Monday, June 15, 2009

Codex Sinaiticus Conference, British Library Conference Centre, 6 - 7 July 2009


Codex Sinaiticus is one of the world's outstanding manuscripts. Together with Codex Vaticanus, it is one of the earliest extant Bibles, containing the oldest complete New Testament. This treasured codex is indispensable for understanding the earliest text of the Greek Bible, the transmission of its text, the establishment of the Christian canon, and the history of the book. Over 400 leaves survive and are held across four institutions : the British Library, Leipzig University Library, St. Catherine's Monastery and the National Library of Russia in St Petersburg.

To celebrate the virtual re-unification of all extant leaves of Codex Sinaiticus, on 6-7 July 2009, the British Library is hosting an academic conference on topics relating to Codex Sinaiticus. A number of leading experts have been approached to give presentations on the history, text, conservation, paleography and codicology, among other topics, of Codex Sinaiticus. Selected conference papers will be edited and published as a collection of articles.

Programme

Monday, 6 July 2009

9:30-10:30 Registration
10:30-10:45 Welcome address

10:45-12:45 Codex Sinaiticus in its historical context
Harry Y. Gamble, Codex Sinaiticus : the book and its readers in the fourth century
David Trobisch, Codex Sinaiticus and the formation of the Christian Bible
Emanuel Tov, The Septuagint section in Codex Sinaiticus compared with other sources

12:45-14:00 Lunch

14:00-15:30 Parallel sessions

The making and conserving of Codex Sinaiticus
Helen Shenton, The conservation of Codex Sinaiticus
Christopher Clarkson, Book-making in the fourth century
René Larsen, Parchment production in the fourth century

The scribes of Codex Sinaiticus
Dirk Jongkind, Scribal habits of Codex Sinaiticus
J. Verheyden, 'That awful scribe B' : some observations on the text of Hermas as compared to that of the Prophets
Peter Head, Scribe D in the New Testament of Codex Sinaiticus

15:30-16:00 Coffee

16:30-18:00 Experiencing Codex Sinaiticus
David Parker, The fourth century New Testament text of Codex Sinaiticus
Amy Myshrall and Rachel Kevern, Transcribing Codex Sinaiticus
Kristin de Troyer, Reading Judges for the first time
Klaus Wachtel, The corrected New Testament text of Codex Sinaiticus

18:15-19:00 Key note address
Eldon Epp, Codex Sinaiticus in modern Biblical scholarship

19:00-20:30 Reception and Exhibition

Tuesday, 7 July 2009

9:30-11:00 The New Finds
Archbishop Damianos, tbc
Panayotes Nikolopoulos, tbc
Father Justin, tbc

11:00-11:30 Coffee

11:30-13:00 Parallel sessions

The travels of Codex Sinaiticus
Christfried Böttrich, The history of 'Codex Sinaiticus'
Nicholas Fyssas, tbc
Ekaterina Krushelnitskaya, The St Petersburg fragments of Codex Sinaiticus : history, storage, publicity
William Frame, The British Museum purchase of Codex Sinaiticus

Reports on related projects
Ulrich Schmid, Citations of the Septuagint in their New Testament versions
Jan Krans, The digitisation of Codex Boreelianus
Juan Garcés, Codex Sinaiticus and the mass-digitisation of Greek manuscripts at the British Library

13:00-14:00 Lunch

14:00-15:30 Parallel sessions

Codex Sinaiticus and the history of biblical texts
Daniel Batovici, The Shepherd of Hermas in Codex Sinaiticus : textual and reception-historical
Juan Hernandez, Codex Sinaiticus : the earliest Christian commentary on John's Apocalypse ?
Albert Pietersma and Cameron Boyd-Taylor, The Psalms in Codex Sinaiticus

Codex Sinaiticus in the Present
Peter Robinson, Creating a 2st century edition of Codex Sinaiticus
Steve Walton, Codex Sinaiticus and its importance for contemporary Christianity

15:30-16:00 Final address
Ulrich Johannes Schneider, The future of Codex Sinaiticus

Registration

To register, please send a completed registration form and a cheque in pounds sterling (made payable to The British Library) to Gareth Burfoot, The British Library, 96 Euston Road, London NW1 2DB. Registration deadline is 26 June 2009.

Registration fees

Standard: £75
Students: £40
Coffee and tea, two sandwich lunches, a drinks reception on Monday evening will be provided.

For further information about the conference, please contact the Project Manager, Juan Garcés, via email (CodexSinaiticusConference@bl.uk) or phone (+44 (0)20 7412 7516).

Source : Codex Sinaiticus Project. Photo : Correction on Quire 36, folio 4 recto (Codex Sinaiticus Project).