Fragmento de Marcos foi escrito entre 150 e 250 d.C.

Especialistas avaliam que o P137 foi escrito entre 150 e 250 d.C. O manuscrito mede apenas 4,4 x 4 cm, e contém algumas letras dos versículos 7–9 e 16–18 do capítulo 1 do evangelho de Marcos. Mesmo que não seja tão antigo quanto muitos esperavam – fora divulgado que seria do século I -, o P137 ainda é uma descoberta significativa, pois é provável que este seja o mais antigo fragmento do evangelho de Marcos até agora descoberto.

Para entender o caso, leia dois posts de fevereiro de 2012:

Descoberto fragmento de Marcos do século I?

Esclarecimentos sobre o fragmento de Marcos do século I

Depois, leia*:

Despite Disappointing Some, New Mark Manuscript Is Earliest Yet

By Elijah Hixson – Christianity Today: May 30, 2018

Bible scholars have been waiting for the Gospel fragment’s publication for years.

The Egypt Exploration Society has recently published a Greek papyrus that is likely the earliest fragment of the Gospel of Mark, dating it from between A.D. 150–250. One might expect happiness at such a publication, but this important fragment actually disappointed many observers. The reason stems from the unusual way that this manuscript became famous before it became available.

Second (or Third) Things First

In late 2011, manuscript scholar Scott Carroll—then working for what would become the Museum of the Bible in Washington D.C.—tweeted the tantalizing announcement that the earliest-known manuscript of the New Testament was no longer the second-century John Rylands papyrus (P52). In early 2012, Daniel B. Wallace, senior research professor of New Testament at Dallas Theological Seminary, seemed to confirm Carroll’s statement. In a debate with Bart D. Ehrman, Wallace reported that a fragment of Mark’s gospel, dated to the first century, had been discovered.

As unlikely as a first-century Gospel manuscript is, the fragment was allegedly dated by a world-class specialist. This preeminent authority was not an evangelical Christian, either. He had no apologetic motive for assigning the early date. The manuscript, Wallace claimed, was to be published later that year in a book from Brill, an academic publisher that has since begun publishing items in the Museum of the Bible collection. When pressed for more information, Wallace refrained from saying anything new. He later signed a non-disclosure agreement and was bound to silence until the Mark fragment was published.

As a general rule, earlier manuscripts get us closer to the original text than later manuscripts because there are assumed to be fewer copies between them and the autographs (the original copies of the NT writings, most likely lost to history). Naturally, this news of a first-century copy of Mark generated a great deal of interest.

A first-century fragment of Mark’s gospel would be significant for several reasons. First, the earliest substantial manuscripts of the New Testament come from the third century. Any Christian text written earlier than A.D. 200 is a rare and remarkable find, much less one written before the early 100s. Second, early fragments of Mark’s gospel are scarce. Not all books of the New Testament are equally well-represented in our manuscripts, especially early on. There are several early papyri of Matthew and John, but before this new fragment was published, there was only one existing copy of Mark’s gospel produced before the 300s. Finally, a first-century manuscript of Mark would be the earliest manuscript of the New Testament to survive from antiquity, written within 40 years of when the Holy Spirit inspired the original through the pen of the evangelist himself. Needless to say, a first-century fragment of Mark was a bombshell.

Out of the Garbage Dump

Six years came and went, and there was no “first-century Mark” fragment. But information kept leaking. On stage at a conference in 2015, Scott Carroll told Josh McDowell that the manuscript had been for sale at least twice, after the first attempt was unsuccessful.

It was difficult to know who had even seen the manuscript. Only Carroll would publicly state that he had seen it. Carroll claimed to have seen the fragment in person twice, both times in the possession of Dirk Obbink. Obbink is a renowned papyrologist at the University of Oxford, and he is almost certainly the non-evangelical specialist to whom Wallace attributed the first-century date. New Testament scholars Craig Evans and Gary Habermas were among others who spoke about the fragment, generating even more excitement.

The manuscript has finally been published, but some are disappointed because it is not what they were hoping for: It’s not from the first-century.

The fragment, designated P137, was not published in a Brill volume as Wallace had predicted, nor is it part of the holdings of the Museum of the Bible in Washington D.C. as many had assumed it would be. Instead, it was published in the latest installment of the Oxyrhynchus Papyri series by the Egypt Exploration Society (EES) with the identifier P.Oxy. 83.5345.

The Oxyrhynchus papyri constitute a collection of hundreds of thousands of manuscript fragments excavated from an ancient Egyptian garbage dump near Oxyrhynchus between 1896 and 1906. Since the first volume was produced in 1898, only about one percent of the collection has been published. Among the papyri are biblical texts, apocryphal texts, classical texts, tax receipts, letters, and even a contract that stipulates the pre-determined outcome of a wrestling match.

The publication of P137 was prepared by Oxford papyrologists Daniela Colomo and Dirk Obbink. Although news releases from the EES about individual papyri are highly unusual, the organization issued a statement last week reporting that P137 was excavated probably in 1903, that Obbink had previously shown the papyrus to visitors to Oxford, and that it had been preliminarily dated to the first century. Obbink and Colomo admit in the edition that the handwriting is difficult to date. Scott Carroll stated that P137 is indeed the manuscript he had spoken about as “first-century Mark,” and Dan Wallace finally broke his six-year silence on the matter.

On the basis of the handwriting, Obbink and Colomo estimate that the manuscript was written in the range of A.D. 150–250. The manuscript itself is tiny, only 4.4 x 4 cm. It contains a few letters on each side from verses 7–9 and 16–18 of Mark 1. Lines of writing preserved on each side indicate that this fragment comes from the bottom of the first written page of a codex—a book rather than a scroll. The text does not present any surprising readings for a manuscript of its age, and the codex format is also what we would expect.

Even though it is not quite so early as many hoped, P137 is still a significant find. Its date range makes it likely the earliest copy of Mark’s gospel. The fact that the text presents us with no new variants is partially a reflection of the overall stability of the New Testament text over time. Moreover, P137 is not the only new papyrus of the New Testament to be published in the latest Oxyrhynchus volume. Also published are P138, a third-century papyrus of Luke 13:13–17 and 13:25–30, and P139, a fourth-century papyrus of Philemon 6–8 and 18–20. P138 overlaps with two roughly contemporary manuscripts of Luke, which allows us better opportunity to assess the early transmission of Luke’s gospel. Additionally, early manuscripts of Philemon are rare, and P139 is among the earliest.

It should be stated, however, that we have no shortage of New Testament manuscripts. There are about 5,300 Greek manuscripts of the New Testament of various sizes and dates. Such an “embarrassment of riches,” as they have been called, allows us to reconstruct the original text of the New Testament with a high degree of confidence. As exciting as they are, textually speaking, new manuscript discoveries tend to confirm or at most fine-tune our Greek New Testament editions. As an example, our Greek New Testaments would be exactly the same with or without our current earliest New Testament manuscript, P52.

Questions Remain

One lingering question is whether or not the new Mark fragment was ever up for sale. The EES, which owns the papyrus, emphatically denies that they ever attempted to sell it. Yet, Scott Carroll and others have reported that it was indeed offered for sale. In a comment on the post that broke the news about the EES publication at the blog Evangelical Textual Criticism, someone commenting as Carroll named Dirk Obbink as the one who offered the papyrus to him. Obbink was formerly editor of the Oxyrhynchus collection, and Carroll was involved in acquisitions for the Green family at the time. Some of that collection later became part of the Museum of the Bible collection.

Many people—including Carroll himself—believed that the Greens had at some point purchased the manuscript until it appeared in an Oxyrhynchus volume. Obbink recently denied attempting to sell the manuscript to the Greens, according to Candida Moss and Joel Baden, writing for The Daily Beast. When I contacted Carroll and Obbink for statements, Carroll replied that he had nothing to add to or subtract from his story, and Obbink did not respond.

This new publication is only the first word on the manuscript. There is surely much more to come. Manuscript dates are often disputed, though I expect the question will be whether P137 could be later, not whether it could be earlier. Multi-spectral imaging and digital image processing open new doors to deciphering and understanding manuscripts, and P137 might benefit from such types of analysis.

Rather than disappointment that P137 is not quite as early as once thought, the publication of P137 is a cause to celebrate. We have another significant find, and it is the earliest manuscript of Mark 1! The excavations of Oxyrhynchus continue to yield valuable artifacts of antiquity including new biblical manuscripts after over a century of publishing. We can happily look forward to more unknown treasures yet to come.

The EES has made the publication, including images of P137, available here.

Elijah Hixson is an adjunct lecturer at Edinburgh Bible College. He has written articles for academic journals and is a regular contributor to the Evangelical Textual Criticism blog.

* Artigo reproduzido na íntegra


Veja também:

‘First-Century’ Mark Fragment: Second Update – On 11 June 2018 – By Daniel B. Wallace

Update on P137 (P.Oxy. 83.5345)  –  By Elijah Hixson: Evangelical Textual Criticism – June 11, 2018

“First Century” Mark and “Second Century” Romans and “Second Century” Hebrews and “Second Century” 1 Corinthians – By Brent Nongbri: Variant Readings – June 12, 2018

Leia Mais:
Center for the Study of New Testament Manuscripts
“First-Century Mark,” Published at Last? [Updated]

Oxford Handbooks Online

Oxford Handbooks Online - Scholarly Research Reviews

Oxford Handbooks Online is an outstanding collection of the best Handbooks areas across many different subject areas. One of the most prestigious and successful strands of Oxford’s scholarly publishing, the Handbook series contains in-depth, high-level articles by scholars at the top of their field.

Oxford Handbooks Online is guided by a world-class Editorial Board that bring together the world’s leading scholars to discuss research and the latest thinking on a range of major topics. Each Handbook offers thorough introductions to topics and a critical survey of the current state of scholarship, creating an original conception of the field and setting the agenda for new research. Handbook articles review the key issues and cutting-edge debates, as well as providing arguments for how those debates might evolve.

Revolutionary changes to the publishing program ensure that all Handbooks are available online as well as in print, and monthly updates introduce articles in advance of print publication ensuring the most current, authoritative coverage.

Um vídeo, com legendas em português, explica como usar o Oxford Handbooks Online.

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Septuaginta: A Reader’s Edition

LANIER, G. R. ; ROSS, W. A. (eds.) Septuaginta: A Reader’s Edition.  Peabody, MA: Hendrickson Publishers, 2018, 3400 p. – ISBN 9781619708433.

LANIER, G. R. ; ROSS, W. A. (eds.) Septuaginta: A Reader's Edition.  Peabody, MA: Hendrickson Publishers, 2018

Septuaginta: A Reader’s Edition presents the complete text of the Greek Old Testament (including the apocryphal/deuterocanonical books), accompanied by bottom-of-the-page glosses for infrequent words and (where applicable) parsings as well as an appendix providing a glossary of common words.

This project was initiated in 2014 by Greg Lanier and Will Ross, who—after seeing the positive reception of the HB and GNT “Reader’s Editions,” which provide the full original text with vocabulary helps and other aids—saw the need for such an edition for the Septuagint. The goal of this project is to provide students of Koine Greek, especially those with an interest in the OT and NT, with the full text of the Greek OT (including double-texts and apocrypha) in such a form that they can read longer portions of text without constantly consulting a lexicon or parsing guide.

After years of work and a fantastic partnership with the editorial staff at Hendrickson Publishers, we are proud to be releasing (est. November 2018) this two-volume work, which includes 1,175 chapters of Greek text across over 3,300 pages, English headings to assist the reader, and over 125,000 vocabulary glosses in the running apparatus.

Why Did We Choose Rahlfs-Hanhart as the Basis for this Reader’s Edition?

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Septuaginta

Bíblia Hebraica e Novo Testamento Grego para Android

Baixe aplicativos, para Android, da Bíblia Hebraica e do Novo Testamento Grego.Hebrew Bible Reader - Matt Robertson

Busque na Play Store por Matt Robertson.

Clique aqui e saiba mais.

Greek New Testament Reader - Matt RobertsonLembro aos interessados que no site da Sociedade Bíblica Alemã (Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft = DBG) estão disponíveis online textos originais das seguintes edições da Bíblia: Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia – Novum Testamentum Graece (ed. Nestle-Aland), 28. Edição – Novo Testamento Grego (UBS5) – Septuaginta (ed. Rahlfs/Hanhart) – Vulgata (ed. Weber/Gryson). Clique aqui.

Textos de Manuscritos do Mar Morto lidos com infravermelho

Análises recentes com infravermelho possibilitaram a leitura de textos invisíveis em pequenos fragmentos de Manuscritos do Mar Morto que pareciam, a olho nu, estar em branco.

Leia a notícia em inglês e português.

Fragmento do Deuteronômio (11Q3), à direita, visto com infravermelho, à esquerda

Hidden Text Found on ‘Blank’ Dead Sea Scrolls – By Laura Geggel – Live Science: May 3, 2018

Previously hidden text on fragments of the Dead Sea Scrolls is now readable, revealing a possible undiscovered scroll and solving a debate about the sacred Temple Scroll. The discoveries came from a new infrared analysis of the artifacts, the Israel Antiquities Authority (IAA) announced yesterday (May 1). The newfound writing came from the books of Deuteronomy and Leviticus, which are in the Hebrew Bible (also known as the Old Testament of the Christian Bible), and the Book of Jubilees, a text written at the same time as the Hebrew Bible that was never incorporated into the biblical books, the archaeologists said. Researchers presented the newly revealed words at an international conference, called “The Dead Sea Scrolls at Seventy: Clear a Path in the Wilderness,” in Israel.

Também aqui.

Arqueólogos encontram trechos escondidos nos Manuscritos do Mar Morto – Galileu: 04/05/2018

Texto das escrituras hebraicas foi encontrado depois de análise com infravermelho

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Os essênios: a racionalização da solidariedade
Manuscritos do Mar Morto no Observatório Bíblico

SOTER 2018: Religião, Ética e Política

A SOTER – Sociedade de Teologia e Ciências da Religião – comunica que seu 31º Congresso Anual terá como tema Religião, Ética e Política e será realizado no campus Coração Eucarístico da PUC-Minas, em Belo Horizonte, de 10 a 13 de julho de 2018.

10-13 de julho de 2018: 31º Congresso Anual da SOTER: Religião, Ética e Política

A cada ano, o Congresso Internacional da SOTER reúne um número significativo de teólogos, cientistas da Religião, estudantes de pós-graduação e pesquisadores de áreas afins, tanto em nível nacional como internacional. Para 2018, o Congresso prossegue as discussões anteriores e mantém a preocupação de estar atento às urgências da sociedade. Por esta razão, tratará sobre “Religião, Ética e Política”. A sociedade atual apresenta desafios que tocam questões fundamentais, sobretudo na ótica do direito, da democracia, nas causas sociais, na multiculturalidade que tece o nosso contexto e em temas que exigem uma postura nova e um olhar mais profundo da realidade. O tema também se faz relevante pela situação política do país e de todo o mundo. 2018 traz ainda a comemoração dos 70 anos da Declaração dos Direitos Humanos. Dentro destas intenções, o olhar da teologia e das religiões se faz importante, e é onde se espera apresentar uma contribuição.

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Marx: 200 anos

No texto O discurso socioantropológico: origem e desenvolvimento, fiz uma síntese da sociologia de Marx, observando no final: este resumo dá apenas uma rápida ideia da complexidade, do alcance e das inúmeras polêmicas que o pensamento de Marx gera, necessariamente, tanto entre os estudiosos como entre os homens engajados em qualquer ação social.

Karl Marx: Trier, 5 de maio de 1818 - Londres, 14 de março de 1883

Começo assim:

Um resumo da sociologia de Marx pode ser encontrado no célebre “Prefácio” da Contribuição à Crítica da Economia Política, escrito em janeiro de 1859: “O resultado geral a que cheguei e que, uma vez obtido, serviu-me de guia para meus estudos, pode formular-se, resumidamente, assim: na produção social da própria existência, os homens entram em relações determinadas, necessárias, independentes de sua vontade; estas relações de produção correspondem a um grau determinado de desenvolvimento de suas forças produtivas materiais. A totalidade dessas relações de produção constitui a estrutura econômica da sociedade, a base real sobre a qual se eleva uma superestrutura jurídica e política e à qual correspondem formas sociais determinadas de consciência. O modo de produção da vida material condiciona o processo de vida social, política e intelectual. Não é a consciência dos homens que determina o seu ser; ao contrário, é o seu ser social que determina a sua consciência. Em certa etapa de seu desenvolvimento, as forças produtivas materiais da sociedade entram em contradição com as relações de produção existentes, ou, o que não é mais que sua expressão jurídica, com as relações de propriedade no seio das quais elas se haviam desenvolvido até então. De formas evolutivas das forças produtivas que eram, essas relações convertem-se em entraves. Abre-se, então, uma época de revolução social. A transformação que se produziu na base econômica transtorna mais ou menos lenta ou rapidamente toda a colossal superestrutura. Quando se consideram tais transformações, convém distinguir sempre a transformação material das condições econômicas de produção – que podem ser verificadas fielmente com a ajuda das ciências físicas e naturais – e as formas jurídicas, políticas, religiosas, artísticas ou filosóficas, em resumo, as formas ideológicas sob as quais os homens adquirem consciência desse conflito e o levam até ao fim. Do mesmo modo que não se julga o indivíduo pela ideia que faz de si mesmo, tampouco se pode julgar uma tal época de transformação pela consciência que ela tem de si mesma. É preciso, ao contrário, explicar esta consciência pelas contradições da vida material, pelo conflito que existe entre as forças produtivas sociais e as relações de produção. Uma sociedade jamais desaparece antes que estejam desenvolvidas todas as forças produtivas que possa conter, e as relações de produção novas e superiores não tomam jamais seu lugar antes que as condições materiais de existência dessas relações tenham sido incubadas no próprio seio da velha sociedade. Eis porque a humanidade não se propõe nunca senão os problemas que ela pode resolver, pois, aprofundando a análise, ver-se-á sempre que o próprio problema só se apresenta quando as condições materiais para resolvê-lo existem ou estão em vias de existir. Em grandes traços, podem ser designados, como outras tantas épocas progressivas da formação econômica da sociedade, os modos de produção asiático, antigo, feudal e burguês moderno. As relações de produção burguesas são a última forma antagônica do processo de produção social, antagônica não no sentido de um antagonismo individual, mas de um antagonismo que nasce das condições de existência sociais dos indivíduos; as forças produtivas que se desenvolvem no seio da sociedade burguesa criam, ao mesmo tempo, as condições materiais para resolver este antagonismo. Com esta formação social termina, pois, a pré-história da sociedade humana”.

Comentando o “Prefácio” de Marx, na Introdução da coletânea citada, diz Florestan Fernandes que “o que emerge é uma refinada teoria sociológica da revolução social, esbatida sobre o pano de fundo das correntes históricas que atravessam as estruturas da sociedade”. Este texto “exibe a consciência revolucionária da história sob a forma acabada de teoria científica, desvendando como se produz historicamente a revolução social e o quanto ela não passa de um processo natural nas sociedades de forma antagônica”.

Raymond Aron, por sua vez, diz que “encontramos nesta passagem [transcrita acima] todas as ideias essenciais da interpretação econômica da história, com a única reserva de que nem a noção de classes nem o conceito de luta de classes aparecem aí explicitamente. No entanto é fácil reintroduzi-los nessa concepção geral”. Vamos percorrer, com R. Aron, as sete “ideias essenciais” do pensamento de Marx sobre a sociedade, ideias que formam o arcabouço do chamado materialismo histórico [as notas de rodapé do texto original foram excluídas aqui].

Continue lendo.

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