Ammonius of Alexandria, Eusebius of Caesarea and the Origins of Gospels Scholarship

Abstract

Publisher's copyright statement:Copyright c Cambridge University Press. This paper has been accepted for publication and will appear in a revised form, subsequent to editorial input by Cambridge University Press, in 'New Testament Studies' published by Cambridge University Press. http://journals.cambridge.org/action/displayJournal?jid=NTS Additional information: Use policyThe full-text may be used and/or reproduced, and given to third parties in any format or medium, without prior permission or charge, for personal research or study, educational, or not-for-pro t purposes provided that:• a full bibliographic reference is made to the original source • a link is made to the metadata record in DRO • the full-text is not changed in any way The full-text must not be sold in any format or medium without the formal permission of the copyright holders.Please consult the full DRO policy for further details. Ammonius left off and attempted to accomplish the same goal, albeit using a different and improved method. Using the textual parallels presented in the Diatessaron-Gospel as his "raw data," Eusebius converted these textual units into numbers which he then collated in ten tables, or "canons" standing at the beginning of a gospelbook. The resulting cross-reference system, consisting of the Canon Tables as well as sectional enumeration throughout each gospel, allowed the user to find parallels between the gospels, but in such a way that the literary integrity of each of the four was preserved. Moreover, Eusebius also exploited the potential of his invention by including theologically suggestive cross-references, thereby subtly guiding the reader of the fourfold gospel to what might be called a canonical reading of the four. -2 -canonical gospels. To be sure, the Synoptic problem is a more precise question about the literary origins of the gospels, and it is unclear to what degree these two authors were pursuing an answer to this exact issue. Nevertheless, an articulation of the Synoptic problem begins with a simple observation of the degree of both convergence and divergence among Matthew, Mark, and Luke, and it is precisely such parallels and non-parallels that these two authors were aware of and attempting to investigate.

Towards a Comparative Framework for Research on the Long Cycle in Ethiopic Gospels: Some Preliminary Observations

“…5 For a study of these elements in the Ethiopian tradition, with further bibliography, see McKenzie and Watson 2016;Bausi 2015;Bausi 1998Bausi -2002Leroy 1962;'Canon tables', EAe, I (2003), 680a-681b (M. E. Heldman); Mercier 2000b; and Underwood 1950. On the Epistle of Eusebius to Carpianus, see also Crawford 2015 andOliver 1959, with further references. For the Canon Tables in Christian manuscript illumination, see Smith 2014, 139-155, 333-346;McGurk 1993;Nordenfalk 1938Nordenfalk , 1963Nordenfalk , 1982Nordenfalk , and 1984 (for some observation on the Canon Tables in Coptic, Armenian, and Ethiopic manuscripts); and Vieillard 1945.…”

An Ethiopian Miniature of the Tempietto in the Metropolitan Museum of Art: Its Relatives and Symbolism

“…1 For the boundaries of this period, see Heldman 1993b. 2 For a general overview of the Letter and the Eusebian Apparatus, see Oliver 1959;Crawford 2015. The text of the Letter to Carpianus and other prefatory texts found in Ethiopic gospels were first translated in English by Cowley 1977, but the only critical edition recently published is Bausi 2015.…”

Canones: The Art of Harmony

“…This fact is by no means self-evident, particularly when one bears in mind that on the one hand, the precise copying of thousands of numbers and marginal notes required immense effort and on the other, that canon tables are of no importance to the liturgy.13 This leads to the question of the function and use of gospel books, and answers regarding the Early Christian 11 Nordenfalk 1938, 53, 65-72, 148-152, 171-173, 208-211, 228-230, 289-297. 12 Nordenfalk 1982Crawford 2015, 25-26. 13 Nordenfalk 1938Reudenbach 2019. period may be different than those regarding the centuries of the Middle Ages (see Jeremiah Coogan's contribution in this volume).…”

“… Nordenfalk 1938, 50;Crawford 2015, 18. 8 Roberts/Skeat 1983 Gamble 1995, 42-81; Hurtado 2006, 43-93; Parker 2008, 13-29;Seeliger 2012 with exhaustive bibliography 564-570;Wallraff 2013, 8-25.…”

“…18 Nordenfalk 1938, 51. 19 Coogan 2017;Crawford 2015Crawford , 2019O'Loughlin 1999O'Loughlin , 2010O'Loughlin , 2014O'Loughlin , 2017Wallraff 2013.…”