Luke in Codex Bezae (PhD Thesis) • Bob Welch

PhD Dissertation: Abstract
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Luke in Codex Bezae: A Jewish Approach to Interpreting the Bible in the Gospel of Luke is an analysis of Jewish hermeneutics used in the NT especially a pattern of redactional doublets within the early 5th CE Greek-Latin bilingual New Testament manuscript of Codex Bezae (D), specifically in the Gospel of Luke. Seven doublets, as well as other very interesting variants, are examined in comparison with Codex Vaticanus (B). As background, the aspects of possible harmonization, prophetical interpretation during the Second Temple Period, intertextuality/internarrativity and use of the Elijah/Elisha motif, and presumably with Jewish rabbinical hermeneutics, support the conclusion that these patterns align in proof of argument for Luke’s Jewish background and are representative of the author/redactor’s controlling hermeneutic. The conclusions of this study reveal that this pattern is prophetical/affirmational in agreement with the aforementioned methodology during the period of the exemplar.
 
Luke in Codex Bezae by Dr. Bob Welch looks at the Bezan (D) manuscript of the Gospel of Luke, focusing on repeated text and its meaning, themes of prophecy, judgement, repentance and obedience to God. Dr. Welch examines the influence of Hillel and Ishmael’s Jewish hermeneutical rules, particularly in the context of the biblical manuscript Codex Bezae (D05), which employs more intricate Jewish literary and exegetical techniques than the Alexandrian Text (AT), showing a web of allusions to Jewish Scriptures in both the Hebrew Masoretic text and the Greek Septuagint. Could the text of Codex Bezae be much older than we thought? Perhaps even the earliest of all the Lukan textual traditions? Dr. Welch invites us to explore the world of the Spirit at work through prophets and writers. We can participate in that world through the same prophetic Spirit of peace. – Ralf Lubs