Curetonian Gospels the later period. The Syriac versions of the New Testament remain less thoroughly studied than the Greek. The standard text is that of Francis Crawford Burkitt, 1904; it was used in the comparative edition of the Syriac gospels that was edited by George Anton Kiraz, 1996. Curetonian Gospels The Curetonian Gospels, designated by the "siglum" syr, are contained in a manuscript of the four gospels of the New Testament in Old Syriac. Together with the Sinaiticus Palimpsest the Curetonian Gospels form the Old Syriac Version, and are known as the Evangelion Dampharshe ("Separated Gospels") in the Syriac Orthodox Church. The
Historical background of the New Testament the First Council of Nicaea. Historical background of the New Testament Most scholars who study the historical Jesus and early Christianity believe that the canonical gospels and life of Jesus must be viewed within his historical and cultural context, rather than purely in terms of Christian orthodoxy. They look at Second Temple Judaism, the tensions, trends, and changes in the region under the influence of Hellenism and the Roman occupation, and the Jewish factions of the time, seeing Jesus as a Jew in this environment; and the written New Testament as arising from a period of oral gospel traditions after