MORE ON THE CODEX SINAITICUS PROJECT: That AP article I alluded to yesterday is out.

Scholars plan to reunite ancient Bible _ online

By RAPHAEL G. SATTER – 8 hours ago

LONDON (AP) — The oldest surviving copy of the New Testament, a 4th century version that had its Gospels and epistles spread across the world, is being made whole again — online.

The British Library says the full text of the Codex Sinaiticus will be available to Web users by next July, digitally reconnecting parts that are held in Britain, Russia, Germany and a monastery in Egypt's Sinai Desert.

A preview of the Codex, which also has some parts of the Old Testament, will hit the Web on Thursday — the Book of Psalms and the Gospel of Mark.

[...]

I am also quoted later in the piece, accurately, if telegraphically.

James Davila, a professor of early Jewish studies at St. Andrews University in Scotland, said the Codex also includes religious works foreign to the Roman Catholic and Protestant canons — such as the "Epistle of Barnabas" and the "Shepherd of Hermas," a book packed with visions and parables.

Davila stressed that did not mean the works were necessarily considered Scripture by early Christians: They could have been bound with the Bible to save money.

The point I was making was that, given the expense of producing a large codex like this, it would be understandable if the compilers of a Bible included some books that were considered valuable for reading in church, even if they didn't consider them scripture. That may explain the inclusion of the Epistle of Barnabas and the Shepherd of Hermas, although The Shepherd actually was considered scripture by some early Christians. But the fact that these two books come after the New Testament, at or near the end of the manuscript, supports the possibility that they were included as a non-scriptural appendix.

It's a good article. I look forward to seeing the preliminary site when it opens.