Introduction

Biography

A Bib­li­cal scho­lar, Bur­kitt was edu­cat­ed at Har­row and at Tri­ni­ty Col­lege, Cam­bridge, where he read ma­the­mat­ics, gra­du­at­ing BA as 28th Wran­gler (Uni­ver­si­ty of Cam­bridge) in 1886, and gained a first-class in the theo­lo­gic­al tripos in 1888.

In 1904, he be­came a Fel­low of the Brit­ish Aca­de­my. The next year, though a lay­man, he was ap­point­ed Nor­ri­si­an Pro­fess­or of Di­vi­ni­ty at Cam­bridge, a post he held 30 years.

Burkitt ac­com­pa­nied Ro­bert Bens­ly, James Ren­del Har­ris, and sisters Ag­nes and Mar­ga­ret Smith on the 1893 ex­pe­di­tion to Saint Ca­the­rine’s Mon­as­te­ry at Mount Si­nai, to ex­am­ine a Sy­ri­ac pal­imp­sest of the Gos­pels dis­co­vered there the pre­vi­ous year by the two sis­ters. Bur­kitt played an im­port­ant role in de­ci­pher­ing the text, and in sub­se­quent pub­li­ca­tion of the team’s find­ings.