The Eusebian Canon Tables

Ordering Textual Knowledge in Late Antiquity

Matthew R. Crawford

Oxford Early Christian Studies

Investigates the origins and use of Eusebius of Caesarea's Canon Tables apparatus in the four-gospel codex, containing the Gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John
Provides contextualization of Eusebius and his successors in the intellectual milieu of their time
Offers analysis of primary sources from Hiberno-Latin, Syriac, Armenian, and Greek linguistic traditions

The Eusebian Canon Tables

Ordering Textual Knowledge in Late Antiquity

Matthew R. Crawford

Oxford Early Christian Studies

Description

One of the books most central to late-antique religious life was the four-gospel codex, containing the Gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. A common feature in such manuscripts was a marginal cross-referencing system known as the Canon Tables. This reading aid was invented in the early fourth century by Eusebius of Caesarea and represented a milestone achievement both in the history of the book and in the scholarly study of the fourfold gospel. In this work, Matthew R. Crawford provides the first book-length treatment of the origins and use of the Canon Tables apparatus in any language. Part one begins by defining the Canon Tables as a paratextual device that orders the textual content of the fourfold gospel. It then considers the relation of the system to the prior work of Ammonius of Alexandria and the hermeneutical implications of reading a four-gospel codex equipped with the marginal apparatus. Part two transitions to the reception of the paratext in subsequent centuries by highlighting four case studies from different cultural and theological traditions, from Augustine of Hippo, who used the Canon Tables to develop the first ever theory of gospel composition, to a Syriac translator in the fifth century, to later monastic scholars in Ireland between the seventh and ninth centuries. Finally, from the eighth century onwards, Armenian commentators used the artistic adornment of the Canon Tables as a basis for contemplative meditation. These four case studies represent four different modes of using the Canon Tables as a paratext and illustrate the potential inherent in the Eusebian apparatus for engaging with the fourfold gospel in a variety of ways, from the philological to the theological to the visual.

The Eusebian Canon Tables

Ordering Textual Knowledge in Late Antiquity

Matthew R. Crawford

Oxford Early Christian Studies

Abbreviations
Introduction
1. Eusebius' Canon Tables as a Paratext for Ordering Textual Knowledge
2. The Origins of Scholarship on the Fourfold Gospel: From Alexandria to Caesarea
3. Reading the Gospels with the Eusebian Canon Tables
4. Augustine's Usage of the Canon Tables in De Consensu Evangelistarum
5. Canon Tables 2.0: The Peshitta Version of the Eusebian Apparatus
6. Scholarly Practices: The Eusebian Canon Tables in the Hiberno-Latin Tradition
7. Seeing the Salvation of God: Images as Paratext in Armenian Commentaries on the Eusebian Canon Tables
Conclusion
Appendix 1: A Translation of Eusebius' Letter to Carpianus
Appendix 2: Eusebian Parallels in Augustine's De consensu evangelistarum
Appendix 3: The Gospel Synopsis in Codex Climaci Rescriptus and its Possible Connection to Ammonius' Diatessaron-Gospel
Appendix 4: Theophanes the Grammarian's Note about Canon Tables
Bibliography

The Eusebian Canon Tables

Ordering Textual Knowledge in Late Antiquity

Matthew R. Crawford

Oxford Early Christian Studies

Author Information

Matthew R. Crawford, Associate Professor and Director of the Program in Biblical and Early Christian Studies, Institute for Religion and Critical Inquiry, Australian Catholic University

Matthew R. Crawford is Associate Professor and Director of the Program in Biblical and Early Christian Studies in the Institute for Religion and Critical Inquiry at Australian Catholic University. From 2012 to 2015 he held an AHRC-funded postdoc at Durham University on canonical and non-canonical gospel literature, and from 2013 to 2015 a Junior Research Fellowship from Hatfield College. He is the author of Cyril of Alexandria's Trinitarian Theology of Scripture (2014).

The Eusebian Canon Tables

Ordering Textual Knowledge in Late Antiquity

Matthew R. Crawford

Oxford Early Christian Studies

Reviews and Awards

"A book covering a rare crossover if an information technology from one domain to another in antiquity" -- New Testament Abstracts

"Crawford has written a splendid and erudite book about Eusebius's Canon Tables, an oft-neglected feature of ancient gospel manuscripts." -- Jean-François Racine, Jesuit School of Theology of Santa Clara University and the Graduate Theological Union, Review of Biblical Literature

"The 52 high-resolution photographs of ancient texts and images result in a book so beautiful that readers will be hesitant to highlight the text or add notes in the margin. It breaks new ground in several areas that will be helpful even to scholars who have done extensive work with the canon tables... it is an indispensable guide to any scholarly study of the Eusebian canon tables." -- Charles L. Quarles, Wake Forest, North Carolina, Southeastern Theological Review

"This book will become the launching pad for all studies of the Canon Tables for many years to come. Crawford is adept both at working through complicated and detailed material, and then laying out clearly and simply for the reader as well as at providing the big-picture overview." -- Michael Klaassen, St. Paul University, St. Timothy's Classical Academy, Bryn Mawr Classical Review

"Meticulously documented and richly illustrated, [Crawford]'s book on the Eusebian Canon Tables represents a milestone of scholarship, the touchstone for all future studies on the topic." -- James W. Barker, Western Kentucky University, The Catholic Biblical Quarterly