The Dating/s of P46: A Select Bibliography

Discussion on the viability/problems of manuscript dating methodology/ies will continue to stir interest (see Prof Larry Hurtado’s recent blog-ticle here), not only because new discoveries keep coming up (although not as bountiful as in the 19th and 20th centuries), but more so because to a certain [large?] extent valuation of the inscribed text on a particular manuscript is influenced by the date assigned to it by its editor/s, i.e., the older the manuscript, the more privileges it apparently enjoys.  At any rate, it would be good to review how P46 has been dated… and continues to be dated since its discovery in 1931.  Hence, I have attached below a list of select works–historically arranged–dealing with the date of P46.

Kenyon, Frederick. The Chester Beatty Biblical Papyri: Descriptions and Texts of the Twelve Manuscripts on Papyrus of the Greek Bible, Fasciculus I: General Introduction, with plates. London: Emery Walker, 1933.

__________. Recent Developments in the Textual Criticism of the Greek Bible, The Schweich Lectures of the British Academy, 1932. London: British Academy, 1933, esp. p. 51-61.

__________. The Chester Beatty Biblical Papyri: Descriptions and Texts of the Twelve Manuscripts on Papyrus of the Greek Bible, Fasciculus 3, Pauline Epistles and Revelation, Text. London: Emery Walker, 1934, esp. p. IX.

__________. The Chester Beatty Biblical Papyri: Descriptions and Texts of the Twelve Manuscripts on Papyrus of the Greek Bible, Fasciculus 3, Supplement, Pauline Epistles, Text. London: Emery Walker, 1936, esp. p. XIV.

__________. Our Bible and the Ancient Manuscripts. Revised by A. W. Adams. London: Eyre & Spottiswoode, 1958. In this revised edition, the description of the date of P46 is slightly nuanced.

Sanders, Henry A.  A Third-Century Papyrus Codex of the Epistles of Paul. University of Michigan Studies, Humanistic Series 38. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 1935, esp. p. 15; but cf. E.C. Colwell, Review of Henry Sanders, A Third Century Papyrus Codex of the Epistles of Paul, Classical Philology 32/4 (Oct 1937): 385-87, p. 386.

Gerstinger, Hans. “Ein Fragment des Chester Beatty-Evangelienkodex in der Papyrussammlung der Nationalbibliothek in Wien (Pap. Graec. Vindob. 31974)”. Aegyptus, 13/1 (1933): 67-72.

Lietzmann, Hans. “Zur Würdigung des Chester-Beatty-Papyrus der Paulusbriefe”. Preussischen Akademie der Wissenschaften. Philosophisch-historische Klasse. Abhandlungen XXV (1934): 774-82, p. 774.

Wilcken, Ulrich. “The Chester Beatty Biblical Papyrus”. Archiv fur Papyrusforschung 11 (1935): 112-14, p. 113; (see related story in Goodspeed, Edgar. “The World’s Oldest Bible”. Journal of Biblical Literature 54/2 (Jun 1935): 126).

Hoskier, Herman. “A Study of the Chester Beatty Codex of the Pauline Epistles”. Journal of Theological Studies 38 (1937): 148-63, esp. 149.

McCown, Chester Charlton. “Codex and Roll in the New Testament”. Harvard Theological Review 34/4 (Oct 1941): 219-49, esp. p. 230.

Beare, Frank. “The Text of the Epistle to the Hebrews in P⁴⁶.” Journal of Biblical Literature 63/4 (1944): 379-96, esp. 379.

Finegan, Jack. Encountering New Testament Manuscripts: A Working Introduction to Textual Criticism. London: SPCK, 1974, esp. pp. 72, 77, 181.

Cavallo, Guglielmo. “Γραμματα Αλεξανδρινα”. Jahrbuch der österreichischen byzantinistik 24 (1975): 23-54, esp. pp. 34-35.

Turner, Eric Gardner. The Typology of the Early Codex. Pennsylvania: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1977, esp. pp. 20, 91, 148.

Metzger, Bruce M. Manuscripts of the Greek Bible: An Introduction to Greek Palaeography. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1981, esp. p.64.

__________. The Text of the New Testament: Its Transmission, Corruption, and Restoration.  3^rd edition. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1993, esp. pp. 265-66.

Kim, Young Kyu. “Paleographical Dating of P⁴⁶ to the Later First Century”. Biblica 69 (1988): 248-57.

Junack, Klaus, E. Güting, U. Nimtz, and Klaus Witte, Das Neue Testament auf Papyrus, II Die Paulinischen Briefe, Teil I: Rom., I Kor., II Kor. Arbeiten zur Neutestamentlichen Textforschung 12; Berlin and New York: Walter de Gruyter, 1989, esp. p. LXIV.

Wallace, Daniel. Review of Young Kyu Kim’s Paleographical Dating of P⁴⁶ to the Later First Century. Bibliotheca Sacra 146 (1989): 451-52.

Vaganay, Léon and Christian-Bernard Amphoux. An Introduction to New Testament Textual Criticism. Second Revised and updated edition. Revised by Christian-Bernard Amphoux and Jenny Heimerdinger. Translated by Jenny Heimerdinger. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1991, esp. p. 12.

Griffin, Bruce. “The Palaeographical Dating of P⁴⁶.” Paper presented at the SBL Annual Meeting-New Testament Textual Criticism Section, 1997.

Pickering, Stuart. “The Dating of the Chester Beatty-Michigan Codex of the Pauline Epistles (P⁴⁶).” Pages 216-27 in Ancient History in a Modern University, Volume 2: Early Christianity, Late Antiquity and Beyond. Edited by T. W. Hillard et al. New South Wales/Grand Rapids, Michigan: Macquarie University Press/Eerdmans, 1998.

Comfort, Philip W. and David P. Barrett, eds. The Text of the Earliest New Testament Greek Manuscripts: A Corrected, Enlarged Edition of The Complete Text of the Earliest New Testament Manuscripts. Wheaton: Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., 2001, esp. pp. 204-05.

Comfort, Philip W. Encountering the Manuscripts: An Introduction to New Testament Palaeography and Textual Criticism. B & H Academic, 2005.; esp. pp. 134.

Nongbri, Brent. “The Use and Abuse of P⁵²: Papyrological Pitfalls in the Dating of the Fourth Gospel”. Harvard Theological Review 98 (2005): 23-48.

Royse, James. Scribal Habits in Early Greek New Testament Papyri. New Testament Tools. Studies and Documents 36. Leiden/Boston: Brill, 2008, esp. 201.

Jang, Min Seok. “A Reconsideration of the Date of Papyrus 46.” PhD Dissertation, New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary, 2010.

Barker, Don.  “The Dating of New Testament Papyri.” New Testament Studies 57 (2011): 571-

Orsini, Pasquale and Willy Clarysse, “Early New Testament Manuscripts and their Dates”. ETL 88/4 (2012): 443-74, esp. p.462. (pdf here)

Next time I will try to explore the various date-ranges given to P46–the oldest surviving and most extensive manuscript of the Letters of Saint Paul… and perhaps even my take on its date 🙂