I've been working on the series What are New Testament Manuscripts?, and my last article, What are Nomina Sacra?, described how names and titles for God were contracted to show a special reverence for them. The other articles in the series were about Biblical Manuscripts, but this one focuses on Christian symbols used by the church, sometimes in copies of the New Testament, but also in commentaries, prayers, letters and even on...
Category: Archaeology
Where are Biblical Manuscripts Found?
Archaeological sites
Surprisingly, archaeologists don't often find manuscripts, but there are some notable exceptions.
A famous manuscript find was the Codex Sinaiticus (א, Gregory-Aland 01) found by Constantin von Tischendorf, at Saint Catherine's Monastery, at the foot of Mount Sinai in Egypt, between 1844-1859. This book was written about A.D. 325-350. It originally contained the entire Bible, along with the Apocrypha and...
What Media has the Bible been Written On?
After writing 13 articles on the canon, I've started researching a new topic: New Testament manuscripts. I haven't exhausted the subject of the Biblical Canon (I've focused on the New Testament canon and haven't written about the Old Testament canon), but I've exhausted my current interest in studying it.
The books of the canon make the Bible, but how did the Bible get from the early church to us? How do we know the Bible has been...
Documentary Review: Patterns of Evidence: The Moses Controversy
In 2015, a Christian
documentary was released named Patterns of Evidence: The Exodus. Many scholars believe the
Exodus as described in the Bible never happened, and many archaeologists agree
that opinion. The purpose of Patterns of
Evidence: The Exodus is to show that archaeologists are looking for
evidence from the wrong time period, so naturally there wouldn't be evidence of
the Exodus. A few simple calculations using dates the Bible gives leads...
What are the Hezekiah and Isaiah Bullae?
In archaeology, a bulla (plural bullae)
is a clay seal used when documents or goods were transferred from one person to
another. The sender would put a small piece of wet clay over where the item
would be opened, then press in a signet to seal the item and ensure it's
authenticity. An unbroken seal would let the recipient know the item wasn't
tampered with. A more modern equivalent would be a wax seal on a formal letter
or invitation.
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