If you've read Metzger's Early Versions, then you've heard of the Sogdian version of the NT. And likely that's all you've heard.

If you want to know more about the language called Sogdian, now you can! Check out the Sogdian Primer. The intro notes that most Christian texts found in the Sogdian language are translations from Syriac.

More intros to Iranian languages are available at http://www.fas.harvard.edu/~iranian/.

Just a few updates since I haven't made any real posts for awhile. Apologies for that, life has been busy.

You may know that I dabble with another blog at PastoralEpistles.com. That site will undergo some major changes in the next few weeks. I'm installing different software and another contributor will come aboard. So keep your eyes peeled there. Other regular contributors are welcomed, so if you have a hankerin' to blog about the pastorals (directly or indirectly) then please contact me.

Also, if you visit the site instead of just read in an aggregator, you may have noticed the Amazon.com links on the side. It is a small experiment to see what happens if I actually recommend a book and provide a link to Amazon. Or if I recommend a gift of some other sort. [you know, the perfect gift for any bibliophile on your holiday shopping list (including me, perhaps?) is surely a gift certificate to Amazon.com]. I'm interested to know what you think about the Amazon links. Is it tacky? Dumb? Just fine? Drop a comment or send an email to let me know what you think if you have a strong opinion.

Since SBL, I've been thinking about allonymity. Michael Bird posted recently about Wayne Brindle's paper at SBL on the topic (Brindle's paper was on the evangelical response to Marshall's proposal of allonymity). Bird uses Hebrews as a counterexample, but I don't think Hebrews has anything to do with it due to it's anonymity (no author claimed, at least in MSS that we have today). Whatever one might posit about authorship, one surely has to weigh what the text itself purports. Hebrews says nothing explicit, so-called allonymous texts make explicit claims that appear to be deceptive. And that seems to me to be a completely different ball o' wax. My position aligns better with that of Witherington and Towner. Anyway, I have a post on the topic brewing, but I'll probably post it at PastoralEpistles.com once the revamping is complete. So you'll have to wait.

Please note that the software that runs this blog, dasBlog, has been updated (to v1.9). Therefore I'll likely be attempting an update of the server later today (Tuesday). If strange things are afoot, that is likely the culprit.

I'll post again when the update is complete ... or when I've reverted back to v1.8.

Update: I think the update to 1.9 stuck. If you have problems, please drop me an email (address on sidebar ... ) Thanks!

Apologies for the extended radio silence, but I'm back. ETS and AAR/SBL were great, as usual. Plenty of good papers and, more importantly, there was much meeting with old friends and making of new friends. Since there has already been a decent amount of SBL chatter, I won't add to it. But I will say that I've posted PDF versions of all three of the papers I presented (along with handouts) on my personal web site.

Also — on the weird side, if you see Tyler Williams (of Codex) you should ask him about the dream I had that he played a prominent role in ...

Short abstracts and links to download papers are below.

2006 National Conference of the Evangelical Theological Society (ETS)

• Paper: Subjects and Predicates and Complements, Oh My! Searching the New Testament with Sensitivity to Syntax
• Conference Handout
• Abstract: Logos Bible Software have implemented an edition of the OpenText.org Syntactically Annotated Greek New Testament. One facet of OpenText.org's work isolates clause boundaries. Within each clause, subjects, predicators, complements and adjuncts are identified. This enables searching of the Greek New Testament with sensitivity to clause-level criteria. This advance raises certain questions: How should syntactic annotation be used? What sorts of things can be searched for?
  This paper examines different sorts of searches that can be pursued from the starting point of a word. Questions like "When is [word] used as a subject?" or "What verbs are used when [word] is a subject?" will be examined and discussed.

2006 National Conference of the Society of Biblical Literature (SBL)

• Paper: Modifiers in the Pastoral Epistles: Insight for Questions of Style?
• Conference Handout
• Program Unit: Biblical Greek Language and Linguistics
• Abstract: OpenText.org have completed a preliminary syntactic analysis of the Greek New Testament. One level of their analysis is the Word Group level. A word group is a group of words that consists of, at minimum, a head term. It also contains any terms that modify the head term and additionally specifies the type of modification as that of definer, qualifier, relator or specifier.
  Stylistic analysis has been largely bound to examining criteria such as word usage and morphology along with perhaps sentence length or co-occurring words. The OpenText.org Word Group Analysis allows for stylistic analysis of the corpus at a different level. Does modifier usage offer any insight for comparative studies of the Pastoral Epistles and the generally accepted Paulines?
  This paper examines modifier usage inside of epistolary prescripts in epistles traditionally attributed to Paul. The goal is to show that components of epistolary prescripts use modification for different purposes. This conclusion is well known, but by reaching the conclusion using only the OpenText.org Word Group Analysis, the subsequent value of the OpenText.org annotation for the analysis of style becomes evident.

• Paper: Syntax Searching and Epistolary Form Criticism
• Conference Handout
• Program Unit: Syntactically-Tagged Databases of the Greek NT: Overview & Training Seminar
• Abstract: This paper works through examples of proposed epistolary forms, searching for suggested form structure using the OpenText.org Syntactically Analyzed Greek New Testament as primary corpus. The following forms will be examined:
  • Disclosure Form
  • Greeting Form
  • Request/Petition Form
  • Joy Expression
  • Charge Form
  Will a syntactically analyzed Greek New Testament such as the OpenText.org Syntactically Analyzed Greek New Testament provide assistance in defining and isolating potential instances of forms in the New Testament?

 ... which means I'm leaving shortly for Washington DC. I'm not sure what my blogging output will be like during the conferences (ETS and AAR/SBL). I have the blessing of being able to go to ETS and AAR/SBL as an employee of Logos Bible Software. That means my ticket is paid for, but it also means that my time is not my own, necessarily. So who knows if I'll get to the bloggin'.

I also don't know if I'll have easy laptop/internet access. My own laptop fritzed out this morning (monitor issues) and the Logos laptop I was going to bring is having hardware issues. (note: good time to plug Mark Goodacre's advice on using technology in conference presentations). So I've got a flash drive with all the goods, and the goods will be on another Logos laptop as well.

If you're at either conference, do stop by the Logos booth and ask for me. I'll be around; if I'm not at the booth they can contact me or they should know when I'll be back.

Bought my first pound of Starbucks Christmas Blend this season. I went in on Saturday to buy my sweetie an iced tea (and an iced coffee for me) and there it was on the shelf. I couldn't resist.

Had a pot on Sunday. Yummy.

[Overview, Part I, Part II]

I finally finished going through Klauck's Ancient Letters and the New Testament. Overall, I'd recommend it. However, you should note that Klauck discusses the NT letters as they fit his framework. He presents no alternatives or discussion regarding dating, authorship and authenticity of the NT epistles. Instead he takes the standard "scholarly" perspective (that is, something like Pastorals ==> not Paul, 2Thess/Col/Eph/Php ==> maybe Paul, Romans, 1 & 2 Cor, Gal, 1Th, Philemon ==> probably Paul).

But one thing that he does and does consistently is analyze the epistles as epistles. He looks at them as letters, he examines their rhetoric, and there is good information in the book -- particularly as entails structure and makeup of epistles.

He also has a plethora of analysis of epistles in Hebrew, Aramaic, Greek and Latin literature. Chapter 6 reviews "Letters in Early Judaism". This includes brief summaries of things like letters in 2 Maccabees, 2 Baruch 77-87, 4 Baruch and the Bar Kokhba letters.

The last two chapters of the book (130+ pages) discuss the New Testament epistles as well as the letters found within the book of Acts.

Klauck's work is a handy book to have on the shelf for reference, but it is good to read straight through. So while you're at SBL, do yourself a favor and stroll on down to the Baylor Press booth, page through a copy, and see if you'd be interested in it.

In addition to the aforementioned paper, I have one more presentation opportunity at the 2006 national meeting of the SBL I'd like to make y'all aware of.

Logos Bible Software (my employer) is hosting two additional sessions. The first covers Syntactically-Tagged Databases of the Hebrew Bible, the second (in which I'll have a presentation) is on Syntactically-Tagged Databases of the Greek New Testament.

Session: 18-107 — Syntactically-Tagged Databases of the Hebrew Bible: Overview & Training Seminar
Date: Saturday — November 18
Time: 4:00 - 6:30 PM
Room: Bulfinch - GH
Description: Research in the Hebrew Bible is about more than word level information. See firsthand how heretofore impossible grammatical/syntactical searches in the Hebrew text just a few clicks away.

Session: 20-101 — Syntactically-Tagged Databases of the Greek NT: Overview & Training Seminar
Date: Monday — November 20
Time: 4:00 - 6:30 PM
Room: Bulfinch - GH
Description: Exegesis in the Greek New Testament concerns far more than semantics and parsing. Take the quantum leap with software that allows you to search for grammatical/syntactical structures and usage in the Greek New Testament.

It is in this second session where I'll have a presentation. In addition to a quick overview and introduction to the OpenText.org Syntactically Analyzed Greek New Testament, I'll present (approx 30 minutes?) on the following:

• Paper: Syntax Searching and Epistolary Form Criticism
• Program Unit: Syntactically-Tagged Databases of the Greek NT: Overview & Training Seminar
• Abstract: This paper works through examples of proposed epistolary forms, searching for suggested form structure using the OpenText.org Syntactically Analyzed Greek New Testament as primary corpus. The following forms will be examined:
  • Disclosure Form
  • Greeting Form
  • Request/Petition Form
  • Joy Expression
  • Charge Form
  Will a syntactically analyzed Greek New Testament such as the OpenText.org Syntactically Analyzed Greek New Testament provide assistance in defining and isolating potential instances of forms in the New Testament?

We'd love to see you at either (or both!) of these sessions. For more information, check out http://www.logos.com/sbl.

Of course, more info (and downloads!) of all papers I plan to present is available on my personal web site. Please note that some papers will be posted after the conferences.

Update (2006-11-13): Note that I've started a series based on this paper at the Logos Bible Software blog.