Subject: Parchment & papyrus

From: [email-masked]
Date: Thu, 13 Feb 1997 02:32:43 -0500 (EST)

TC'ers
Can anyone please confirm or deny that parchment replaced papyrus near the
end of the second century.
Thanks
Rich Elliott, ENTTC

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From: "Professor L.W. Hurtado" <[email-masked]>
Date: Thu, 13 Feb 1997 09:54:13 +000

> end of the second century.

Incorrect as stated.  Papyrus continued in use much later, examples 
easily down through 7th cent CE, even later.  Second, parchment & 
papyrus were *both* used during these early centuries, so it's not a 
matter of one dropping off & the other coming on-line.
For info on specific examples, see Joseph van Haelst, _Catalogue des 
papyrus litteraires Juifs et Chretiens_ (Paris:  Publications de la 
Sorbonne, 1976).
 
L. W. Hurtado
University of Edinburgh,
New College
Mound Place 
Edinburgh, Scotland EH1 2LX
Phone: 0131-650-8920
Fax: 0131-650-6579
E-mail:  [email-masked]

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From: "Robert B. Waltz" <[email-masked]>
Date: Thu, 13 Feb 1997 08:36:01 -0700

>end of the second century.

To say that parchment replaced papyrus at any given date is massively
oversimplified. If you check any of the lists of papyri and uncials,
you will see that papyri have been found from the second to the
seventh/eighth centuries. The first parchment manuscripts are found
in the third century, and of course continued to be used exclusively
till about the twelfth century, and occasionally thereafter.

Prior to the fourth century, papyrus was the dominant material.
After the fifth, the use of papyrus declined; eventually it went
out of use altogether.

It should be noted, however, that effectively all papyri were found
in Egypt (the dry climate helps preserve papyrus). And Egypt was
conquered at an early date by the Arabs. While that did not suppress
Egyptian Christianity (the Coptic faith still endures), it *did*
mean that Egyptian Christianity turned largely to the Coptic versions.
So the absence of Greek NT papyri after the eighth century really
doesn't mean much.

I hope that clarifies the situation.

-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-

                            Robert B. Waltz
                         [email-masked]

Want more loudmouthed opinions about textual criticism?
Try my web page: http://www.skypoint.com/~waltzmn
(A very rough draft of part of the Encyclopedia of NT Textual Criticism)