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Papyrus 46 (''P. Chester Beatty II''), designated by siglum (in the Gregory-Aland numbering), is an early Greek
New Testament The New Testament grc, Ἡ Καινὴ Διαθήκη, transl. ; la, Novum Testamentum. (NT) is the second division of the Christian biblical canon. It discusses the teachings and person of Jesus, as well as events in first-century Chris ...
manuscript A manuscript (abbreviated MS for singular and MSS for plural) was, traditionally, any document written by hand – or, once practical typewriters became available, typewritten – as opposed to mechanically printed or reproduced i ...
written on
papyrus Papyrus ( ) is a material similar to thick paper that was used in ancient times as a writing surface. It was made from the pith of the papyrus plant, '' Cyperus papyrus'', a wetland sedge. ''Papyrus'' (plural: ''papyri'') can also refer to ...
, and is one of the manuscripts comprising the
Chester Beatty Papyri The Chester Beatty Biblical Papyri or simply the Chester Beatty Papyri are a group of early papyrus manuscripts of biblical texts. The manuscripts are in Greek and are of Christian origin. There are eleven manuscripts in the group, seven co ...
. Manuscripts among the Chester Beatty Papyri have had several provenances associated with them, the most likely being the Faiyum. It has been paleographically dated between 175 and 225,Griffin, Bruce W. (1996)
"The Paleographical Dating of P-46"
/ref> or early 3rd century CE. It contains verses from the Pauline Epistles of Romans,
1 Corinthians The First Epistle to the Corinthians ( grc, Α΄ ᾽Επιστολὴ πρὸς Κορινθίους) is one of the Pauline epistles, part of the New Testament of the Christian Bible. The epistle is attributed to Paul the Apostle and a co-au ...
, 2 Corinthians, Galatians, Ephesians, Colossians, Philippians, 1 Thessalonians, and
Hebrews The terms ''Hebrews'' (Hebrew: / , Modern: ' / ', Tiberian: ' / '; ISO 259-3: ' / ') and ''Hebrew people'' are mostly considered synonymous with the Semitic-speaking Israelites, especially in the pre-monarchic period when they were still ...
. Some leaves are part of the Chester Beatty Biblical Papyri, and others are in the University of Michigan Papyrus Collection. In November 2020, the CSNTM in conjunction with Hendrickson Publishers released a new 1:1 high-resolution imaged facsimile edition of on black and white backgrounds, along with and .


Description

The codex is made from
papyrus Papyrus ( ) is a material similar to thick paper that was used in ancient times as a writing surface. It was made from the pith of the papyrus plant, '' Cyperus papyrus'', a wetland sedge. ''Papyrus'' (plural: ''papyri'') can also refer to ...
in single quire, with the
folio The term "folio" (), has three interconnected but distinct meanings in the world of books and printing: first, it is a term for a common method of arranging sheets of paper into book form, folding the sheet only once, and a term for a book ma ...
size approximately . The text is written in single column, with the text-block averaging , between 26 and 32 lines of text per page, although both the width of the rows and the number of rows per page increase progressively. Lines containing text at the bottom of each page are damaged (lacunose), with between 1–2 lines non-extant in the first quarter of the codex, 2–3 lines non-extant in the central half, and up to seven lines non-extant in the final quarter. Though unusual for ancient manuscripts, has each page numbered. Throughout Romans, Hebrews, and the latter chapters of 1 Corinthians, small and thick strokes or dots are found, usually agreed to be from the hand of a reader rather than the initial copyist, since the ink is always much paler than that of the text itself. They appear to mark sense divisions (similar to verse numbering found in
Bible The Bible (from Koine Greek , , 'the books') is a collection of religious texts or scriptures that are held to be sacred in Christianity Christianity is an Abrahamic monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus ...
s), and are also found in portions of , possibly evidence of reading in the community which held both codices. Edgar Ebojo made a case that these "reading marks" with or without space-intervals were an aid to readers, most likely in a liturgical context.


Nomina Sacra

uses an extensive and well-developed system of
nomina sacra In Christian scribal practice, nomina sacra (singular: ''nomen sacrum'' from Latin ''sacred name'') is the abbreviation of several frequently occurring divine names or titles, especially in Greek manuscripts of the Bible. A nomen sacrum consists ...
. It contains the following
nomina sacra In Christian scribal practice, nomina sacra (singular: ''nomen sacrum'' from Latin ''sacred name'') is the abbreviation of several frequently occurring divine names or titles, especially in Greek manuscripts of the Bible. A nomen sacrum consists ...
in abbreviated form (nominative case): (κυριος / ''Lord'') or (χριστος / ''anointed'') (Ιησους / ''Jesus'') (θεος / ''God'') (πνευμα / ''Spirit'') (υιος / ''Son'') (σταυρος / ''cross''). The use of
nomina sacra In Christian scribal practice, nomina sacra (singular: ''nomen sacrum'' from Latin ''sacred name'') is the abbreviation of several frequently occurring divine names or titles, especially in Greek manuscripts of the Bible. A nomen sacrum consists ...
has featured in discussions on the dating for , with Bruce Griffin arguing against Young Kyu Kim, in part, that such an extensive usage of the
nomina sacra In Christian scribal practice, nomina sacra (singular: ''nomen sacrum'' from Latin ''sacred name'') is the abbreviation of several frequently occurring divine names or titles, especially in Greek manuscripts of the Bible. A nomen sacrum consists ...
system nearly eliminates any possibility of the manuscript dating to the 1st century. He admitted, however, that Kim's dating cannot be ruled out on this basis alone, since the exact provenance of the
nomina sacra In Christian scribal practice, nomina sacra (singular: ''nomen sacrum'' from Latin ''sacred name'') is the abbreviation of several frequently occurring divine names or titles, especially in Greek manuscripts of the Bible. A nomen sacrum consists ...
system itself is not well-established. On the other hand, Philip Comfort (preferring a date c. 150–75) notes indications the scribe's exemplar made limited use of
nomina sacra In Christian scribal practice, nomina sacra (singular: ''nomen sacrum'' from Latin ''sacred name'') is the abbreviation of several frequently occurring divine names or titles, especially in Greek manuscripts of the Bible. A nomen sacrum consists ...
or none at all. In several instances, the word for ''Spirit'' is written out in full where the context should require a nomen sacrum, suggesting the scribe was rendering nomina sacra where appropriate for the meaning but struggling with ''Spirit'' versus ''spirit'', without guidance from the exemplar. The text also inconsistently uses either the short or the long contracted forms of ''Christ''.


Contents

contains most of the Pauline epistles, though with some folios missing. It contains (in order): the last eight chapters of Romans;
Hebrews The terms ''Hebrews'' (Hebrew: / , Modern: ' / ', Tiberian: ' / '; ISO 259-3: ' / ') and ''Hebrew people'' are mostly considered synonymous with the Semitic-speaking Israelites, especially in the pre-monarchic period when they were still ...
; 1–2 Corinthians; Ephesians; Galatians; Philippians; Colossians; and two chapters of 1 Thessalonians. All of the leaves have lost some lines at the bottom through deterioration. (''CB'' = Chester Beatty Library; ''Mich.'' = University of Michigan)


Missing contents

The manuscript was initially examined by renowned scholar
Frederic G. Kenyon Sir Frederic George Kenyon (15 January 1863 – 23 August 1952) was a British palaeographer and biblical and classical scholar. He held a series of posts at the British Museum from 1889 to 1931. He was also the president of the British Academy f ...
, who, using the number of lines per page and letters per line, estimated the contents of the missing pages. Page numbers on existing pages allowed him to conclude that seven leaves were lost from the beginning of the codex, which accords perfectly with the length of the missing portion of ''Romans'', which they undoubtedly contained. Since the codex is formed from a stack of papyrus sheets folded in the middle, magazine-style, what is lost is the outer seven sheets, containing the first and last seven leaves of the codex. The contents of the seven missing leaves from the end is uncertain as they are lost. Kenyon calculated that 2 Thessalonians would require two leaves, leaving only five remaining leaves (10 pages) for the remaining canonical Pauline literature —
1 Timothy The First Epistle to Timothy is one of three letters in the New Testament of the Bible often grouped together as the pastoral epistles, along with Second Timothy and Titus. The letter, traditionally attributed to the Apostle Paul, consists ...
(estimated 8.25 pages),
2 Timothy The Second Epistle to Timothy is one of the three pastoral epistles traditionally attributed to Paul the Apostle.. Addressed to Timothy, a fellow missionary, it is traditionally considered to be the last epistle he wrote before his death. Alth ...
(6 pages),
Titus Titus Caesar Vespasianus ( ; 30 December 39 – 13 September 81 AD) was Roman emperor from 79 to 81. A member of the Flavian dynasty, Titus succeeded his father Vespasian upon his death. Before becoming emperor, Titus gained renown as a mili ...
(3.5 pages) and Philemon (1.5 pages) — requiring ten leaves in total (19.25 pages). Thus Kenyon concluded as originally constructed did not include the pastoral epistles. Overall, Kenyon was open to different possibilities regarding the contents of the lost leaves at the end of the codex. He entertained the idea that the last five leaves could have been left blank or that additional leaves could have been added to the quire to create space for the
pastoral letters A pastoral letter, often simply called a pastoral, is an open letter addressed by a bishop to the clergy or laity of a diocese or to both, containing general admonition, instruction or consolation, or directions for behaviour in particular circumst ...
. In 1998, Jeremy Duff vigorously argued in favor of Kenyon's second suggestion, emphasizing that the scribe of was increasing the number of letters per page in the second half of the codex. Duff argued that this indicated that the scribe intended to include all of the traditional 14-letter collection and would most likely have added extra leaves if the original quire lacked sufficient space. Duff also pointed to several ancient codices that he considered as good evidence for the attachment of additional leaves to codices to allow for the inclusion of more material. The relevance of the ancient evidence that Duff presented has been challenged, but a survey of surviving examples of ancient single-quire codices does show evidence for the practice of leaving some blank pages at the end of a codex. However, this survey also showed that single-quire codices sometimes had more inscribed pages in the second half of the codex than in the first half (due to, for example, blank front fly-leaves). This leaves open the possibility that the original quire may have contained the traditional 14-letter collection after all. Brent Nongbri summarizes: The question of the contents of the codex as originally constructed thus remains open.


Text

The Greek text of the codex has been considered a representative of the Alexandrian text-type. Kurt Aland placed it in Category I. ;Some notable readings Romans 8:28 : (''God works all things together for good'') - A B 81 sa eth : (''all things work together for good'') - Majority of manuscripts : - (singular reading) : - Majority of manuscripts (UBS3) : (''mystery'') - * Α C 88
436 __NOTOC__ Year 436 ( CDXXXVI) was a leap year starting on Wednesday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Isodorus and Senator (or, less frequently, year 1189 ' ...
ita, r syrp bo : (''salvation'') - ℓ ''598'' ℓ ''593'' ℓ ''599'' : (''witness'') - B Ψ Majority of manuscripts : (''plausible wisdom'') - G : (''plausible words of wisdom'') - Majority of manuscripts : (''prayer'') - * Α B G Ψ 6 33 81 104
181 Year 181 ( CLXXXI) was a common year starting on Sunday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Aurelius and Burrus (or, less frequently, year 934 ''Ab urbe condit ...
629 630 1739 1877 1881 1962 it vg cop arm eth : (''fasting and prayer'') - 0150 256 365 Majority of manuscripts (NA26) : (''by the Spirit'') - (singular reading) : (''by one Spirit'') - A B 0150 33 81 104 436 459 1175 1881 220 2464 vg : (''spiritual man'') - (singular reading) : (''man'') - * B C G 0243 33 1739 it vg bo eth : (''man, the Lord'') - c2 A Ψ 81 104 181 Majority of manuscripts : (''deadly perils'') - 630 1739c itd, e syrp, h goth : (''a deadly peril'') - Majority of manuscripts : - (singular reading) : - Majority of manuscripts : - (singular reading) : - Majority of manuscripts : - (singular reading) : - Majority of manuscripts


Provenance

The provenance of the papyrus is unknown. Kenyon believed this codex and the other Beatty Biblical Papyri came from the region of the Fayyum. The coptologist Carl Schmidt was told that the books were found in "‘Alâlme, a village on the east bank of the Nile in the area of Aṭfiḥ, ancient Aphroditopolis."Brent Nongbri, "The Acquisition of the University of Michigan’s Portion of the Chester Beatty Biblical Papyri and a New Suggested Provenance," ''Archiv für Papyrusforschung'' 60/1 (2014) 93-116 However, the archaeologists who bought the University of Michigan's portion of the codex believed that it had come from Asyut (ancient Lykopolis). Thus, there is no consensus on the precise find spot.


Date

As with all manuscripts dated solely by
palaeography Palaeography ( UK) or paleography ( US; ultimately from grc-gre, , ''palaiós'', "old", and , ''gráphein'', "to write") is the study of historic writing systems and the deciphering and dating of historical manuscripts, including the analysi ...
, the dating of is uncertain. H. A. Sanders, the first editor of parts of the papyrus, proposed a date possibly as late as the second half of the 3rd century. F. G. Kenyon, editor of the complete
editio princeps In classical scholarship, the ''editio princeps'' (plural: ''editiones principes'') of a work is the first printed edition of the work, that previously had existed only in manuscripts, which could be circulated only after being copied by hand. For ...
, preferred a date in the first half of the 3rd century. The manuscript is now sometimes dated to about 200. Young Kyu Kim has argued for an exceptionally early date of c. 80. Kim's dating has been widely rejected. Griffin critiqued and disputed Kim's dating, placing the 'most probable date' between 175–225, with a '95% confidence interval' for a date between 150–250.See email from Griffin added in 2005 to Griffin's 1996 paper. Comfort and Barrett have claimed shares palaeographical affinities with the following:Comfort, Philip W. and Barrett, David P (2001) 'The Text of the Earliest New Testament Greek Manuscripts', Wheaton, IL: Tyndale House Publishers Inc. * P. Oxy. 8 (assigned late 1st or early 2nd century), * P. Oxy. 841 (the second hand, which cannot be dated later than 125–50), * P. Oxy. 1622 (dated with confidence to pre-148, probably during the reign of
Hadrian Hadrian (; la, Caesar Trâiānus Hadriānus ; 24 January 76 – 10 July 138) was Roman emperor from 117 to 138. He was born in Italica (close to modern Santiponce in Spain), a Roman ''municipium'' founded by Italic settlers in Hispania ...
(117–38), because of the documentary text on the verso), * P. Oxy. 2337 (assigned to the late 1st century), * P. Oxy. 3721 (assigned to the second half of the 2nd century), * P. Rylands III 550 (assigned to the 2nd century), and * P. Berol. 9810 (early 2nd century). They conclude this points to a date during the middle of the 2nd century for . More recently, in a wide-ranging survey of the dates of New Testament papyri, P. Orsini and W. Clarysse have assigned "to the early third century," specifically "excluding dates in the first or the first half of the second century."


See also

* List of New Testament papyri * Collections of papyri *
Chester Beatty Papyri The Chester Beatty Biblical Papyri or simply the Chester Beatty Papyri are a group of early papyrus manuscripts of biblical texts. The manuscripts are in Greek and are of Christian origin. There are eleven manuscripts in the group, seven co ...
* University of Michigan Papyrus Collection


Notes


References


Further reading

*


External links


Official WWW of Chester Beatty Library, Dublin, concerning P46
* Robert B. Waltz


Leaves of at the University of Michigan (with images in TIFF)


from the University of Michigan Papyrus Collection

* Klaus Wachtel, Klaus Witte
''Das Neue Testament auf Papyrus: Gal., Eph., Phil., Kol., 1. u. 2. Thess., 1. u. 2 Tim., Tit., Phlm., Hebr''
Walter de Gruyter, 1994, pp. L-LII. *
Tricky NT Textual Issues: Codex P46
{{DEFAULTSORT:Papyrus 0046 New Testament papyri 3rd-century biblical manuscripts Early Greek manuscripts of the New Testament Manuscripts in the Chester Beatty Library Epistle to the Romans papyri Epistle to the Hebrews papyri First Epistle to the Corinthians papyri Second Epistle to the Corinthians papyri Epistle to the Ephesians papyri Epistle to the Galatians papyri Epistle to the Philippians papyri Epistle to the Colossians papyri First Epistle to the Thessalonians papyri University of Michigan