Tatian's Diatessaron
Composition, Redaction, Recension, and Reception
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Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 9780192844583
Number of Pages: 168
Published: 28/10/2021
Width: 16.5 cm
Height: 24.1 cm
In the late-second century, Tatian the Assyrian constructed a new Gospel by intricately harmonizing Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. Tatian's work became known as the Diatessaron, since it was derived 'out of the four' eventually canonical Gospels. Though it circulated widely for centuries, the Diatessaron disappeared in antiquity. Nevertheless, numerous ancient and medieval harmonies survive in various languages. Some texts are altogether independent of the Diatessaron, while others are definitely related. Yet even Tatian's known descendants differ in large and small ways, so attempts at reconstruction have proven confounding. In this book James W. Barker forges a new path in Diatessaron studies.
Covering the widest array of manuscript evidence to date, Tatian's Diatessaron reconstructs the compositional and editorial practices by which Tatian wrote his Gospel. By sorting every extant witnesses according to its narrative sequence, the macrostructure of Tatian's Gospel becomes clear. Despite many shared agreements, there remain significant divergences between eastern and western witnesses. This book argues that the eastern ones preserve Tatian's order, whereas the western texts descend from a fourth-century recension of the Diatessaron. Victor of Capua and his scribe used the recension to produce the Latin Codex Fuldensis in the sixth century. More controversially, Barker offers new evidence that late medieval texts such as the Middle Dutch Stuttgart harmony independently preserve traces of the western recension. This study uncovers the composition and reception history behind one of early Christianity's most elusive texts.
Introduction
1: An Overview of Diatessaron Witnesses
2: Tatian's Compositional Practices
3: Characteristics of the Diatessaron's Sequence
4: Quintessential Changes in the Western Archetype
5: The Priority of Codex Fuldensis
6: The Priority of the Stuttgart-Liège-Zurich Harmonies
7: The Western Archetype as a Sufficient Hypothesis
Conclusion
Appendix: Comparison of Sequences of the Arabic Harmony, Stuttgart-Liège-Zurich
Harmonies, and Codex Fuldensis
Barker has familiarized himself with dozens of manuscript witnesses in Latin, Dutch, German, English, and Italian dialects from microfilms and digital images, many of them unpublished. This is a huge step toward having an informed discussion about extant medieval Western harmony sources and their filiation. Barker is to be praised and applauded for making this effort. * Ulrich B. Schmid, Kirchlichen Hochschule Wuppertal/Bethel, Review of Biblical Literature *