![]() There is no evidence to show that care was generally taken to choose out for transcription the exemplars having the highest claims to be regarded as authentic, if indeed the requisite knowledge and skill were forthcoming (page 9). Early copyists didn’t understand their responsibility to get the words right, but later scribes did. Summary Statement #2 - later manuscripts show more care. People cared about the substance (what the writings mean), but not about their text - the exact words.Īfter a while changed feelings and changed circumstances put an end to the early textual laxity, and thenceforward its occurrence is altogether exceptional so that the later corruptions are almost wholly those incident to transcription in the proper sense, errors arising from careless performance of a scribe’s work, not from an imperfect conception of it (page 7). Summary Statement #1 - the New Testament writings weren’t accepted as Scripture for at least several generations. The conception of new Scriptures standing on the same footing as the Scriptures of the Old Testament was slow and unequal in its growth, more especially while the traditions of the apostolic and immediately succeeding generations still lived and the reverence paid to the apostolic writings, even to the most highly and most widely venerated among them, was not of a kind that exacted a scrupulous jealousy as to their text as distinguished from their substance (page 7). Only when books became well-known would scribes be likely to exercise particular care.Īpplying the Assumption to the New Testament - Hortįenton John Anthony Hort, who some might call the father of modern NTTC (apologies to Bengel and Griesbach), in his Introduction to the New Testament in the Original Greek: The “Oldest and Best” Wording - it would be better to just say “best.” “Early Scribes Weren’t Careful” The Pericope Adulterae and the Oldest Manuscripts - one passage from John 8 demonstrates that the oldest existing manuscripts are a tiny unrepresentative sample of the thousands of manuscripts of their day. Is the Oldest Manuscript Really Best? - for most books, “The reading of the oldest manuscript is preferred,” but this is dubious with Scripture. Not Like Any Other Book - the “rules” of NTTC are the same as the textual criticism of any other book - but the Bible is “not like any other book.” Very early New Testament scribes weren’t careful. I’ll start instead with the faulty assumption, often stated, that drives the rule: I won’t start with the rule, because it is rarely, if ever, stated. Modern New Testament Textual Criticism (NTTC) is “the study of ancient manuscripts to try to discover the original text of Scripture.” Today, I’ll begin to assess the worst rule of NTTC. I have been examining the thinking behind a common expression in Christian writing: “The oldest and best manuscripts say….”
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |