![]() The name ‘Mary’ has been changed to ‘Martha’ at John 11:21. The most obvious one is what we have at Duke. When you say ‘a problem around Martha,’ what precisely do you mean? I believe that’s why this evidence was overlooked previously. You have to look at over 200 manuscripts at once to see this trend only recently have hundreds of transcriptions of the Gospel of John been made available simultaneously online. There’s too much manuscript evidence, where problems appear around Martha in nearly every scene in John in which she appears. But I do not believe she belongs in the Gospel of John. I’m not arguing that Martha didn’t exist - she definitely belongs in the Gospel of Luke. I’m arguing that Mary Magdalene’s original role in the Fourth Gospel has been divvied up, so that she now appears as three women in John. To be clear, you’re arguing that Martha was not originally in the Gospel of John but has been added as a way to replace Mary Magdalene? If the editors decide to update the printed initial text or the critical apparatus based (at least in part) on my work, it would be a formal acknowledgement for all scholars of the New Testament that there is a problem with Martha in the textual transmission of John. If they cite your research, what does that mean? You’re meeting in July with editors for the Nestle-Aland and UBS Greek New Testament, which publishes new pocket editions for scholars with footnotes and updates based on ongoing scholarly interpretation of the Bible. ![]() Here, she discusses her work with Duke Today. Schrader’s findings may warrant a mention in the critical apparatus that will accompany the edition under preparation now. The Nestle-Aland New Testament is regularly updated to reflect the most up-to-date knowledge in the field about the earliest recoverable text. ![]() In July, Schrader will visit the editors of the Nestle-Aland New Testament, the edition of the Greek text used by most scholars, students, and translators today and also employed in United Bible Societies’ editions. Schrader understands her claim is provocative because it could undermine foundational assumptions about the Gospel of John, one of four gospels of the Christian Bible.īut some Biblical scholars are intrigued. ![]() “That alone is important - and she is the first to put the pieces of this puzzle together.” “Elizabeth has called attention to a problematic and significant variant in an urgent new way,” said Jennifer Knust, a Duke religious studies professor and Schrader’s doctoral advisor. Schrader’s findings were published in the scholarly journal Harvard Theological Review two years ago since then, she’s found even more evidence supporting her core claim that the text of John was altered early on, including one 12 th-century manuscript in Duke’s Rubenstein Library archives where ‘Mary’ has again been replaced by ‘Martha.” (Martha is a biblical figure described in the Gospel of Luke.) The discovery, Schrader argues, points to a deliberate minimizing of the legacy of Mary Magdalene, the controversial follower of Jesus who witnessed his death, burial and resurrection. She did so by poring over hundreds of transcriptions of these manuscripts that represent the work of so many scribes who hand-copied versions of the Bible some of these scribes made slight changes along the way. This discovery was the first of many that Schrader, now a Duke doctoral student in religion, would make. Duke doctoral student Elizabeth Schrader explains the subtle inconsistencies she found in the 12th-century manuscript in Duke’s Rubenstein Library.
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