ERC Advanced Grants

I just learned of two new ERC Advanced Grants that are relevant here:

Mladen Popović (University of Groningen), "Tracing Scribes and Scrolls." This project aims to use analytical chemistry, artificial intelligence, and palaeography to determine where the Dead Sea Scrolls were produced.

Hugh Houghton (University of Birmingham), "Exegetical Manuscripts and the Greek New Testament." This project aims to study a number of commentaries on the New Testament as new evidence for the text of the Bible.

Congratulations both Mladen and Hugh for these well-earned awards, and good luck on accomplishing these challenging aims!

New Witnesses to Origen's Text of the Psalms

Felix Albrecht on the Göttingen Psalter Project's blog announces new identifications of catena manuscripts that attest to Origen's Septuagint text according to the Hexapla. Note well that this is the text (perhaps only lightly edited?) that Origen used for the LXX column in his Hexapla of the Psalms (Felix calls it the Origenic recension), not a heavily edited recension or thoroughgoing edition of the Psalms (which Felix calls a Hexaplaric recension). This new data is critical, since this Origenic text is not well preserved in the tradition but is often very close to the Old Greek. The new grouping suggested is: O = 1098(ο′)-1121-1209-Ga.

HT Ryan Sikes