The volume contains a critical review of data, results and open problems concerning the principal Greek and Coptic majuscule bookhands, based on previous research of the author, revised and updated to offer an overview of the different graphic phenomena. Although the various chapters address the history of different types of scripts (i.e. biblical majuscule, sloping poitend majuscule, liturgical majuscule, epigraphic and monumental scripts), their juxtaposition allows us to identify common issues of the comparative method of palaeography. From an overall critical assessment of these aspects the impossibility of applying a unique historical paradigm to interpret the formal expressions and the history of the different bookhands comes up, due to the fact that each script follows different paths. Particular attention is also devoted to the use of Greek majuscules in the writing of ancient Christian books. A modern and critical awareness of palaeographic method may help to place the individual witnesses in the context of the main graphic trends, in the social and cultural environments in which they developed, and in a more accurate chronological framework.

The incomplete state in which many Coptic writings have survived makes them difficult to assess, and the text studied in this book is no exception. Preserved in two fragmentary manuscripts, the Berlin-Strasbourg-Apocryphon - previously known as the Gospel of the Savior - has been wrongly identified as a second-century gospel which was bypassed in the formation of the Christian canon. Alin Suciu demonstrates that this misunderstanding of the text derives from an insufficient knowledge of Coptic literature. Rather, the Berlin-Strasbourg Apocryphon is one of the numerous "apostolic memoirs," a peculiar genre of Coptic literature which consists of writings allegedly written by the apostles, often embedded in sermons attributed to famous church fathers. These texts were composed following the Council of Chalcedon, as part of the attempt of the emerging Coptic church to mold its identity after the schism.

Translation of: Neutestamentliche Apokryphen.

Le 5 decembre 2001, nous lancions le projet de la publication d'une Festschrift destinee a honorer notre collegue et ami Wolf-Peter Funk. La parution de ce volume etait alors annoncee pour le 30 decembre 2003, date du 60e anniversaire du dedicataire. Mais diverses raisons, au premier rang desquelles figure la generosite avec laquelle on a repondu a notre invitation, ont fait que ces melanges paraissent avec deux annees de retard. Mais a quelque chose malheur est bon: les lecteurs apprecieront la richesse, la haute tenue scientifique et la diversite de ces quarante-sept contributions qui, redigees en francais, en anglais ou en allemand par cinquante auteurs provenant de treize pays, temoignent eloquemment de l'estime et de l'amitie dont jouit Wolf-Peter Funk. Les editeurs de ce volume ont voulu l'ouvrir aux domaines auxquels s'est particulierement consacre Wolf-Peter Funk: la philologie et la linguistique coptes, les etudes gnostiques et manicheennes. Les contributions qui composent cet hommage illustrent par ailleurs assez bien ce qu'a ete l'activite scientifique et universitaire de Wolf-Peter Funk depuis son arrivee a l'Universite Laval a l'ete 1986. S'il y a poursuivi des travaux entrepris a Berlin, il s'est de plus en plus engage, a partir de ce moment, dans l'edition et l'interpretation des textes de Nag Hammadi en meme temps qu'il ouvrait un vaste chantier manicheen en devenant l'editeur des manuscrits manicheens des Musees d'Etat de Berlin et en s'associant a l'equipe australienne chargee de la publication des fouilles de l'oasis de Dakhleh (Kellis).

"The Gnostic Library" continues where the Dead Sea Scrolls left off. It is based on the Nag Hammadi codices, which were unearthed in 1945 -- a discovery considered as significant as the Dead Sea Scrolls themselves. The "Coptic Gnostic Library" contains all the texts of the Nag Hammadi codices, both in the original Coptic and in translation. It sheds an invaluable light upon early Judaism and the roots of Christianity. Now available in paperback.

The Sahidic version of 1 Samuel is an ancient daughter version of the Septuagint. Because the Sahidic translation was made before most of the Greek manuscripts we know were copied, it potentially contains ancient readings no longer preserved or only faintly attested in the Greek tradition. This study considers the Sahidic version of 1 Samuel as a translation and how it may best be used in Greek textual criticism. The aim of this study is twofold. First, to examine the translation technique of the Sahidic translator. Second, to analyze the affiliations between the Sahidic manuscripts as well as the affiliations between the Sahidic version and Greek traditions. In the translation-technical section, clause connections and translator s additions feature prominently. In the chapter concerning the affiliations of the Sahidic text, detailed textual analyses prevail. These analyses describe the textual character of each Sahidic manuscript, and search for the existence of secondary readings and/or corruptions. This study supports the creation of a new critical edition of the Septuagint of 1 Samuel for the Göttingen series. With respect to this edition, the primary goal is to identify the affiliations of the Sahidic version. This translation-technical study, however, will additionally allow for a more careful and accurate citation of the Sahidic version within the critical apparatus of the Greek text.

In this critical analysis Enrico Mazza concentrates on structure as he traces the evolution of the Eucharistic Prayer from its origins in the ancient Jewish rites and its Christian beginnings in the Didache. He then examines the paleoanaphoras of the early centuries and moves through the origin and progressive development of the larger anaphoric families (Alexandran, Roman, Antiochene), showing the influence of the Jewish rites on the formation of the Christian texts, and arriving finally at the classical anaphoras of the fourth century.

In recent years there has been so much research into extra-canonical gospel literature and, in particular, into the Coptic Gnostic library of Nag Hammadi that a completely new recasting of the seminal work, Neutestamentliche Apokryphen in Deutscher Ubersetzung (originally founded by Edgar Hennecke), seemed called for. This is the English translation of the revised edition of that work, published in two volumes. This is an essential collection of sources for every student of the New Testament and of the history and literature of ancient Christianity. Volume II covers writings related to the Apostles, the Apocalypses and related subjects.