Andrew Patton

Photo of Andrew Patton

Department of Theology and Religion
Doctoral researcher

Contact details

PhD title: The Development of the Catenae on the Gospels
Supervisors Professor Hugh Houghton and Dr Catherine Smith
PhD Theology and Religion

Qualifications

  • ThM in New Testament Studies (Dallas Theological Seminary)
  • BA in History and Religious Studies (Aurora University)

Biography

I tailored my bachelor’s degree in History and Religious Studies primarily on the history of Christianity in Europe and the United States and the philosophy of religion. My bachelor’s thesis, “Allies and Opponents: Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and Billy Graham in the Civil Rights Movement,” adopted the paradigm of lived theology to explore the ways the theological convictions held by these leading public figures were manifested in their actions during the American Civil Rights Movement from 1952–1965.

During seminary, I focused on New Testament Studies and cultivated interests in New Testament Textual Criticism and the first-century Greco-Roman world. The title of my capstone research was “The Usefulness of Paratextual and Codicological Features of Manuscripts for New Testament Textual Criticism.”

While pursuing my ThM degree, I worked at the Center for the Study of New Testament Manuscripts (CSNTM), a US-based non-profit organisation that digitises Greek New Testament manuscripts and hosts a digital library of manuscript images. My primary roles were in fundraising and organisation management. However, I took an active part in the academic side of CSNTM’s mission including working on multiple digitisation projects in Greece and the United States.

Research

My research focuses on Greek catenae on the gospels. Catenae are a Byzantine form of biblical commentary in which the commentary is composed of extracts from the writings and homilies of multiple early Christian writers. With a few exceptions, gospel catenae remain generally understudied since Joseph Reuss’s four volumes published in the twentieth century (on Matthew, Mark, and John in 1941, Matthew in 1957, John in 1966, and Luke in 1984). I seek to re-evaluate earlier conclusions about the development of gospel catenae, addressing the question of how the catenists used their sources—especially other catenae and an unusual collection of scholia given the title ἐξ Ἀνεπιγράφου [from unnamed]. While Reuss and other earlier scholars could only base their conclusions on a limited number of manuscripts or through printed editions, my project benefits from a new comprehensive catalogue and database of all Greek New Testament catena manuscripts and better access to these artifacts through digital images. By taking a textual and codicological approach, the development of the gospel catenae can be reassessed considering more material and fresh insights into the rich tradition of Greek gospel catenae may be gleaned.

Other activities

Presentations:

  • “The Fragmentation and Digital Reconstruction of a Greek Lectionary: GA Lect 2434,” Birmingham Colloquium on the Textual Criticism of the New Testament (25 March 2021: Birmingham, United Kingdom; virtual by Zoom)
  • “Greek Catenae and the Western Order of the Gospels,” Annual Meeting of the Society of Biblical Literature (Forthcoming November 2021: San Antonio, TX, United States)

Field Work:
New Testament manuscript digitization, research, and/or presentation

  • National Library of Greece (Athens, Greece): May–August 2015, January 2016, March 2016, March 2020
  • Library of the Hellenic Parliament (Athens, Greece): January 2018
  • Center for the Study of New Testament Manuscripts (Plano, TX, USA): 2018–2020
  • Dunham Bible Museum at Houston Baptist University (Houston, TX, USA): February 2019
  • Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary (Fort Worth, TX, USA): August 2020
  • Cadbury Research Library (Birmingham, UK): April 2021