J. Gresham Machen Bibliography

RECENT LITERATURE

entered an African element—thought to constitute the basal element; a Vulgate element—which came in as early as the first corrector, who was identical with the original scribe; and a large intermediate elė- ment common to the two forms. This conclusion is expressed briefly in the words of the editor (p. xli): “Quae cum ita sint, miram ecquidem hanc codicis gut structuram ita compositam esse censeo, ut genuina illa versio antiquissima Africana, quam codici pro fundamento subesse demonstravi, iam ante s. Hieronymi aetatem ad exemplaria veteris familiae ‘Italicae’ sive ‘Europaeae’, postea etiam ad exemplaria Hier- onymiana sive pura sive mixta pedetemptim emendaretur atque adeo misceretur.” In calling attention to the improper forms (“Lectiones praecipuas nomino inconcinnas”) of the Codex, the editor seems to favor the view that the Old Latin Version is dependent on the early Syriac (pp. xlixf) and had its origin in Rome where Justin and Tatian afford points of contact with Palestine and Syria. The question concerning the rela- tion of the Diatessaron to the early Syriac Version is indeed raised in this connection, but the editor dismisses it with the promise of return to it in the future. For a more detailed consideration of some of the issues in regard to the Irish codices and their relation to the Old Latin and the Vulgate, reference may here be made to F. C. Burkitt’s discussion in The Journal of Theological Studies, Vol. xi, 1909-10, pp. 607-611. Princeton. WILLIAM P. ARMSTRONG.

SELECTIONS FROM THE GREEK PAPYRI edited with Translations and Notes by GEORGE MILLIGAN, D.D., Minister of Caputh, Perthshire. Cambridge: at the University Press. 1910. Pp. xxxii, 152.

In his commentary on the Thessalonian Epistles (see PRINCETON THELOGICAL REVIEW, Vol. vii, pp. 126-131), Dr. Milligan made the first systematic use of the non-literary papyri in the exegesis of a continuous portion of the New Testament. The papyrus parallels which were there cited are highly interesting. But mere citations always seem artificial; citations are most illuminating when one discovers them for himself. Even Dr. Milligan’s instructive notes cannot, therefore, take the place of an actual perusal of the papyri themselves. But how shall the papyri be read? Papyrus publications have become very extensive and very numerous, and some of them contain little more than an arid waste of accounts and receipts and the like. No doubt the philologian can discover interesting matter even in the dullest list of names, but such interest is an acquired taste. Dr. Milligan’s “Selections from the Greek Papyri” is, therefore, a timely book. By bringing together fifty-five of the most interesting papyri, it will stimulate interest among a much wider circle than would ever be reached by the larger publications. Even New Testament students will be Dr. Milligan’s debtors. For the field of New Testament study has become so large that specialization is necessary even within its limits. Some of the most interesting of Dr. Milligan’s selections

would perhaps have escaped the notice of all New Testament students except those who are giving special attention to the new materials. With Dr. Milligan’s volume should be compared Witkowski’s Epis- tulae Privatae Graecae, which appeared in the Teubner series in 1906. No doubt Witkowski’s book may serve somewhat the same purpose as that which Dr. Milligan has in view. But neither work comes into competition with the other. Witkowski gives all the private letters of the Ptolemaic period that had been published up to 1905, Dr. Milligan does not confine himself to letters or to the Ptolemaic period and does not aim at completeness within any one category. The addition of a translation to every papyrus text makes Dr. Milligan’s work much more useful than Witkowski’s as an introduction to the study of the papyri. Perhaps in view of the general ignorance of the popular form of the Koiné which still prevails among students of Greek, a greater fulness in the notes would not have been undesirable. The brief intro- ductions to the several texts, however, are just what was required. The book should certainly be commended heartily to every student of the New Testament. Wearied by some of the rhapsodies of Deiss- mann, we might almost be tempted to lose sight of the solid value of the new texts for New Testament study. But even a few hours spent with Dr. Milligan’s selections will save us from such an error. In the first place, the remarkable linguistic affinity existing between the New Testament and the newly discovered monuments of the popular Greek of the Koiné period becomes more clearly apparent through a general impression derived from reading than through a comparison of details. In the second place, the value of the new texts is by no means confined to the linguistic sphere. Not the literature of the period, but the papyri introduce us to the actual daily life of the com- mon people; and it was the common people, or at any rate the real people as distinguished from the artificial characters of literature, to which the religion of the New Testament made its first appeal. Princeton. J. GRESHAM MACHEN.

HORAE SYNOPTICAE: CONTRIBUTIONS TO THE STUDY OF THE SYNOPTIC PROBLEM. By the REV. SIR JOHN C. HAWKINS, Bart. M.A., D.D. Second Edition, Revised and Supplemented. Oxford: Clarendon Press. 1909. Pp. xvi, 223.

Eleven years have passed since the first edition of this book was issued. Years in which the modest claim of the sub-title has been abundantly justified. Horae Synopticae has been used by every serious worker in the problem of the origin of the Gospels. Allen in the preface to his St. Matthew alludes to it as the “invaluable com- panion of every student of the Gospels.” It is mentioned in the bibliography of every dictionary article. It is recommended by pro- fessors to their students. Sir John Hawkins has reason for great gratification over the usefulness of his book in the first edition. The second edition will be used even more widely. At the end of this period of eleven years, the Two-Document