Subject: Nomina Sacra

From: [email-masked] (lakr)
Date: Mon, 18 Aug 1997 16:59:02 -0700 (PDT)

Greetings, TC'ers

Are there critical editions of the Greek text which differentiate
between a Nomina Sacra and the full form of words abreviated in
this fashion, or does one need to look at copies of the manuscripts ?

Sincerely,
Larry Kruper

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From: "Professor L.W. Hurtado" <[email-masked]>
Date: Tue, 19 Aug 1997 09:21:12 +000

One really has to look either at the mss themselves (or, of course, 
photos of them), or else at proper printed editions of mss (e.g., 
Victor Martin on P66), wherein conscientious editors will reproduce 
such important scribal phenomena.  The nomina sacra are, I argue, 
really and potentially much more important than many NT scholars have 
realized, largely because the NT training received has not accustomed 
them to work with mss and to remember that these realia are the 
artefacts we must reckon with for serious historical study.  I have 
just completed a paper proposing a new theory for the origin of the 
nomina sacra, and it is now under consideration for publication at a 
major journal.

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: Mike and Jeanne Arcieri <[email-masked]>
Date: Tue, 19 Aug 1997 15:17:09 -0700

> this fashion, or does one need to look at copies of the manuscripts ?

I know that the Robinson-Pierpont GNT does in fact have the Nomina Sacra. In Rev. David is abbreviated as dad 
at 3:7, 5:5 and 22:16. This is based on the MSS evidence provided by Hoskier.

Mike A.

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From: Maurice Robinson <[email-masked]>
Date: Tue, 19 Aug 1997 18:44:44 -0400 (EDT)

> at 3:7, 5:5 and 22:16. This is based on the MSS evidence provided by Hoskier.

Swanson is a much more valuable tool in this regard, and interested
parties need to go there for detailed collation data.

The printed edition of the R/P Byzantine Textform indeed did use nomina
sacra for "DAD" as well as Greek letters for numerals for "12", "24",
"144" and "666", but these were all in the Apocalypse, and nowhere else. 
Further, no other nomina sacra abbreviations (e.g. for "Jesus" or "God")
were utilized, so the point is not really applicable in that regard.
Sorry.

_________________________________________________________________________
Maurice A. Robinson, Ph.D.           Professor of Greek and New Testament
Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary     Wake Forest, North Carolina
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