced earlier than the ninth century. Two brothers, Constantine and Methodius, sons of a Greek nobleman, began by putting church liturgy into Slavonic. With the approval of popes Adrian II and John VIII (as noted above), they translated the Bible. Constantine (who later changed his name to Cyril, 827-869) and Methodius (826-885) worked among the Slavs and Moravians. Constantine invented the alphabet that bears his saint name—Cyrillic—to facilitate the translation. Manuscript portions from the tenth or eleventh centuries survive, but the oldest manuscript of the whole Bible is the Codex Gennadius in Moscow, which is dated 1499 and is too late to be of much value for textual study. Bibliography Ackroyd, P. R. and C. F. Evans, eds. The Cambridge History of the Bible, Volume I, From the Beginnings to Jerome, 1975. Greenslade, S. L, ed. The Cambridge History of the Bible, Volume III, The West from the Reformation to the Present Day, 1975. Lampe, G. W., ed. The Cambridge History of the Bible, Volume II, The West from the Fathers to the Reformation, 1975. Metzger, Bruce. The Text of the New Testament—Its Transmission, Corruption, and Restoration, 1968. ————. The Early Versions of the New Testament—Their Origin, Transmission, and Limitations, 1977. Price, Ira Maurice. The Ancestry of Our English Bible, 1956. Weiser, Arthur. The Old Testament: Its Formation and Development, 1968.
6404.The-Origin-of-the-Bible.docx