Bible Hunter: Searching for the Original New Testament - Hardcover

Jurgen Gottschlich

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1908323477 ISBN 13: 9781908323477

Publisher: Haus Publishing Ltd, 2013

Synopsis

The Codex Sinaiticus is the oldest copy of the New Testament in existence, with a controversial and complex history. The Bible Hunter is the fascinating account of the manuscript s journey from the fourth century to its present digital incarnation in the British Library. The manuscript was originally discovered in 1844 by palaeographer and academic Constantin von Tischendorf. Driven by his obsession with the origins of the Bible to the Greek Orthodox Monastery of Saint Catherine in the Sinai Desert, he was said to have discovered the manuscript in a rubbish tip. Later, he managed to remove 49 of the 129 sheets of parchment from the monks protective guard, and, with the backing of Tsar Alexander II, organised the loan of the documents to the Imperial Library in St Petersburg, where they remained until 1933. Part travelogue, part historical study, part critique, The Bible Hunter interweaves several narrative strands, including the author s trip to Sinai, the history of the Bible and early Church and the lives and liturgies of the monks in the Monastery of Saint Catherine. This compelling study raises questions about the nature of scholarship, and about the complex issues of how and in particular where the treasures of Antiquity are best preserved and displayed.

About this title

About the Author

Jürgen Gottschlich is a German journalist. He co-founded the Taz newspaper in 1979 and in 1994 became editor-inchief of the Wochenpost.

Edition details

• Publisher: Haus Publishing Ltd
• Publication date: 2013
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1908323477
• ISBN 13: 9781908323477
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 220