The First Chapters

The First Chapters uncovers the origins of the first paragraph or chapter divisions made by scribes in copies of the Christian Scriptures. It takes as its main point of departure the magnificent, fourth-century Codex Vaticanus (Vat.gr. 1209; B 03), perhaps the single most significant ancient manuscript of the Bible, and the oldest material witness to the first large-scale attempt to equip the books of Scripture with numbered chapter divisions. The First Chapters sketches the history of textual division, starting from when copies of Greek literary works offered virtually no spaces, marks, or other graphic techniques to help the reader along. It explores the origins of others numbered systems, like the better-known Eusebian Canon Tables, but its focus is on the early set of numbered divisions in Codex Vaticanus, what nineteenth-century textual critic Samuel P. Tregelles labelled the Capitulatio Vaticana . It establishes, against the tide of prevailing opinion, that these numbers were not late additions to the codex but belonged integrally to its original production. It then breaks new ground by demonstrating that the Capitulatio Vaticana has precursors in the unnumbered divisions of some much earlier manuscripts. This study is thus able to shine a light on a long, continuous tradition of scribally placed, visual guides to the reading and interpreting of Scripture. Finally, The First Chapters exposes abundant new evidence that this early system for dividing the text of Scripture played a much greater role in the history of exegesis than has previously been recognized

Art · Exegesis · Linguistics · Literature · Paragraph · Reading (process) · Witness · Biblical Studies and Interpretation · Classics · Historical and Linguistic Studies · History · Pentecostalism and Christianity Studies · Philosophy · Bible · Biblioteca apostolica vaticana · Books · Division numérique · Greek Manuscripts · Livres · Manuscrits grecs · Marginal illustrations · Marginalia · Notes marginales · Numerical division

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