In the west centuries ago manuscripts were replaced by printed books, and relegated to mostly secular libraries as a result of religious and political upheavals. In the Christian Orient such changes were slower and remain less advanced. Manuscripts have not entirely vanished from regular use, and Christian communities retain ownership of significant collections of their historic manuscripts. The vital connection between manuscripts and religious culture endures, even if attenuated by persecution, diaspora, technology, and other aspects of modernity. This essay provides an historical survey of these issues in both Europe and the Christian Orient (limited here to the Middle East, the Caucasus, and Ethiopia/Eritrea).

Originally delivered as one of the Jowett Lectures for 1906, the contents of this booklet emerged during the first quest for the historical Jesus. Somewhat surprisingly, Burkitt discovered that historical criticism increased the historical credibility of the Synoptic Gospels in his estimation. This first lecture in the series addresses the literary originality of the Gospel of Mark. Here Burkitt surveys the priority of Mark, the shared Synoptic material, and the literarily unique sections of Mark.

As the oldest organized religion in Sassanian Iraq, Judaism serves as a kind of model for other religious organizations in the region. After considering the growth of Judaism in Iraq during the Sassanian period, Morony notes the connections between the Jewish and Aramaean populations as well as the intermixed ethnic communities in which Jews played a part. Social, administrative, and religious issues are all considered. Messianic expectations as they continued to develop in the Jewish community in diaspora round out this discussion of Judaism as a fully developed religion in Iraq under Islamic rule.

With a focus on the Kitāb Ādāb al-falāsifah, a book of aphorisms attributed to Ḥunayn ibn Isḥāq, some of the important aspects of the Kitāb are laid out, particularly those dealing with religion and the pursuit of philosophy. Although putatively, translators and scholars such as Ḥunayn ibn Isḥāq, opened the way for philosophical dialogue between Muslims and Christians of Orthodox churches on precepts, often based on Aristotle, which they could agree would lead to wisdom and a humane society.

Emil Goeller introduces and provides the text of a unique resource for the ecclesiastical history of the “Nestorian” church. The text, presented in Syriac with a Latin translation, is a compilation of historical sources focused on the story of Nestorius.

Anton Baumstark describes thirty Psalter illustrations that he found in a manuscript belonging to the Greek Patriarch of Jerusalem. These illustrations significantly increase our knowledge of Psalter illustrations in the Syriac tradition.

Illustrations were common in manuscripts of the Gospels, but far less common for the Acts and Epistles. Anton Baumstark describes the images found in one manuscript that does include illustrations for these documents and compares them with the Eastern tradition.

Anton Baumstark compares the Greek text of a Theotokion preserved in a sixth-century manuscript to comparable texts from the Oriental Christian traditions and the Western Ambrosian Rite.

Adolf Rücker publishes here the Syriac text and German translation of two poems about the Magi from the “Nestorian” Syriac tradition and discusses the unique features of the Magi narrative present in the Syriac sources.

Early Christian artistic renderings of the traditio legis, exhibit a variety of commonalities and differences. Anton Baumstark compares various versions of the scene and finds evidence of both a Western and an Eastern version represented in multiple sources.

Anton Baumstark presents the complete Greek text of the Liturgy of Saint Gregory the Great. The liturgy was highly influential in the Latin tradition, but as evidenced by the early translation, it also had limited circulation in the Greek tradition.

The records of two provincial synods found among the writings of Catholicos Timothy I provide a unique perspective into the christological disputes and struggle for authority in Syriac-speaking Christianity in the late 8th century.

Bloomfield lists and discusses instances of vague and ambiguous mood usages in early Sanskrit syntax.

Truman Michelson explores the spelling variants among copies of the Edicts of Ashoka, a legal document in Sanskrit.

Prof. Ogle traces the Classical roots of descriptions of feminine beauty in poetry of the English renaissance.

Prof. Robinson presents a series of inscriptions found in Greece, including transcription and commentary on each.

Allan Johnson, a famous scholar of ancient civic administration, traces the development of Athenian financial administration in the Hellenistic era.

Leech argues against a simplistic view of the Greeks as radical fatalists, underlining their view of the equally prevalent Greek ideas of individual freedom and self-determination.

Sir Peterson's analysis of the manuscript tradition for the Verrine orations, with particular attention given towards removing word-order errors made by copyists.

A discussion of the psycology behind tense and mood choice in Latin indirect speech.

Prof. Wheeler traces the development of the Latin imperfect from its earliest roots to its later simplification.

Edwin Fay proposes that the Vedic god Agni has his origins in an Aryan lightening god.

R.B. Steele provides an analysis of Livy's philosophy on the methology and purpose of the writing of history.

Sir Peterson's analysis of the Vatican codex of Cicero's Verrine Orations.

Horton-Smith offers an explanation for the negatives haud and ou in Latin and Greek respectively, suggesting a root word meaning "to fail."