Jonah in the Ethiopic Biblical Tradition

Jeremy R. Brown offers a comprehensive analysis of 105 manuscripts of Ethiopic Jonah, spanning a transmission history from the 14th to the 20th century. He addresses two central questions: What is the earliest recoverable form of Ethiopic Jonah, and how did the text develop over time? The findings lead to the reconstruction of five distinct text types: Earliest Attested 1, Earliest Attested 2, Standardized, Textus Receptus, and Latin Vorlage. The first four types originate from a Greek Vorlage and can be understood as successive revisions. Their history reveals selective adaptations influenced by liturgical practice, other biblical passages, and an Arabic rendering of the Syriac Peshitta.
The fifth type, the Latin Vorlage, stands apart. Closely aligned with the Latin Vulgate, it results from an independent translation process rather than revision within the established Ethiopic tradition.
Jeremy R. Brown provides critical editions of all five text types, with exhaustive listings of distinctive readings and commentary. These editions highlight both the variation across text types and the internal uniformity of each tradition. By systematically mapping textual development, he offers new insights into the dynamics of translation, revision, and transmission in the Ethiopic biblical corpus, and establishes an indispensable foundation for further philological and theological research.