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Bentley Layton

Bentley Layton

Professor of History, Classics & Religious Studies

Office:    451 College

Phone:  (203) 432-0844

Email:    bentley.layton@yale.edu

 

Education

  • 1971, Harvard, Ph.D., highest honors.
    Dissertation: "The Treatise on Resurrection (from the Coptic Gnostic Library): Edition, Translation, and Commentary." Director: Helmut Koester.
  • 1970, 1972—1975, private study of Coptic and linguistics with H. J. Polotsky, Jerusalem.
  • 1963, Harvard, A.B. summa cum laude.

Selected Publications

Monographs and Books

  • The Hypostasis of the Archons, Or, The Reality of the Rulers . . . Newly Edited from the Cairo Manuscript, with an English Translation, Preface, and Explanatory Notes, serialized in Harvard Theological Review 67 (1974) 351—425; 69 (1976) 1—71. 146 pp.
  • The Gnostic Treatise on Resurrection from Nag Hammadi (Harvard Dissertations in Religion; Missoula, Mont.: Harvard Theological Review, 1978). 220 pp.
  • Catalogue of Coptic Literary Manuscripts in the British Library Acquired since the Year 1906 (London: British Library, 1987). 511 pp. + 32 plates.
  • The Gnostic Scriptures: A New Translation with Annotations (Garden City: Doubleday & Co., 1987). 568 pp.
  • Critical editions of six texts, editorial introduction, editorial revision of prefaces and translations by other scholars (206 pp.), in The Coptic Gnostic Library:_Nag Hammadi Codex II (Nag Hammadi Studies 20, 21; 1988) , 2 volumes.
  • Critical edition of the work "Zostrianos" (98 pp.), in Bentley Layton, Marvin Meyer, John Sieber, and Frederik Wisse, The Coptic Gnostic Library: Nag Hammadi Codex VIII (Leiden: Brill, 1991).
  • A Coptic Grammar with Chrestomathy and Glossary: Sahidic Dialect (Porta Linguarum Orientalium, n.s. 20; Wiesbaden, Harrassowitz, 2000).
  • Coptic-Gnostic Chrestomathy: A Selection of Coptic Texts with Grammatical Analysis and Glossary (Leuven: Peeters, second edition, revised and expanded, 2004).

Books Edited

The Rediscovery of Gnosticism: Proceedings of the International Conference on Gnosticism at Yale (Studies in the History of Religions 41; Leiden: Brill, 1980, 1981). 2 vols. 912 pp.

Articles

  • The Sources, Date, and Transmission of Didache 1.2b—3.1, Harvard Theological Review 61 (1968) 343—383.
  • A Penthemeros Certificate in Harvard University, Zeitschrift für Papyrologie und Epigraphik 6 (1970) 183—185, Plate IXc.
  • The Text and Orthography of the Coptic Hypostasis of the Archons, ibid. 11 (1973) 173—200, Plate IVc.
  • Prolegomena to a Critical Edition of the Hypostasis of the Archons, in Coptic Studies in Honour of Pahor Labib (Nag Hammadi Studies 5; Leiden: Brill, 1975) 90—109.
  • The Coptic Language, in Interpreter's Dictionary of the Bible Supplementary Volume (Nashville: Abingdon, 1976) 174—179, 2 tables, map.
  • The Hypostasis of the Archons (translation) , in Nag Hammadi Library in English (ed. James M. Robinson; New York: Harper & Row, 1977) 152—160.
  • Editorial Notes on the Expository Tractate Concerning the Soul from Nag Hammadi, Bulletin of the American Society of Papyrologists 14 (1977) 65—73.
  • The Soul as a Dirty Garment, Le Muséon 91 (1978) 155—169.
  • Compound Prepositions in Sahidic Coptic, in Festschrift for Hans Jakob Polotsky (ed. D. W. Young; Gloucester: Pirtle & Polson, 1981) 239—260.
  • Vision and Revision: A Gnostic View of Resurrection, in Colloque international sur les textes de Nag Hammadi (Quebec: Les Presses de l'Université, 1981) 190—217.
  • The Recovery of Gnosticism: The Philologist's Task in the Investigation of Nag Hammadi, Second Century: A Journal of Early Christian Studies 1 (1981) 85—99.
  • Towards a New Coptic Palaeography, in Acts of the Second International Congress of Coptic Studies, Rome 1980 (Rome: C.I.M., 1985) , 149—158.
  • The "Missing" Fragments of a Shenute Homily, Orientalia 52 (1983) 424—5.
  • The Riddle of the Thunder (NHC VI,2) : The Function of Paradox in a Gnostic Text from Nag Hammadi, in Nag Hammadi, Gnosticism, and Early Christianity (C. W. Hedrick, R. Hodgson, eds.; Peabody, MA: Hendrickson, 1986) , 37—54.
  • L'Énigme du Tonnère (Bronte, NHC VI,2) : La fonction du paradoxe dans un texte gnostique de Nag Hammadi (trans. by J.-D. Kaestli), Revue de théologie et de philosophie 119 (1987) 261—280.
  • The Future of Our Association: Presidential Address, in Coptic Studies: Acts of the Third International Congress of Coptic Studies (ed. W. Godlewski; Warsaw: PWN, 1990) 15—20.
  • The Coptic Determinator Syntagm and Its Constituents, Journal of Coptic Studies 1 (1990) 79—97.
  • Two Unpublished Shenute Fragments Against Kronos: Layton, Brit. Lib. Nos. 90 and 91, Journal of Coptic Studies 2 (1992) 117—128, plates 71—74.
  • Four Years of Progress in Coptic Linguistics, Acts of the Fifth International Congress of Coptic Studies, Washington, 12—15 August 1992 (Rome: CIM, 1993), vol. 1, 97—110.
  • A Penultimate Personal Object Morph in Classical Sahidic Coptic, Ägypten und Nubien in spätantiker und christlicher Zeit: Akten des 6. Internationalen Koptologenkongresses Münster, 20.—26. Juli 1996, ed. S. Emmel et al. (Wiesbaden: Reichert, 1999), vol. 2, 347—58.
  • Social Structure and Food Consumption in an Early Christian Monastery: The Evidence of Shenoute's Canons and the White Monastery Federation A.D. 385—465, Le Muséon 115 (2002) 25—55.
  • Nouvelles recherches sur la structure de la vie dans le monastère de Chenouté, Actes de la XIe Journée d'Etudes coptes, Strasbourg 2003 (in press 2004).

Paleographic Facsimiles

The Facsimile Edition of the Nag Hammadi Codices, ed. James M. Robinson, 10 vols. Published under the auspices of the Department of Antiquities of the Arabic Republic of Egypt in conjunction with UNESCO (Leiden: Brill, 1973—78). As collaborator.

Book Reviews

Sixteen book reviews, in Revue Biblique and Journal of Near Eastern Studies between 1971 and 1987.

Translations from German

  • H. Koester, The Theological Aspects of Primitive Christian Heresy, in The Future of Our Religious Past, Essays in Honor of Rudolf Bultmann (New York 1971) 65—83.
  • H.-M. Schenke, The Phenomenon and Significance of Gnostic Sethianism, in The Rediscovery of Gnosticism (ed. B. Layton; Brill: Leiden, 1980) 2. 588—616.

Cartography

A Survey Map of the Cliffs of Hamra Dom (Nag Hammadi), 1975. With S. Emmel and M. H. Burgoyne.

Employment Record

  • 1983— : Professor of Religious Studies (Ancient Christianity) and Professor of Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations (Coptic), Yale University. Affiliated faculty in departments of Classics and History.
  • 1978—83: Associate Professor, Yale.
  • 1976—78: Assistant Professor, Yale.
  • 1971—76: Visiting Professor (Early Christian Literature), École biblique et archéologique française, Jerusalem.

Subjects Taught

  • History of Christianity from the origins to Islam especially ecclesiastical history and literature related graduate seminars tutorials.
  • Gnostic religion and literature.
  • Techniques of Greek epigraphy (inscriptions on stone).
  • Coptic language and theory of syntax.
  • Critical edition of texts.
  • Ancient manuscript studies.
  • Ancient Monasticism.
  • Historiography.

Participation in research projects

  • UNESCO Technical Subcommittee for Publication of Nag Hammadi Codices, Coptic Museum, Cairo. 12/71, 12/72, 9/73,8—10/74, 1/75, 8—9/75, 4/76, 12/76.
  • Staff, British Library Department of Oriental Manuscripts and Printed Books, London, to write descriptive catalogue of holdings in Coptic. Associated research in Oxford, Cambridge, Manchester, Vatican, Vienna, Paris, Leiden.
  • Organizer and director, International Conference on Gnosticism at Yale, March 28—31, 1978.
  • Member of editorial team to edit the works of the ancient Coptic author Apa Shenoute; editor of volumes 4 and 5 of the Canons (in preparation, to appear in CSCO series).

Editing of journals and series

  • Committee of editorial consultants, Harvard Theological Review.
  • Editorial board, Journal of Coptic Studies.
  • Editorial board, The Second Century, A Journal of Early Christian Studies [now defunct].
  • Series editor, Corpus Scriptorum Christianorum Orientalium, Series Coptica.

Major research grants

  • ACLS Fellowship, 1983.
  • NEH Research Materials Program project (director, principal investigator), 1983—85, to develop and write a Coptic reference grammar.
  • Guggenheim Fellowship, 1979—80.
  • NEH Research and Development Grant, 1977—78, to hold an international conference at Yale.
  • NEH Summer Stipend, 1977.
  • Harvard Society of Fellows. Four-year Junior Fellowship for interdisciplinary research in Classical philology, Egyptian linguistics, and ancient history, 1967—71.

  • Academic honors, awards

  • Goff Chair of Religious Studies, Yale University, 2000—.
  • ACLS Senior Fellowship, 1983.
  • President, International Association for Coptic Studies, 1980—84.
  • Guggenheim Fellow, 1979—80.
  • ACLS Senior Fellowship, 1979—80 (declined).
  • Vice-president, International Association for Coptic Studies, 1976—80.
  • American delegate, First International Colloquium on the Future of Coptic Studies, Cairo 1976, as guest of Egyptian government.
  • Corresponding member, Institute for Antiquity and Christianity, 1974—.
  • Oxford, Honorary Member of Senior Common Room, Christ Church College, 1969.
  • Junior Fellow, Harvard Society of Fellows, 1967—71.
  • Publication prize, Christian Research Foundation (Harvard), 1966.
  • Woodrow Wilson Fellow, 1963—71.
  • Phi Beta Kappa, alpha Massachusetts, 1963.
  • Detur award (Harvard), 1962.
  • Harvard National Scholar, 1959—71.
  • National Merit Scholar, 1959—63.
  • President, New Haven Oriental Club (1986—7).

Travel

Far East (Japan, Korea, People's Republic of China, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Philippines, Thailand), India, Turkey, Syria, Lebanon, Jordan, Israel, Egypt, Tunisia, Algeria, Morocco, Europe, Britain

Languages

French, German, Dutch, Italian, Modern Greek (literary); Greek, Latin, Coptic; and a limited knowledge of Arabic, Syriac

Administrative service at Yale

Service as Director of Undergraduate Studies, Director of Graduate Studies, Assistant Director of Graduate Studies for Ancient Christianity, doctoral admissions committee; chaired search committees for senior positions in History of Religions, in Islamic Religion, and in New Testament Studies; for junior position in Ancient Christianity; and various other search committees and departmental and university committees. Fellow of Saybrook Residential College, advising students and serving on college committees.

 

     

 
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