• Skip to content (access key 1)
  • Skip to search (access key 7)
FWF — Austrian Science Fund
  • Go to overview page Discover

    • Research Radar
    • Discoveries
      • Emmanuelle Charpentier
      • Adrian Constantin
      • Monika Henzinger
      • Ferenc Krausz
      • Wolfgang Lutz
      • Walter Pohl
      • Christa Schleper
      • Anton Zeilinger
    • scilog Magazine
    • Awards
      • FWF Wittgenstein Awards
      • FWF START Awards
    • excellent=austria
      • Clusters of Excellence
      • Emerging Fields
    • In the Spotlight
      • 40 Years of Erwin Schrödinger Fellowships
      • Quantum Austria
    • Dialogs and Talks
      • think.beyond Summit
    • E-Book Library
  • Go to overview page Funding

    • Portfolio
      • excellent=austria
        • Clusters of Excellence
        • Emerging Fields
      • Projects
        • Principal Investigator Projects
        • Principal Investigator Projects International
        • Clinical Research
        • 1000 Ideas
        • Arts-Based Research
        • FWF Wittgenstein Award
      • Careers
        • ESPRIT
        • FWF ASTRA Awards
        • Erwin Schrödinger
        • Elise Richter
        • Elise Richter PEEK
        • doc.funds
        • doc.funds.connect
      • Collaborations
        • Specialized Research Groups
        • Special Research Areas
        • Research Groups
        • International – Multilateral Initiatives
        • #ConnectingMinds
      • Communication
        • Top Citizen Science
        • Science Communication
        • Book Publications
        • Digital Publications
        • Open-Access Block Grant
      • Subject-Specific Funding
        • AI Mission Austria
        • Belmont Forum
        • ERA-NET HERA
        • ERA-NET NORFACE
        • ERA-NET QuantERA
        • ERA-NET TRANSCAN
        • Alternative Methods to Animal Testing
        • European Partnership Biodiversa+
        • European Partnership ERA4Health
        • European Partnership ERDERA
        • European Partnership EUPAHW
        • European Partnership FutureFoodS
        • European Partnership OHAMR
        • European Partnership PerMed
        • European Partnership Water4All
        • Gottfried and Vera Weiss Award
        • netidee SCIENCE
        • Herzfelder Foundation Projects
        • Quantum Austria
        • Rückenwind Funding Bonus
        • WE&ME Award
        • Zero Emissions Award
      • International Collaborations
        • Belgium/Flanders
        • Germany
        • France
        • Italy/South Tyrol
        • Japan
        • Luxembourg
        • Poland
        • Switzerland
        • Slovenia
        • Taiwan
        • Tyrol–South Tyrol–Trentino
        • Czech Republic
        • Hungary
    • Step by Step
      • Find Funding
      • Submitting Your Application
      • International Peer Review
      • Funding Decisions
      • Carrying out Your Project
      • Closing Your Project
      • Further Information
        • Integrity and Ethics
        • Inclusion
        • Applying from Abroad
        • Personnel Costs
        • PROFI
        • Final Project Reports
        • Final Project Report Survey
    • FAQ
      • Project Phase PROFI
        • Accounting for Approved Funds
        • Labor and Social Law
        • Project Management
      • Project Phase Ad Personam
        • Accounting for Approved Funds
        • Labor and Social Law
        • Project Management
      • Expiring Programs
        • FWF START Awards
  • Go to overview page About Us

    • Mission Statement
    • FWF Video
    • Values
    • Facts and Figures
    • Annual Report
    • What We Do
      • Research Funding
        • Matching Funds Initiative
      • International Collaborations
      • Studies and Publications
      • Equal Opportunities and Diversity
        • Objectives and Principles
        • Measures
        • Creating Awareness of Bias in the Review Process
        • Terms and Definitions
        • Your Career in Cutting-Edge Research
      • Open Science
        • Open Access Policy
          • Open Access Policy for Peer-Reviewed Publications
          • Open Access Policy for Peer-Reviewed Book Publications
          • Open Access Policy for Research Data
        • Research Data Management
        • Citizen Science
        • Open Science Infrastructures
        • Open Science Funding
      • Evaluations and Quality Assurance
      • Academic Integrity
      • Science Communication
      • Philanthropy
      • Sustainability
    • History
    • Legal Basis
    • Organization
      • Executive Bodies
        • Executive Board
        • Supervisory Board
        • Assembly of Delegates
        • Scientific Board
        • Juries
      • FWF Office
    • Jobs at FWF
  • Go to overview page News

    • News
    • Press
      • Logos
    • Calendar
      • Post an Event
      • FWF Informational Events
    • Job Openings
      • Enter Job Opening
    • Newsletter
  • Discovering
    what
    matters.

    FWF-Newsletter Press-Newsletter Calendar-Newsletter Job-Newsletter scilog-Newsletter

    SOCIAL MEDIA

    • LinkedIn, external URL, opens in a new window
    • Twitter, external URL, opens in a new window
    • Facebook, external URL, opens in a new window
    • Instagram, external URL, opens in a new window
    • YouTube, external URL, opens in a new window

    SCILOG

    • Scilog — The science magazine of the Austrian Science Fund (FWF)
  • elane login, external URL, opens in a new window
  • Scilog external URL, opens in a new window
  • de Wechsle zu Deutsch

  

The Sahidic Version of Gospel of John

The Sahidic Version of Gospel of John

Hans Förster (ORCID: 0000-0001-7457-1533)
  • Grant DOI 10.55776/P22017
  • Funding program Principal Investigator Projects
  • Status ended
  • Start January 1, 2010
  • End December 31, 2012
  • Funding amount € 223,989
  • Project website
  • E-mail

Disciplines

History, Archaeology (25%); Philosophy, Ethics, Religion (40%); Linguistics and Literature (35%)

Keywords

    New Testament, Textual Criticism, Gospel of John, Sahidic, Manuscripts, Editio Critica Maior

Abstract Final report

The Coptic version is the most important ancient translation of the New Testament. The Sahidic version is within this language for most of the Books of the New Testament (and also for the Gospel of John) outstanding. This is due to the age of the translation as well as the number of manuscripts attesting this text in this dialect. The Sahidic version belongs (on principle) to the Alexandrinian form of the text of the New Testament. It gives, however, witness to many important variants. The translation into Coptic started already around the end of the second century. However, manuscripts from the time before the end of the persecutions, that is from before the beginning of the 4th century, are very rare. Thus, the Coptic version might give witness to variants of the Greek text used for translation which are not preserved in any of the existing Greek manuscripts. Despite the importance of the Coptic version for the history of the text of the New Testament only very few books of the New Testament have been published as critical editions. A critical edition of the Gospel of John is still needed as well for Coptology as for New Testament Studies. The aim of the proposed project is to prepare for a critical edition of the Sahidic version of the Gospel of John. For this all known manuscripts of this text in the Sahidic dialect must be used, that is to say, six fully preserved manuscripts and approximately 190 fragmentary manuscripts. For these transcriptions an electronic publication is planned using the internet and presenting the text from the manuscripts interlinear. Furthermore, the proto-Bohairic and the Achmimic translations have to be used in this process. The interlinear presentation of all attested variants makes it possible to analyse critically the Greek version(s) which was (were) used in the process of translating the text of the Gospel of John into Coptic. This will also be published electronically. Furthermore, the results of the analysis of the Sahidic version of the Gospel of John will be published separately. The results of the proposed project are not only important for Coptology. They will also provide the Editio Critica Maior of the Gospel of John with most important data. The Editio Critica Maior uses all known Greek manuscripts of the New Testament as well as the ancient translations (Latin, Syriac and so forth) for the documentation of the textual variants. The Coptic version being the most important of the ancient translations of the New Testament must be included. The Editio Critica Maior of the Gospel of John will use the results of the work with the Sahidic version of the Gospel of John. Thus, the results of this project will immediately be available for all who work in the field of Biblical Studies.

The New Testament is the book that has been most often translated. Thus, establishing the best possible critical text as basis for all translations is important for theological research. The project contributes to this goal. It prepares the ground for a critical edition of the Sahidic version (i.e. the important dialect of the native tongue of Egypt from 2nd to the 10th century AD) of the Gospel of John. For this task the known Sahidic manuscripts which are witnesses to this Gospel have to be collated that is to say approximately some 180 manuscripts (many of the fragmentary) must be transcribed, the transcription checked and then collated. Of these roughly 60 % have been transcribed during the project. It is often the case that one of the old translations is a witness to a rare variant attested so far only in few Greek manuscripts. The research has therefore already been used for the critical apparatur of the Gospel of John in the 28th edition of the Novum Testamentum Graece. This research project is, however, not only a scholarly research important mostly for those who are concerned with arcane philological questions: It was possible during the current research to propose for one verse (John 11:12) a translation which is more verbal than the traditional translation of this verse. The starting point was a variant which is attested only in one Greek manuscript, but also in the entire Coptic (i.e. Egyptian) tradition. This shows that the research is not only for those important who are mostly interested in the Coptic version of the New Testament but has also influence for the Greek text the variant mentioned was deemed so far unreliable and in consequence even on a very small scale influence for the modern translations of this important text. The duration of the project was January 2010 till December 2012. A continuation project started in January 2013 (FWF-P25082).

Research institution(s)
  • Universität Wien - 100%
International project participants
  • Anne BoudHors, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique - France
  • Christoph Markschies, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin - Germany
  • Siegfried G. Richter, Universität Münster - Germany
  • David Parker, The University of Birmingham - United Kingdom

Research Output

  • 6 Citations
  • 28 Publications
Publications
  • 2016
    Title Re-editing "The Correspondence of Peter III Mongus, Patriarch of Alexandria, and Acacius. Patriarch of Constantinople" (Codex Vatican Copt. 62, ff. 62r-89r). A preliminary report
    DOI 10.5451/unibas-ep52832
    Type Other
    Author Mueller
    Link Publication
  • 2013
    Title „… damit ich dir deinen Lohn gebe“. Eine etwas andere Begegnung am leeren Grab (Joh 20, 15) in einer koptischen liturgischen Handschrift
    DOI 10.1553/micha18s91
    Type Journal Article
    Author Förster H
    Journal Mitteilungen zur Christlichen Archäologie
    Pages 91-100
  • 2013
    Title Die Perikope von der Hochzeit zu Kana ( Joh 2:1-11) im Kontext der Spätantike
    DOI 10.1163/15685365-12341420
    Type Journal Article
    Author Förster H
    Journal Novum Testamentum
    Pages 103-126
    Link Publication
  • 2013
    Title Geheime Schriften und geheime Lehren?
    DOI 10.1515/znw-2013-0005
    Type Journal Article
    Author Förster H
    Journal Zeitschrift für die Neutestamentliche Wissenschaft und die Kunde der älteren Kirche
    Pages 118-145
    Link Publication
  • 2012
    Title Edition. „Siehe, Magier kamen aus dem Osten“: Eine Paraphrase der Magier-Perikope aus dem Matthäusevangelium (Mt 2,1-12)
    DOI 10.1515/zac-2012-0024
    Type Journal Article
    Author Förster H
    Journal Zeitschrift für Antikes Christentum / Journal of Ancient Christianity
    Pages 399-422
    Link Publication
  • 2012
    Title review of: H. Lundhaug, Images of Rebirth.
    Type Book Chapter
    Author Cognitive Poetics And Transformational Soteriology In The Gospel Of Philip And The Exegesis On The Soul
  • 2012
    Title review of: F. Zeilinger, Die sieben Zeichenhandlungen Jesu im Johannesevangelium.
    Type Journal Article
    Author Förster H
    Journal Theologische Revue
  • 2010
    Title review of: T. S. Richter, Rechtssemantik und forensische Rhetorik. Untersuchungen zu Wortschatz, Stil und Grammatik der Sprache koptischer Rechtsurkunden. 2. überarbeitete Auflage, Harrassowitz, Wiesbaden 2008.
    Type Journal Article
    Author Förster H
    Journal Savigny-Zeitschrift für Rechtsgeschichte
  • 2010
    Title Zur Bedeutung von ??G?C im Prolog des Judasevangeliums
    DOI 10.1515/zac.2010.26
    Type Journal Article
    Author Förster H
    Journal Zeitschrift für Antikes Christentum / Journal of Ancient Christianity
    Pages 487-495
    Link Publication
  • 2010
    Title Koptische Briefe und ihre Themen.
    Type Book Chapter
    Author C. Kreuzsaler / B. Palme / A. Zdiarsky (Hgg.)
  • 2010
    Title review of: E. E. Popkes, Das Menschenbild des Thomasevangeliums.
    Type Journal Article
    Author Förster H
    Journal Untersuchungen zu seiner religionsgeschichtlichen und chronologischen Einordnung, WUNT 206, Tübingen 2007, JCoptS 12
  • 2010
    Title review of: J. Lössl, The Early Church. History and Memory.
    Type Journal Article
    Author Förster H
  • 2010
    Title review of: A. Delattre / P. Heilporn, "Et maintenant ce ne sont plus que des villages" Thèbes et sa région aux époques hellénistique, romaine et Byzantine.
    Type Conference Proceeding Abstract
    Author Förster H
    Conference Actes du colloque tenu à Bruxelles les 2 et 3 décembre 2005, Bruxelles: Association Égyptologique Reine Élisabeth 2008, JCoptS 12
  • 2010
    Title Zur Stellvertretung in koptischen Texten: Das eire mitrosopon und seine griechischen Vorlagen.
    Type Journal Article
    Author Förster H
    Journal Savigny-Zeitschrift für Rechtsgeschichte
  • 2010
    Title review of: Alden A. Mosshammer, The Easter Computus and the Origins of the Christian Era, Ox- ford (Oxford University Press) 2008.
    Type Journal Article
    Author Förster H
  • 2011
    Title Johannes 11:11-14—ein typisches johanneisches Missverständnis?
    DOI 10.1163/156853611x589633
    Type Journal Article
    Author Förster H
    Journal Novum Testamentum
    Pages 338-357
  • 2011
    Title review of: K. M. Girardet, Der Kaiser und sein Gott. Das Christentum im Denken und in der Religionspolitik Konstantins des Großen (Millennium-Studien zur Kultur und Geschichte des ersten Jahrtausends n. Chr. 27), De Gruyter: Berlin, New York 2010.
    Type Journal Article
    Author Förster H
  • 2011
    Title review of: D. Moschos, Eschatologie im ägyptischen Mönchtum.
    Type Journal Article
    Author Förster H
    Journal Die Rolle christlicher eschatologischer Denkvarianten in der Geschichte des frühen ägyptischen Mönchtums und seiner sozialen Funktion, Mohr Siebeck: Tübingen 2010 (Studien und Texte zu Antike und Christentum 59), JCoptS 13
  • 2011
    Title review of: R. S. Bagnall, Early Christian Books in Egypt, Princeton (Princeton University Press) 2009, 109 S.
    Type Journal Article
    Author Förster H
  • 2010
    Title „Streck dich nicht mit einer Verheirateten zum Weingelage hin“ (Sir 9,9a) Edition von P.Vindob. K. 9670
    DOI 10.1515/zac.2010.14
    Type Journal Article
    Author Förster H
    Journal Zeitschrift für Antikes Christentum / Journal of Ancient Christianity
    Pages 273-305
    Link Publication
  • 2012
    Title P.Pintaudi 66: Ein weiterer Beleg für das Kloster der Salamiten im Hermopolites. Edition von P. Vindob. K. 4722.
    Type Book Chapter
    Author D. Minutoli (Hg.)
  • 2011
    Title review of: B. Green, Christianity in Ancient Rome. The First Three Centuries , T&T Clark International: London, New York 2010, IX + 258 S.
    Type Journal Article
    Author Förster H
  • 2011
    Title I. Trat um das Jahr 328 ein unmündiges Kind entgegen dem elterlichen Willen in das Kloster des Pachomius ein?
    DOI 10.7767/zrgka.2011.97.1.1
    Type Journal Article
    Author Förster H
    Journal Zeitschrift der Savigny-Stiftung für Rechtsgeschichte: Kanonistische Abteilung
    Pages 1-19
  • 2012
    Title Transitus Mariae.
    Type Book Chapter
    Author C. Markschies / J. Schröter (Hrsgg.)
  • 2012
    Title review of: Samuel Moawad, Untersuchungen zum Panegyrikos auf Makarios von Tkoou und zu seiner Überlieferung.
    Type Journal Article
    Author Förster H
  • 2012
    Title review of: S. Bucking, Practice Makes Perfect.
    Type Journal Article
    Author Förster H
    Journal P. Cotsen-Princeton 1 and the Training of Scribes in Byzantine Egypt, Cottsen Occasional Press: Los Angeles 2011, JCoptS 14
  • 2012
    Title Die Arbeit an der sahidischen Version des Johannesevangeliums im Kontext der gegenwärtigen Forschung.
    Type Journal Article
    Author Förster H
    Journal Amt und Gemeinde
  • 2012
    Title review of: C. Colpe, Einleitung in die Schriften aus Nag Hammadi. Münster: Aschendorff 2011. 368 S. (Jerusalemer Theologisches Forum 16).
    Type Journal Article
    Author Förster H
    Journal Theologische Revue

Discovering
what
matters.

Newsletter

FWF-Newsletter Press-Newsletter Calendar-Newsletter Job-Newsletter scilog-Newsletter

Contact

Austrian Science Fund (FWF)
Georg-Coch-Platz 2
(Entrance Wiesingerstraße 4)
1010 Vienna

office(at)fwf.ac.at
+43 1 505 67 40

General information

  • Job Openings
  • Jobs at FWF
  • Press
  • Philanthropy
  • scilog
  • FWF Office
  • Social Media Directory
  • LinkedIn, external URL, opens in a new window
  • Twitter, external URL, opens in a new window
  • Facebook, external URL, opens in a new window
  • Instagram, external URL, opens in a new window
  • YouTube, external URL, opens in a new window
  • Cookies
  • Whistleblowing/Complaints Management
  • Accessibility Statement
  • Data Protection
  • Acknowledgements
  • Social Media Directory
  • © Österreichischer Wissenschaftsfonds FWF
© Österreichischer Wissenschaftsfonds FWF