Textcritical edition of the Epistula ad Marcellinum of Athanasius of Alexandria (CPG 2097)

• Applicant: Professor Dr. Dietmar Wyrwa
• Subject Area: Protestant Theology ; Greek and Latin Philology
• Term: from 2012 to 2018
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 212030213

The project of the modern critical edition of the Epistula ad Marcellinum of Athanasius of Alexandria (ca. 295-373) is an urgent desideratum of interdisciplinary research. In the said letter Athanasius develops bible-hermeneutical reflections on the spiritual use of the Psalter, with the far-reaching references to the history of Christian dogma, piety and liturgy and also with implications for poetic and musical theory. Among the dogmatic, historical-apologetic and the ascetic works of Athanasius the Epistula ad Marcellinum takes a special position. While this Letter has gained high esteem in ancient times, so that it has even found its way into the Bible by the famous Codex Alexandrinus (5th century) and has been translated into several oriental languages, it seems in modern research discussion almost to pass out of mind. Here, even Martin Luther has been inspired by it writing his Operationes in Psalmos. The aim of the project is to replace the until now only available, incomplete and insufficient editions of Bernard de Montfaucon from 1698 and of John Ernst Grabe 1709 (reprinted in the collection of Jacques Paul Migne, Patrologia Graeca, Vol 27, 1884) by a real critical edition that comes up to the highly complex manuscript tradition in different ancient languages and different types of texts. The new edition should be the base in the interdisciplinary research discussion in the broader horizon of the Christian transformation of the late antique Can build life-world and culture.

• DFG Programme: Research Grants