Are there ancient editions of Paul's letters?: The Euthalian apparatus as a storehouse of tradition.

Abstract

Nils Dahl was an omnivorous scholar, tackling questions related to the composition, redaction, theology, transmission, and history of the New Testament. One area that captured his attention (and the attention of his students and colleagues) was the Euthalian apparatus, a series of complicated and ubiquitous lists, cross-reference systems, biographical texts, and text divisions. Dahl saw the critical value of these traditions for understanding the early transmission of the Pauline corpus, hypothesizing that the material once comprised an official ancient edition connected to the library of Caesarea. This article takes a step back by first examining the flexibility of the Euthalian material in the manuscripts that preserve it, arguing that it is more valuable to understand these features in the context of transmission and reading as opposed to viewing the tradition as evidence for an ancient edition.