Through the kindness of Pierre Petitmengin, a copy of the Chronica Tertullianea et Cyprianea 2011 has reached me. This bibliography of Latin patristic materials before Nicaea, with short reviews, is published in the Revue d’etudes augustiniennes, which, I learn, has now become the Revue d’etudes augustiniennes et patristiques.[1]
So, what was published in the last year, and what do we make of it? I shall concentrate on Tertullian material.
The review opens with 4 Italian and 1 Spanish editions of works of Tertullian. These are all based on existing texts with minor modifications and translations. In truth something of the kind is published every year, and it seems unlikely that any of these editions require any special attention from us.
The new Reallexikon project, Bd. 24, p/189-191 includes an article on Minucius Felix by Christoph Schubert. The reviewer comments slightly wearily that every article on this author tends to be similar to every other article, since the subject has been thrashed to death from every possible angle. This one is particularly clear and up-to-date on every point, however.
A volume has appeared, collecting the fragments of the medical writer Soranus, much of it from Tertullian.
There is a proposal by Carmelo Conticello to make an inventory of all the Latin Christian texts that were translated into Greek, from the 2nd to the 15th century; a subject never systematically explored. A set of examples has appeared.
Most of the remainder of the 81 articles reviewed seemed dispensable. Looking at them, I found very little that I thought worth my time to read, and much that seemed not worth the trouble of writing. The latter was the case particularly for material written in English. I read, from time to time, of the litter of substandard journal publications. Here we see clear signs of it, exhausting the patience of reader and reviewer alike.
- [1]Vol. 58 (2012), p.323-372. An offprint has been sent to me.↩