Testimonies: Volume 1

by J. Rendel Harris

Overview

In this two-volume work, J. Rendel Harris (1852–1941) fundamentally shaped Biblical scholarship in the twentieth century, arguing for the existence of a 'first known treatise on Christian theology', antedating the New Testament. A palaeographer, Harris examined recurring textual corruptions of Old Testament passages in early Christian writers and surmised an underlying collection, which he called the 'Testimony Book'. The book, Harris believed, collected Biblical testimonia – passages prophesying Christ – in order to prove the legitimacy of the new Christian faith. These arguments against Judaic theology marked, in Harris's opinion, the beginnings of the Christian written tradition. Volume 1 (1916) lays the groundwork for Harris's argument by examining the use of testimonia in early Christian writers like Cyprian and Gregory of Nyssa. 'The starting point of the modern study of the use of the Old Testament in the New', this is a work of enduring importance to religion scholars.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781108039697
Publisher:	Cambridge University Press
Publication date:	12/22/2011
Series:	Cambridge Library Collection - Religion Series
Pages:	150
Product dimensions:	5.51(w) x 8.50(h) x 0.35(d)

Table of Contents

Introduction; 1. The use of testimonies in the early Christian Church; 2. Further proofs of the antiquity of the Testimony Book; 3. An emendation to I Peter ii.8; 4. A further note on Testimonies in Barnabas; 5. Testimonies against the Mohammedans; 6. 'Spoken by Jeremy the Prophet'; 7. Irenaeus and the Book of Testimonies; 8. Lactantius and the Book of Testimonies; 9. Athanasius and the Book of Testimonies; 10. The altercation between Simon the Jew and Theophilus the Christian; 11. The Didascalia Jacobi; 12. Last traces of the Testimony Book; 13. A further proof of the Matthaean origin of the Book of Testimonies; 14. Professor Burkitt and the Testimonia; 15. An anonymous writer on the Oracles of Papias; Index.