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The Reading Culture of Early Christianity

Papyrus 20 (in the Gregory-Aland numbering), designated by P²⁰, is an early copy of the New Testament in Greek. It is a papyrus manuscript of the Epistle of James, but it only contains Chapters 2:19-3:9. The manuscript has been paleographically assigned to the late 2nd century.

Papyrus P²⁰

Epistle of James 3:3–3:9 on verso side
Name	P. Oxy. 1171
Text	Epistle of James 2-3 †
Date	175-200 A.D.
Script	Greek
Found	Egypt
Now at	Princeton University Library
Cite	B. P. Grenfell & A. S. Hunt, Oxyrhynchus Papyri IX, (London 1912), pp. 9-11
Size	11.5 by 4.5 cm
Type	Alexandrian text-type
Category	I

Description

The original size of the leaves was 17 by 12 cm.

The text is neatly written in upright semi-cursive letters. The main Nomina Sacra are used, but πατηρ / pater / father and ανθρωπος / anthropos/man are written out in full.

The Greek text of this codex is representative of the Alexandrian text type (rather proto-Alexandrian). Aland placed it in Category I. This manuscript shows the greatest agreement with Codex Sinaiticus and Vaticanus, but not with codices Ephraemi, Regius, and other late Alexandrian manuscripts.

Philip Comfort has stated that the scribe who wrote P²⁰ was also the same scribe who wrote P²⁷, where the Greek letters α, β, δ, ε, λ, ι, μ, ν, ο, π, ρ, σ, ψ, υ, φ, ω are formed identically in both manuscripts. Comfort adds, “The handwriting has many similarities with P. Egerton 4 (2 Chronicles) of the third century, and even more so with P27, which may be the work of the same scribe.”—Philip Wesley Comfort and David P. Barrett, The Text of the Earliest New Testament Greek Manuscripts (Wheaton, IL: Tyndale House, 2001), 106–107.

It is currently housed at the Princeton University Library (AM 4117) in Princeton.

REFERENCES

ALAND, KURT; ALAND, BARBARA (1995). THE TEXT OF THE NEW TESTAMENT: AN INTRODUCTION TO THE CRITICAL EDITIONS AND TO THE THEORY AND PRACTICE OF MODERN TEXTUAL CRITICISM. ERROLL F. RHODES (TRANS.). GRAND RAPIDS: WILLIAM B. EERDMANS PUBLISHING COMPANY. P. 97. ISBN 978-0-8028-4098-1.
B. P. Grenfell & A. S. Hunt, Oxyrhynchus Papyri IX, (London, 1912), p. 9.
COMFORT, PHILIP W.; DAVID P. BARRETT (2001). THE TEXT OF THE EARLIEST NEW TESTAMENT GREEK MANUSCRIPTS. WHEATON, ILLINOIS: TYNDALE HOUSE PUBLISHERS. P. 106. ISBN 978-0-8423-5265-9.
“LISTE HANDSCHRIFTEN”. MÜNSTER: INSTITUTE FOR NEW TESTAMENT TEXTUAL RESEARCH. RETRIEVED 23 AUGUST 2011.