Tonight we covered the period of history known as the "Period of Duplication" (AD 50-325). It was the time shortly after the original New Testament documents were penned by the authors. Here are the highlights from our lesson.
- Christianity was growing in the Roman empire.
- As a result of the persecution imposed on the new Christian generation by their Roman rulers, the copying process was increased to preserve accepted documents.
- There was a need for copies of the "gospels" and letters of the apostles.
- The original autographs were copied, copied, and copied some more. The copying was performed by professional scribes and laymen alike.
- None of the original autographs, or original documents penned by the authors, are extant. (We don't have any of the originals. They either no longer exist or have not been found.)
- What exists for this period of time are;
- manuscript fragments, the earliest of which has been dated to the early 2nd century (approx. 117 to 125 AD)
- "patristic writings", or writings of the "Church Fathers". In those writings they quote from our current 27 books so much that it is possible to reconstruct our modern New Testament from their writings alone, save for 11 verses.
- The presence of manuscript pieces from this period attest to the fact of an autograph, or original writing. Those same manuscript pieces attest to the writings of almost all our accepted New Testament books.
The next period we will discuss is the "Period of Standardization". (AD 325 to 1500) In preparation for the study I encourage you to research this question.
- Explain the impact Emperor Constantine had on New Testament manuscript production and dispersion.
For those who wish to dig deeper, I encourage you to do the following. Explain the following as it pertains to New Testament manuscripts.
- The state of Christianity
- Cultural influences
- Political influences
- Copying and distribution practices
Blessings!
See you next week.
Ricky
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