What your PhD research is about and why is it important?
My PhD thesis is entitled “From Erasmus to Maius: The History of Codex Vaticanus in New Testament Textual Scholarship.” It is a historical investigation into the famous Bible Greek manuscript and its reception from the sixteenth to the nineteenth century.
Codex Vaticanus is currently regarded as one of the most important witnesses for reconstructing the Greek New Testament. However, it was seen as an inferior source when Desiderius Erasmus introduced it to the scholarly world in 1521. The changing perceptions of this manuscript led to the research question: how did the scholars evaluate the manuscript in the course of time, and how can these changes be accounted for? Since the text of Codex Vaticanus has served as the basis for many vernacular versions of our time, a comprehensive overview of its history can remove certain misconceptions and better position different opinions on and understandings of this manuscript.
What was the biggest surprise/challenge you encountered during the PhD trajectory?
The biggest surprise, or to put it another way, the most important finding of my project was that the concept of “Codex Vaticanus,” as perceived by present-day scholars, is a modern construction based on multiple factors, historical, intellectual, religious, societal, and the like. At first, it was simply viewed as an ancient manuscript held at the Vatican Library, with little use for editing the New Testament text. The manuscript gradually obtained scholarly recognition and finally arrived at its designation as the manuscript par excellence. Interestingly, the scholarly knowledge of Vaticanus is not a linear development, not simply from bias towards enlightenment; it is more like shifting from one perspective to another.
There were many challenges during my PhD trajectory. A memorable one was the limited access to archival entries in the Corona time. I had planned to visit Copenhagen and Oxford in 2020 to study several scholarly handwritten notes and correspondence exchanges that are substantial for my project. Suddenly no one was allowed to go abroad, let alone enter a library to study archives. In the end, it turned out to be something beautiful: The librarians kindly digitised those materials at my request, so I was able to work on them literally from my desk. The experience of physical visits was irreplaceable, but the alternative could still be very helpful.
Were there others involved in your research project?
A bibliophilic work such as mine certainly needed many others’ support. In the acknowledgements, I listed those libraries that granted me access to consult their archives, manuscripts, printed materials, and digital resources. The number of the named libraries was twelve, and actually, this does not include all the libraries I visited! Moreover, I also benefitted from many scholars from various fields who were willing to respond to my questions. Some of them even went the extra mile to share their unpublished notes, secure rare sources, check my translations, etc. Indeed, I am grateful for all the assistance I received over the past few years, without which I would have been unable to write the thesis as it is.
How you are preparing for the defence?
After several years of hard work, I decided to have a certain distance with my thesis while preparing my defence. Instead of rereading the whole thing extensively, I took another strategy. I read the introductory chapter and the conclusions several times and regularly looked at the table of contents to remind myself of the “grant narrative” of my work. In other words, I am trying to see the forest and the trees at the same time. Also, since I am going to defend this shortly, many people started asking me questions about the project. These occasions were good practices in the sense that they forced me to think of using ordinary language to explain what I have written (and why it is such a voluminous book!). Moreover, my supervisors just arranged a meeting to lead me through the protocol and help me to imagine all the possible scenarios. Nonetheless, I am still waiting for the D-Day to come, and hopefully I will enjoy the day!
What your plans are for the future?
Currently I work at our faculty as an assistant professor. My tasks include working as the PhD candidate advisor, lecturer and coordinator for the Center for Migration Theology, and researcher within the research team of Contextual Bible Interpretation. I enjoy teaching and supervising students and am enthusiastic about supporting PhD students with all sorts of questions. Concerning research plans in particular, I hope to revise my thesis and get it published, and I am also conceptualising a new project on exploring the interlacement between New Testament manuscripts and migration.
Interested in reading An-Ting's dissertation? It is available via this webpage.