Tag: Center for the Study of New Testament Manuscripts

TIME-SENSITIVE: Put Stocks in Someone’s Stocking!

On By Daniel B. WallaceIn Bible Translation, Christmas present, Contemporary Issues, Early Christianity, Exegesis, New Testament Studies, Textual Criticsim, Theology

The year 2024 is almost in the books. It has been a wild roller coaster ride of a year. Ironically, instability seems to be the only thing that is consistent this year. The silver lining in the nimbostratus clouds of 2024 is that the U.S. stock market has done quite well overall. And that brings me to a special invitation.

As we enter the traditional season of giving, families also use this time to evaluate their tax situation. Granted, the continually shifting tax code doesn’t make that an easy exercise. But one constant of good news is that donating securities that have been held for a year or more offers the potential for a double tax benefit—a full fair market value tax deduction and elimination of capital gains taxes.

Many non-profits now allow direct stock donations (i.e., not having to sell the stock first). If the Lord has blessed you financially, you might want to consider giving some shares to one or more charitable organizations that you support. Many such organizations are in need of large financial infusions: although the stock market has done well, the economy is still doing poorly for too many of us. Giving a gift of shares is a very tangible way to show what really matters to you without adding to your living expenses.

The Center for the Study of New Testament Manuscripts now has a “stock option” for donations. You may donate stocks and bonds directly to CSNTM without having to sell them first. Stock gifts to CSNTM are handled by Overflow, the leading giving platform for the digital age. This can be a great way to invest in our shared mission to preserve the New Testament text and take advantage of the benefits for charitable giving in the U.S. Tax Code. (Alternatively, you can use these instructions to complete the transaction with your brokerage on your own.)

I wanted to put my stock where my mouth is, so I clicked on the CSNTM “donate stocks” page https://www.csntm.org/partnership/donate-stocks and donated some stock.

Giving securities to CSNTM was a snap. It took less than 10 minutes (and I’m old and slow!) to make the donation. Overflow makes it easy.

There is some urgency for such donations, both for CSNTM and other charities. Stock donations through Overflow must be made by December 10 to guarantee posting for 2024. That’s for the guarantee; Overflow recommends giving by December 13 to almost ensure (not quite a guarantee) that the gift will be credited for 2024. 

But there’s something else to consider for the long term: a donor-advised fund. Some donors like to set up their own private family foundation as a means of distributing gifts to favorite charities. But establishing a donor-advised fund with a firm like Fidelity Charitable can provide the ability to claim a higher tax deduction of 30% of your adjusted gross income compared to the 20% limit with a private foundation.

And the news gets better when you want to donate securities. By opening a giving account and contributing the shares to your donor-advised fund, you eliminate capital gains tax exposure and secure a charitable deduction based on the shares’ fair market value. Best of all, you can decide where to donate at a later date and, when the time comes, recommend a larger grant from your donor-advised fund than if you sell the shares and donate the net proceeds!

Our partner, Overflow, streamlines this process as well. You can donate from your donor-advised fund simply and securely here.

This is timely news for me and my family. I will be contributing more to my stock donations today, because I want to give CSNTM a generous Christmas present so that the Center can carry on the work that faithful scribes began 2000 years ago.

Help Train the Next Generation of Christian Scholars

On By Daniel B. WallaceIn Contemporary Issues

The Center for the Study of New Testament Manuscripts (csntm.org) has been involved for the past twenty years in a hugely successful internship program. The highlight for the new batch of interns each year is participation in the fall academic conferences. They sit at the feet of some of the best biblical scholars on the planet and get to see firsthand what an academic paper/presentation looks like, including the Q&A that follows. 

The impression made on these students lasts a lifetime, and it very often changes the trajectory that they are on in their service to the body of Christ. The long-range objective is to raise up the next generation of biblical scholars to be leaders with a profound respect and deep appreciation for the New Testament. In this way, CSNTM is training the next generation of biblical scholars. 

But none of this would be possible without serious financial backing. There is an opportunity right now to double the impact of any donations you give from now until September 19. North Texas Giving Day is on Thursday, September 19, and from now till then, you have the opportunity to support CSNTM’s interns—bright students who have demonstrated excellence in academic work and hold great promise for a future in biblical scholarship and church leadership.

Over the four decades of my teaching career, I have had the privilege of mentoring nearly two hundred interns—starting with Dallas Seminary students and continuing on, for the past twenty years, with CSNTM interns. These incredible scholars-in-the-making have gone on to earn PhDs from prestigious schools such as Cambridge, Oxford, Edinburgh, St Andrews, Aberdeen, Baylor, Notre Dame, Sheffield, Birmingham, Yale, Exeter, and the Catholic University of America—to name but a few. These alumni now teach in seminaries and universities, write world-class works on the Bible and theology, and help to keep New Testament scholarship on sound footing. They are today’s scholars, professors, translators, missionaries, and pastors, collectively helping others see the truth and beauty of Scripture and keeping Christian faith tethered to the biblical text.

Not only do these interns receive individual instruction from me and our research team, but they also engage in a rigorous and enriching program that is intentionally designed to equip them with the skills to seek truth and approach biblical scholarship with integrity, excellence, and faith. 

Meet Tomorrow’s Bible Scholars—Interns You Can Support Today: https://www.northtexasgivingday.org/story/Csntminterns

When you help us reach our $20,000 goal this North Texas Giving Day by allowing your combined donations of $10,000 to be matched, you enable this year’s interns to attend two prestigious academic conferences—the annual meetings of the Evangelical Theological Society and the Society of Biblical Literature. These conferences provide invaluable experiences for emerging scholars. In fact, last year, one of our interns secured a publishing deal for his book while attending the ETS conference with CSNTM!

Be sure to give between now and September 19 to have your gift DOUBLED!

With gratitude,

Dan Wallace

New Manuscripts Available at CSNTM

On By Daniel B. WallaceIn Contemporary Issues9 Comments

Another fantastic new press release from CSNTM:

New manuscripts digitized by the Center for the Study of New Testament Manuscripts (CSNTM) have just been added to our searchable collection. These include 10 new manuscripts from the National Library of Greece in Athens, the site of our ongoing digitization project for 2015–16.

  • GA 777: From the 12th century, this manuscript (MS) contains the complete Tetraevangelion. The manuscript features 22 beautiful icons, many of which are from the life of Jesus.
  • GA 792: From the 13th century, this is a rare MS in that its New Testament contents include only the Gospels and Revelation. Also included are selected passages from the Old Greek.
  • GA 798: From the 11th century, this MS of the Gospels contains Matthew and Mark. CSNTM had previously digitized the other portion (containing Luke and John) housed at the Institute for New Testament Textual Research (INTF), so digital images are now available for the entire MS.
  • GA 800: From the 12th or 13th century, this MS of the Gospels has extensive commentary wrapping around the text on three sides, and some unique textual features.
  • GA 1411: From the 10th or 11th century, this MS of the Gospels contains extensive commentary on John and Luke by Chrysostom and Titus of Bostra.
  • GA 1412: From the 10th or 11th century, this MS of the Gospels interweaves the biblical text with commentary by Chrysostom and Titus of Bostra, using a variety of different methods to distinguish the text from the commentary.
  • GA 1973: From the 13th century, this MS of Paul’s letters contains commentary from Theophylact of Bulgaria.
  • GA Lect 440: Paper lectionary dated to 1504, which was damaged and then repaired with other paper texts with script at some later point in its history.
  • GA Lect 1524: Paper lectionary dated to 1522, a well-used manuscript.
  • GA Lect 2007: Paper lectionary from the 15th century.

We have also added images for 12 manuscripts that are now in our digital library. Many of these are older images from microfilm.

  • GA 08
  • GA 010
  • GA 014
  • GA 015
  • GA 017
  • GA 018
  • GA 019
  • GA 020
  • GA 034
  • GA 035
  • GA 038
  • GA 044

These images have now been added to our growing searchable collection, which gives everyone free access to the best available digital images of Greek New Testament manuscripts.

All images are available at the new CSNTM.org

The New CSNTM.org

On By Daniel B. WallaceIn Contemporary Issues6 Comments

Press release from the Center for the Study of New Testament Manuscripts (CSNTM) today announcing some very exciting things:

Since we began our work in 2002, a core part of our mission has been to make it possible to view and study New Testament manuscripts from anywhere in the world. We have worked toward this by traveling around the globe and capturing beautiful digital images of some of the most important extant manuscripts. Today, we are taking another step forward by making it easier than ever for you to access manuscripts. We’re launching the new CSNTM.org.

NewCSNTM

Here are some of the features that you can expect to find now and in the coming weeks:

  • New Manuscripts – We will be adding 10-20 new manuscripts to our website weekly for the next few months. These will be from the National Library of Greece in Athens (our ongoing project for 2015–16), as well as previously unposted images from hundreds of manuscripts and rare books in our collection.
  • New Look – We have revamped our entire website to make it both simpler and richer in content. We have new content, which narrates how we go about digitizing and archiving manuscripts. We also explain what goes into our extensive training program that enables our teams to work quickly while capturing high-quality images.
  • New Viewing Environment – The website is equipped with a new viewer, which makes it easier than ever to navigate manuscripts and view our stunning new images.
  • New Usability – Our new site is also designed to work perfectly with mobile devices and tablets, enabling you to view manuscripts or to access other resources quickly, whenever you need them.
  • New Search Features – The website is now outfitted with an extensive search functionality. Searches can be performed at the manuscript level, allowing you to find manuscripts that meet certain criteria (e.g., date, contents, material, location). They can also be performed at the image level, which allows you to find specific features within a manuscript. For instance, we now have a Jump to Book option that allows you to find the beginning of each book that a manuscript contains. Also, one can search tagged manuscripts for verse references. Every place, for example, in which John 1.1 is tagged will automatically populate when the verse is searched.
  • New Search Database – The search database holds tags for each manuscript and individual image. As our team continues tagging our growing collection, the search function will become more comprehensive each week. But the task is daunting. We want your help for the tagging! If interested, you can reach us via our contact page.

Please share our new site with colleagues and friends, so more and more people can continue to utilize CSNTM’s library, which is free for all and free for all time. We sincerely hope that you enjoy using the site. It represents a giant leap forward in accomplishing our mission to bring ancient New Testament manuscripts to a modern world.

Interviews with Text-Critical Scholars

On By Daniel B. WallaceIn CSNTM, Textual Criticsim9 Comments

csntm_itunesThe Center for the Study of New Testament Manuscripts (CSNTM) conducted a series of interviews with scholars of textual criticism at the Society of Biblical Literature conference in San Diego, California in 2014. These videos are currently being released on CSNTM’s iTunes U site for free. The first two interviews are by Dr. Ekaterini Tsalampouni of the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki and Peter Gurry, a PhD candidate at the University of Cambridge.

Make sure to check out these interesting and significant videos as they continue to come out over the next few weeks.