Francis Crawford Burkitt
Encyclopedia
Francis Crawford Burkitt (3 September 1864–1935) was a British theologian and scholar. He was Norris Professor of Divinity at the University of Cambridge
, from 1905 until shortly before his death. Burkitt was a sturdy critic of the notion of a distinct "Caesarean Text
" of the New Testament
put forward by B. H. Streeter and others.
He was educated at Harrow School
and Trinity College, Cambridge
, where he read mathematics, graduating B.A.
as 28th Wrangler (University of Cambridge) in 1886, and gained a first-class in the theological tripos
in 1888.
Burkitt accompanied Robert Bensly
, James Rendel Harris
, and sisters Agnes and Margaret Smith
on the 1893 expedition to Saint Catherine's Monastery, Mount Sinai
to examine a Syriac
palimpsest
of the Gospels discovered there the previous year by the two sisters. Burkitt played an important role in deciphering the text, and in subsequent publication of the team's findings.
Burkett was a noted figure at Cambridge in 1912–35 for his chairmanship of the Cambridge New Testament Seminar, attended by other prominent theologians, including Robert Newton Flew
, who left an account of it in an obituary for Burkitt in the Proceedings of the British Academy..
University of Cambridge
The University of Cambridge is a public research university located in Cambridge, United Kingdom. It is the second-oldest university in both the United Kingdom and the English-speaking world , and the seventh-oldest globally...
, from 1905 until shortly before his death. Burkitt was a sturdy critic of the notion of a distinct "Caesarean Text
Caesarean text-type
Caesarean text-type is the term proposed by certain scholars to denote a consistent pattern of variant readings that is claimed to be apparent in certain Greek manuscripts of the four Gospels, but which is not found in any of the other commonly recognized New Testament text-types; the Byzantine...
" of the New Testament
New Testament
The New Testament is the second major division of the Christian biblical canon, the first such division being the much longer Old Testament....
put forward by B. H. Streeter and others.
He was educated at Harrow School
Harrow School
Harrow School, commonly known simply as "Harrow", is an English independent school for boys situated in the town of Harrow, in north-west London.. The school is of worldwide renown. There is some evidence that there has been a school on the site since 1243 but the Harrow School we know today was...
and Trinity College, Cambridge
Trinity College, Cambridge
Trinity College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. Trinity has more members than any other college in Cambridge or Oxford, with around 700 undergraduates, 430 graduates, and over 170 Fellows...
, where he read mathematics, graduating B.A.
Bachelor of Arts
A Bachelor of Arts , from the Latin artium baccalaureus, is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate course or program in either the liberal arts, the sciences, or both...
as 28th Wrangler (University of Cambridge) in 1886, and gained a first-class in the theological tripos
Tripos
The University of Cambridge, England, divides the different kinds of honours bachelor's degree by Tripos , plural Triposes. The word has an obscure etymology, but may be traced to the three-legged stool candidates once used to sit on when taking oral examinations...
in 1888.
Burkitt accompanied Robert Bensly
Robert Lubbock Bensly
Robert Lubbock Bensly was an English Orientalist.He was educated at King's College London, and Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge, studied in Germany, and was appointed reader in Hebrew at Gonville and Caius College 1863...
, James Rendel Harris
J. Rendel Harris
James Rendel Harris was an English biblical scholar and curator of manuscripts, who was instrumental in bringing back to light many Syriac Scriptures and other early documents...
, and sisters Agnes and Margaret Smith
Agnes and Margaret Smith
Agnes Smith Lewis PhD LLD DD LittD and Margaret Dunlop Gibson LLD DD LittD , nées Agnes and Margaret Smith , were Semitic scholars...
on the 1893 expedition to Saint Catherine's Monastery, Mount Sinai
Saint Catherine's Monastery, Mount Sinai
Saint Catherine's Monastery lies on the Sinai Peninsula, at the mouth of a gorge at the foot of Mount Sinai in the city of Saint Catherine in Egypt's South Sinai Governorate. The monastery is Orthodox and is a UNESCO World Heritage Site...
to examine a Syriac
Syriac language
Syriac is a dialect of Middle Aramaic that was once spoken across much of the Fertile Crescent. Having first appeared as a script in the 1st century AD after being spoken as an unwritten language for five centuries, Classical Syriac became a major literary language throughout the Middle East from...
palimpsest
Palimpsest
A palimpsest is a manuscript page from a scroll or book from which the text has been scraped off and which can be used again. The word "palimpsest" comes through Latin palimpsēstus from Ancient Greek παλίμψηστος originally compounded from πάλιν and ψάω literally meaning “scraped...
of the Gospels discovered there the previous year by the two sisters. Burkitt played an important role in deciphering the text, and in subsequent publication of the team's findings.
Burkett was a noted figure at Cambridge in 1912–35 for his chairmanship of the Cambridge New Testament Seminar, attended by other prominent theologians, including Robert Newton Flew
Robert Newton Flew
Robert Newton Flew Robert Newton Flew Robert Newton Flew ((1886–1962) was an English Methodist minister and theologian, and an advocate of ecumenism among the Christian churches.-Family and education:...
, who left an account of it in an obituary for Burkitt in the Proceedings of the British Academy..
Works
- The Book of Rules of Tyconius (1894)
- The four Gospels in Syriac, transcribed from the Sinaitic palimpsest (1894) with Robert L. Bensly and J. Rendel HarrisJ. Rendel HarrisJames Rendel Harris was an English biblical scholar and curator of manuscripts, who was instrumental in bringing back to light many Syriac Scriptures and other early documents...
, introduction by Agnes Smith Lewis (1894) - The New Testament in Greek (1896), editor of second edition
- The Old Latin and the Itala (1896)
- Fragments of the Books of Kings according to the Translation of Aquila (1897)
- Notes. Saint Mark XV in codex k, JTS 1900, ss. 278-279.
- Two Lectures on the Gospels (1901)
- Saint Ephraim's Quotations From The Gospel (1901)
- Criticism of the New Testament: St. Margaret's Lectures (1902) with Frederic G. KenyonFrederic G. KenyonSir Frederic George Kenyon GBE KCB TD FBA FSA was a British paleographer and biblical and classical scholar. He occupied from 1889 to 1931 a series of posts at the British Museum...
, A. C. Headlam and others - Early Eastern Christianity: Saint Margaret's Lectures on the Syriac Speaking Church (1904)
- Further Notes on codex k, JTS 1904, ss. 100-107.
- Evangelion da-mepharreshe: The Curetonian Version of the Four Gospels, with the readings of the Sinai Palimpsest. I. Text; II: Introduction and Notes (1904)
- The Gospel History and its Transmission (1907)
- Codex Alexandrinus, JTS XI (Oxford, 1909–1910), pp. 663–666.
- Jewish and Christian Apocalypses (1914) Schweich LecturesSchweich Lectures on Biblical ArchaeologyThe Schweich Lectures on Biblical Archaeology are a series of lectures delivered and published under the auspices of the British Academy. The Leopold Schweich Trust Fund, set up in 1907, was a gift from Miss Constance Schweich in memory of her father...
of the British Academy 1913 - The Religion of the Manichees (1925) Donnellan LecturesDonnellan LecturesThe Donnellan Lectures are a lecture series at Trinity College, Dublin, instituted in 1794. The lectures were originally given under the auspices of the School of Hebrew, Biblical and Theological Studies. But since 1987 they have been run on a triennial basis by the Department of Philosophy and are...
1924 - Palestine in General History (1929) Schweich Lectures 1926, with Theodore H. Robinson, J. W. Hunkin
- Christian Worship (1930)
- The Church of Today Part 2 (1930) with P. Gardner-Smith and C. E. Raven, The Christian Religion and Its Origin and Progress, Volume 3
- Jesus Christ: An Historical Outline (1932)
- Church and Gnosis : a Study of Christian Thought and Speculation in the Second Century (1932)
- Franciscan Essays II (1932) with H. E. Goad and A. G. Little
- The Dura Fragment of Tatian. JTS 36 (Oxford, 1935): 192–293.
- Early Christianity Outside the Roman Empire (2002)
- Egyptian Gnostic Works (2005)
- Christian Beginnings