Scholars Find Treasure Trove of Greek NT Manuscripts
Picture: An Ancient Greek Manuscript. The Aleppo Codex is a medieval manuscript of the Hebrew Bible (Tanakh), associated with Rabbi Aaron Ben Asher. The Masoretic scholars wrote it in the early 10th century, probably in Tiberias, Israel. It is in book form and contains the vowel points and grammar points (nikkudot) that specify the pronunciation of the ancient Hebrew letters to preserve the chanting tradition. It is perhaps the most historically important Hebrew manuscript in existence.
Normally, two or three New Testament manuscripts handwritten in the original Greek are discovered each year. Last summer, the Center for the Study of New Testament Manuscripts (CSNTM) found a treasure trove of them during a trip to Albania.
The Center, based in the Dallas suburb of Frisco, Texas, devotes itself to the high-resolution digital preservation of these early copies of the New Testament. Scholars tried for decades to gain access to the National Archive in Tirana with little success, partly because Albania is a former police state.
Until now, only two manuscripts of the 13 there known to Western scholars had been photographed. Recently though, Dr. Daniel B. Wallace, the CSNTM director, received permission to send a team of four men to Albania to photograph the manuscripts with state-of-the-art digital methods. By the end of their first day in Tirana in July, they realized there were more than 13 manuscripts — far more.
The catalog at the National Archive listed 47 New Testament manuscripts, and at least 17 were unknown to Western scholars. Evidence suggests that some of the other manuscripts had been presumed lost elsewhere in Albania, but no final determination has been made. For more information on the Center for the Study of New Testament Manuscripts, visit www.csntm.org. [News used with permission from Salem Web Network]
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The treasure trove of Greek manuscripts
You mention Rabbi Aaron ben Asher wrote in the 10 A.D.
There was a rift between the Massorites. The family of ben Asher no longer utilized the Massorah and they corrupted the Hebrew text.
You write about the N.T and the Rabbi Aarron was of the later split, is he not?
The Old Testament , the true text was published by Jacob ben Chayyim in A.d. 1524-1525.
Of course I am speaking of the O.T. not the N.T.
The oldest ben Asher Text tyupe in existence today is the corrupted Leningrad Mansuscript, A.D.1008. It is from this corrupted text that all the newer Bible versions take their O.T.
The Alexandrian manuscript you write of is also named the Aleph , which is also called the Codex Sinaiticus. This is a corrupt text. Check out http://www.exorthodoxforchirst.com,for starters.
i hope they keep finding old writings so we all can better understand history
The Aleppo Codex, a picture of which appears at the top of this article, is a Hebrew manuscript, NOT an “Ancient Greek Manuscript” as the caption reads.