Tatian's Diatessaron: composition, redaction, recension, and reception

by Barker, James W., (James William)

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Title Statements

Full title :Tatian's Diatessaron : composition, redaction, recension, and reception / James W. Barker.

Summary

"In the late-second century, Tatian the Assyrian constructed a new Gospel by intricately harmonizing Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. Tatian's work became known as the Diatessaron, since it was derived "out of the four" eventually canonical Gospels. Although it circulated widely for centuries, the Diatessaron disappeared in antiquity. Nevertheless, numerous ancient and medieval Gospel harmonies survive in various languages. Some texts are altogether independent of the Diatessaron, while others are definitely related. Yet even Tatian's known descendants differ in large and small ways, so attempts at reconstruction have proven confounding. This book forges a new path in Diatessaron studies. Covering the widest array of manuscript evidence to date, it reconstructs the ancient compositional practices and redactional tendencies by which Tatian wrote his Gospel. Then, by sorting every extant witness according to its narrative sequence, the macrostructure of Tatian's Gospel becomes clear. Despite many shared agreements, there remain significant divergences between eastern and western witnesses. This book argues that the eastern ones preserve Tatian's order, whereas the western texts descend from a fourth-century recension of the Diatessaron. Victor of Capua and his scribe used the recension to produce the Latin Codex Fuldensis in the sixth century. More controversially, the book offers new evidence that late medieval texts such as the Middle Dutch Stuttgart harmony independently preserve traces of the western recension. This study uncovers the composition, transmission, and reception history behind one of early Christianity's most elusive texts"--Publisher's description.

Edition Statements

Publication Date:©2021
Edition:First edition

Publication Statements

Publisher(s):Oxford University Press
Place of Publication:Oxford
Language:eng
Publication Date:©2021

The Physical Object

Description:1 online resource (1 volume) : : illustrations (black and white)

Edition Identifiers

ISBN:9780191933226, 0191933228, 9780192658920, 0192658921, 9780192658937, 019265893X
oclc:on1280068303
LC Classification:BS2550.T2
Dewey Decimal:226/.1

Cover -- Tatian's Diatessaron: Composition, Redaction, Recension, and Reception -- Copyright -- Acknowledgments -- Contents -- List of Abbreviations -- Introduction -- 1: An Overview of Diatessaron Witnesses -- 1.1 Eastern Witnesses -- 1.1.1 The Arabic Harmony -- 1.1.2 Ephrem's Commentary -- 1.1.3 Aphrahat's Demonstrations -- 1.2 Western Witnesses -- 1.2.1 Codex Fuldensis and Its Copies -- 1.2.2 The Stuttgart-Liège-Zurich Harmonies and Their Offshoots -- 1.3 Unrelated and Distantly Related Harmonies -- 1.4 The Dura Europos Fragment as a Bridge between East and West -- 1.5 Summary -- 2: Tatian's Compositional Practices -- 2.1 Mental Processes and Material Production -- 2.2 How Long was Tatian's Diatessaron? -- 2.3 Tatian's Authorial Expectations -- 3: Characteristics of the Diatessaron's Sequence -- 3.1 Jewish Festivals and the Chronology of Jesus's Ministry -- 3.1.1 Ephrem's Suppression of Jewish Festivals -- 3.1.2 Tatian's Sequence of Jewish Festivals -- 3.1.3 Derivative Reorientation toward John's Chronology -- 3.2 A Nonviolent Conclusion to Jesus's (First) Sermon at Nazareth -- 3.3 A Blessing upon Jesus's Mother, Who Happens to be Nearby -- 3.4 Intercalating the Pharisees' Warn…