Oriental sources to Canon Law: edition and translation of pseudapostolic Church Orders in Arabic transmission

• Applicant: Professor Dr. Hubert Kaufhold
• Subject Area: Roman Catholic Theology
• Term: from 2011 to 2018
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 180979828

In the approved project period the work targeted primarily the Arabic translations of the voluminous "Apostolic Constitutions", i.e. the so-called Arabic Didascalia. The time needed for this exceeded largely the one estimated in the original application, given the fact that besides the two versions hitherto known there is a third one beyond which until now, nothing further was known and which had to be edited and translated separately. The edition and translation of two versions with about 950 printed pages will be practically completed at the end of the approved project period. In addition an approximately 170-page introduction volume was written whose manuscript is in the attachment. The already started edition of the third version of the Arabic Didascalia, the so-called Vulgata, turned out to be more laborious than expected because a large number of manuscripts is known (copies of 30 manuscripts are at our disposal.) Those manuscripts contain an abundance of mostly not significant variants. The collation of this still in progress. In the extension period applicated for, zje edition and translation of the Vulgata-version shall be completed. In addition, the pseudapostolic writings mentioned in the initial application, i.e. the Syodos Alexandrina and the coptic Octateuchus, shall be edited and translated. Besides this, a thorough investigation of these very different textual witnesses and their relation to each other and to the other oriental and latin versions is intended.

• DFG Programme: Research Grants