Re: My current and still developing view of the nomina sacra.
Posted: Mon Dec 14, 2020 1:42 am
Here's a webpage saying nomina sacra are a Jewish invention https://www.bible.ca/b-canon-nomina-sacra.htm, though with dodgy commentary -
According to Hurtado (JBL, 1998), this may well have been the original form of the nomina sacra because it nicely explains the form of the horizontal line which differs from the usual Greek abbreviation mark. It is identical to the mark used to indicate numbers and Barnabas 9:7-8 engages in gematria to draw out numerological significance in the first two letters of Jesus' name. ... Barnabas gives the numerical value of IH as 18, which corresponds to the Hebrew חי "life" (cf. Eusebius, Praep. 10.5 who associates the letter ח with "life"). Although Barnabas does not make this connection, Hurtado theorized that the original function of the horizontal line was numerical in order to engage in isopsephy (equating two separate words which add up to the same number), and then it shifted to being an abbreviation mark once the practice included contracted forms and spread to the other words comprising the nomina sacra.
It notes nomina sacra in the Shephered of Hermas and I think Larry Hurtado has noted them in the Epistle of Barnabas [9:7-8].
2. "Nomina sacra" was a Jewish practice that is witnessed in the dead sea scrolls adopted by the Christians.
- Dead Sea Scroll (4Q175 or 4QTest) uses "Nomina sacra" and replaces the name of God (tetragrammaton) YHWH for four stars "****".
According to Hurtado (JBL, 1998), this may well have been the original form of the nomina sacra because it nicely explains the form of the horizontal line which differs from the usual Greek abbreviation mark. It is identical to the mark used to indicate numbers and Barnabas 9:7-8 engages in gematria to draw out numerological significance in the first two letters of Jesus' name. ... Barnabas gives the numerical value of IH as 18, which corresponds to the Hebrew חי "life" (cf. Eusebius, Praep. 10.5 who associates the letter ח with "life"). Although Barnabas does not make this connection, Hurtado theorized that the original function of the horizontal line was numerical in order to engage in isopsephy (equating two separate words which add up to the same number), and then it shifted to being an abbreviation mark once the practice included contracted forms and spread to the other words comprising the nomina sacra.