About this blog

Welcome to my blog!  I’m interested in the ancient world, and the early Christians within it; in the ancient texts and the manuscripts in which these reach us; and in the free circulation of information about all this online.

Finding related posts

I use WordPress tags to link related posts together.  Look for these at the end of each post, and click on the link to see all posts with that tag.

About me, and why I write this blog

Back in 1997 I started the Tertullian Project website.  While compiling this, I kept coming across English translations of works by the early Christians which were not already online.  I reasoned that no-one would scan them unless I did; and so I became the editor of the Additional Fathers collection.

In many cases, I was led to search out the full text by the use of “quotations” in anti-Christian polemic online.  This has often tried to show that the Fathers advocated something or other which sounds damaging, using selective (mis)quotation.   This encouraged me to scan complete texts and place them online.

Over the last decade Google Books and Archive.org altered the situation greatly.  I no longer scan so much material.  Instead I have concentrated on material where no English translation exists, and on finding ways to make or to commission such translations.  Sometimes making a translation from French or Italian is valuable, if non-scholarly, because so many people can’t read either.

I’ve published two books, translations of Eusebius of Caesarea’s Gospel Problems and Solutions and Origen of Alexandria’s Exegetical Works on Ezekiel, and the process of producing them has occupied many blog posts.  I’ll make both of these available online freely once they have sold whatever they are going to sell – the first is already online.  I will publish no more books, though.

There are texts which only exist in the obscure Oriental languages like Armenian, Coptic, Syriac, Arabic, etc.  Few look at these, but precious snippets about antiquity survive in them.   So someone like myself can help to open up these fields by making these available.

Arabic Christian studies is little known. Yet we find “quotes” which get used for anti-Christian polemic that derive from it, at many removes.  One that has interested me is “Mithras said that he who does not eat my body and drink my blood will not know salvation, so this proves Mithras = Jesus”.  Looking into this one has involved commissioning translations of Arabic and Karshuni texts.  People talk about the Testimonium Flavianum of Agapius.  Yet the big five histories — Agapius, Eutychius, Bar Hebraeus Book of the dynasties, al-Makin, and … I can’t even remember the other one! … do not exist in English.  When I look at Agapius, I don’t actually find any Testimonium!  al-Makin doesn’t even exist in print in any language, not even in Arabic.  I am translating Eutychius from the Italian.  Perhaps one day someone will make a translation from the Arabic.

While looking at these obscure writings, I became interested in the question of how ancient texts physically reach us, in surviving ancient and medieval hand-written copies — manuscripts.  I have compiled notes on what manuscripts exist for various ancient texts here.

I am a committed Christian.  I make the occasional post here on contemporary Christian issues.  Issues of apologetics that relate to ancient history are always interesting, and have led me to research some obscure corners of knowledge.  Longer ago I wrote on free speech online a little, but I ceased to do so many years ago.  That battle has been lost, and I have no interest in the politics today associated with that label.

There is also a series of posts “From my diary”, which gives a picture of things that I am doing connected with the topics of this blog.  If I think it would be of general interest, I blog about it.

I hesitated a long time on what to call my blog.  In the end I chose simply to give it my name.  After all, what other common thread is there?  It records things that I found of interest, and what I am doing.  I hope that you will find some of this interesting too.  I hope to promote learning and knowledge, to leave the world a little better than I found it, to open up areas of learning which receive insufficient attention, and to let us all access them!  I hope to serve the Lord Jesus Christ in so doing.

Comments

Now let me finish with a word about comments policy.  Your comments are welcome.  But I do things a bit differently here.

On many blogs, comments are really not moderated much, and the ranting and raving in them is not of any importance.  But on this blog the comments often add extra information, or offer additional discussion; and that is how I want it to be.

The comments that I like are (e.g.) those that encourage me in what I am doing, or inform me or others, or are otherwise interesting.  The comments that I don’t like are trolls, or from quarrelsome people.  I prefer comments to be on-topic, broadly.  But if in doubt … please go ahead!

However I would ask that all commenters remember that this is my personal blog, not a public forum? — You have no right to expect that I publish whatever anybody sends.

The way I think about the comments on this blog is this: Think of your comment as if you were leaning over my shoulder and writing in the margin of my diary.  I won’t let people scribble stuff in the margin that doesn’t add anything, or, worse, annoys me.  And … if you really badly want to say something which doesn’t fall within these limits, about me or anything else, then why not start your own blog?  WordPress.com or Blogger.com will allow you to set up your own blog for free!

Update (June 2014): Note that your first comment will now be held for moderation, but that you can comment freely once I have “approved” that.  This is purely to prevent spam.  If your comment just vanishes, you can always pop me a note through the contact form and tell me that it’s there.  Sometimes WordPress goes a bit funny and puts a load of legitimate comments in spam, and of course I know nothing of it.