textual variants

47
New Testament Textual Criticism: An Introduction Presented by Clinton Baldwin, Ph.D. 22/9/13

Upload: kevin-johnson

Post on 12-Jan-2015

274 views

Category:

Education


2 download

DESCRIPTION

Textual variants

TRANSCRIPT

Page 1: Textual variants

New Testament Textual Criticism: An Introduction

Presented by Clinton Baldwin, Ph.D.

22/9/13

Page 2: Textual variants

x

The History of the New Testament Text: An Overview

Page 3: Textual variants

The History of the New Testament Text : -An Overview-

• The Bible was written in different ancient languages

• The Old Testament was originally written in Hebrew and Aramaic

• The New Testament was written in Greek

Page 4: Textual variants

The History of the NT Text: An Overview

• No autograph of any Biblical book has survived

• What we have are copies of copies of copies of copies…

Page 5: Textual variants

The History of the New Testament: An Overview

The Biblical books were first written on scrolls, then in codices, i.e., book form.

This form of writing was first composed of all capital letters, called Uncials

• Uncial letters were written in scriptio continua, i.e. no break between the letters and words. Everything flowed into one.

Page 6: Textual variants

Example of Uncials Script: Sections of Codex Sinaticus

Page 7: Textual variants

Minuscules

• Around the 8th and 9th century the uncial script was replaced by the minuscule.

• This kind of writing is cursive. Scribes were able to write faster and smaller. It saves both time and material

• This facilitated the rapid multiplicity of copies of the

scriptures. So many more people received it in a shorter possible time.

Page 8: Textual variants

Example of Minuscule Script

Page 9: Textual variants

The History of the New Testament Text

• Currently, there are approximately 23,000 extant ancient manuscripts of the New Testament

• i. approximately 8,000 Greek manuscripts

ii. approximately 10,000 Latin manuscripts

iii. approximately 5,000 combined in other languages such as Coptic, Syriac, Ethiopic and Gregorian

Since the NT was originally written in Greek, Greek is the primary language manuscript of the NT

Page 10: Textual variants

The History of the New Testament Text

• No two manuscripts are exactly alike

• Why? They were copied by hand under various circumstances

• Thus the scribes sometimes made mistakes

Page 11: Textual variants

.

• Scholars estimate that there are approximately 300,000 to 400,000 variant readings in the New Testament. Whereas there are approximately 140,000 words in the New Testament, this means that there are more errors than there are words in the New Testament

• Note: The overwhelming majority of errors are insignificant and do not affect the meaning of the text in any way.

Page 12: Textual variants

Origen (186-255 AD)

• “…It is a recognized fact that there are much diversity in our copies, whether by the carelessness of certain scribes, or by some culpable rashness in the correction of the text, or by some people making arbitrary additions or omissions in their corrections.”

Selections from the Commentaries and Homilies of Origen, trans.by R. B. Tollinton

(London: Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge, 1929) 109-110.

Page 13: Textual variants

.

• Errors made by scribes as they copied the scriptures were of different types depending on various situations in which they found themselves

Page 14: Textual variants

Types of Errors

Eye Sight: Homoeoteleuton: the scribe skips from one letter or word to

the same letter or word farther down the page. 1 ……. . . . . . . .. autos ek tou

2 kosmos ………. 3 … … … . . . . . . . . . autos ek tou 4 ponhrou ……• John 17:15 : I do not pray that you should [take them from the world, but that you should] keep them from the evil one •

Page 15: Textual variants

Types of Errors

Metathesis:– Changing the order of letters or words. Example:

– Mark 14:65, eλαβον (received), for εβαλον (struck).

– “kai. oi` u`phre,tai r`api,smasin auvto.n e;labonÅ and the guards receive him with blows.”

Page 16: Textual variants

Types of Errors

Of Hearing:

Iticism: e.g. ει for οι or o for w• Romans 5:1 ecwmen for ecomen

Therefore having been justified by faith let us have ecwmen peace with God…. instead of we have peace ecomen with God

• 1 Cor 16:54 vneikos (conflict) for nikos (victory)

death is swallowed up in “conflict,” instead of death is swallowed up in “victory”

Page 17: Textual variants

Types of Errors

Error of Judgment:

Sometimes a copyist made a judgment call as to whether

or not a glossary in the margin of his text ought to be

included in the main body of the text

The troubling of the water: John 5:3-4

Angry with his brother : Matt 5:22

Page 18: Textual variants

Error of Judgment:

Troubling of the water John 5:3b,4

3b … waiting for the moving of the water,

• 4: For an angel went down at a certain season into the pool and troubled the water; whoever then first after the troubling of the water stepped in was made whole of whatever disease he had.

Page 19: Textual variants

Error of Judgment:

Troubling of the water John 5:3b,4

These words first appeared in the margin of a manuscript in the fifth century AD. It was later removed from the margin and placed in the body of the text. Its purpose was to give theological rationale as to why the water in the pool had healing powers. The scribe made a mistaken judgment call when he removed it from the margin and placed it in the body of the text.

Page 20: Textual variants

Error of Judgment: Matt 5:22

• Whoever is angry with his brother shall be guilty before the court

• Whoever is angry with his brother [without a cause -- eikh (eike) ] shall be guilty before the court

• eikh (eike) first appeared in the margin and was later removed and placed in the body of the text

Page 21: Textual variants

Types of Errors (cont’d)

• Haplography :

– writing of a letter or word once when it should have been written twice. Example: 1Thessalonians 2:7; εγενηθημεν hπιοι (“we became gentle,”) for εγενηθημεν νhπιοι, “we became infants.”

• Dittography :• The writing of a letter or word twice instead of once.

Example: Mark 12:27; o θεος θεος for θεος

Page 22: Textual variants

x

Theologically Motivated Errors

Page 23: Textual variants

Theologically Motivated Errors

• Most of the variants we have examined so far were caused by unintentional scribal blunders. However, there were also many errors which were deliberate theological changes by the scribes as they copied the scriptures

Page 24: Textual variants

Codex Bezae (D-05)= 4th Cen

Mark 2:26…. which is not lawful to eat except only

for the priests. In codex Bazae the following words appear:

The same day seeing someone working on the Sabbath, he said to him, ‘man if indeed you know what you are doing then you are blessed. But if you do not know then you are accursed and a transgressor of the law

Page 25: Textual variants

1John 5:7, 8

The father, the word and the Holy Ghost: and these three are one. And there are three that bear witness on earth.

Erasmus (1516 AD) was forced to place these words in his translation of the Greek Bible. The Catholic Church wanted an explicit text to support the doctrine of the Trinity.

Page 26: Textual variants

Correct rendering

• As found in a, A, B, y, 33, 81, 323,et al.

• For there are three that bear record, the spirit and the water and the blood and these three agree in one.

Page 27: Textual variants

Codex Bezae (D) & Brixianus (f)

• Mark 10:11, 12

• Whoever divorces his wife and marries another commits adultery against her; and if a woman goes out from her husband and marries another, she commits adultery.

Page 28: Textual variants

Better Rendering

• The more authentic reading as found in

codex Sinaticus (a) and codex Vaticanus (B) is:

• Whoever divorces his wife and marries another, commits adultery against her, and if she divorces her husband and marries another she commits adultery.

Page 29: Textual variants

Luke 22: 43, 44An angel from heaven appeared to Him, strengthening him. And being in agony He was praying very fervently; and his sweat became like drops of blood, falling upon the ground.

The verse first appeared approximately 500 years

after Luke wrote his gospel. The theological motivation

was to support the position that Jesus was indeed human-

against Gnostics who denied his full humanity

Page 30: Textual variants

Text-types

• After centuries of copying, manuscripts in certain localities began to have similar patterns of errors

• Manuscripts with similar patterns of errors are called Text-types. The basic definition of text-types is the largest identifiable group of manuscripts

Page 31: Textual variants

Four Main Text-Types

Western Alexandrian

Byzantine

Caesarean ?Mixed

Page 32: Textual variants

Text-Types• Western: North Africa, Italy, and S.

France

• Alexandrian: Alexandria, Egypt

• Byzantine: Byzantine Empire (80% of all mss)

Caesarean ?: Probably originate in Caesarea or Egypt. Has virtually been

discredit as an authentic category

Page 33: Textual variants

Dates/Characteristics

• Western : 2nd Cen. • Alexandrian : late 3rd early 4th Cen. • Byzantine : 4th – 9th Cen.• Caesarean ?•• Characteristic of Text-types• Western: Paraphrase, harmonizations, assimilation• Alexandrian: Shorter more difficult, non-harmonious

readings • Byzantine: Smoother, easier, more harmonious,

more straight-forward readings

Page 34: Textual variants

.

• In order to produce a coherent Greek Text, scholars for centuries have been studying the mass of ancient manuscripts and by using different scientific criteria have been able to synthesize coherent Greek text(s) from which the various modern language translations are based.

Page 35: Textual variants

Procedure for Determining the Earliest Originals

This can be summarized into four simple steps, namely:

1. The Collation of manuscripts

2. Classification of manuscripts into groups (text-types)

3. Selection of representative manuscripts from each text-type

4. The application of specific criteria to specific variant readings

Page 36: Textual variants

Determining the Earliest Originals: Collation

Collation is the process of identifying the variant readings in a manuscript. This is accomplished by comparing the subject manuscript with a chosen exemplar and every variation noted.

Page 37: Textual variants

Determining the Earliest Originals: Classification

Having identified and distilled the significant variant readings, these readings are then used to classify the manuscripts into the major categories or text-types, namely, Alexandrian, Byzantine, Western and Mixed

Various methods of classification can be employed such as: 1) Factor analysis

2) Claremont profile method, 3)Teststellen

4) Quantitative analysis 5) Comprehensive profile

Page 38: Textual variants

Determining the Earliest Originals: Selection of Manuscripts

• The most credible representative manuscripts from each group are selected and the variant readings from these manuscripts are then analyzed using the select criteria for studying individual variant readings

Page 39: Textual variants

Determining the Earliest Originals Criteria for Analyzing Individual Variant Readings

• The shorter reading is preferred • The harder more difficult reading is chosen • The older reading is preferred • The more widespread reading is given priority • The reading from the better manuscripts is

selected • The reading more in keeping with the author’s

style is given priority • The reading that explains the rise of the other

reading(s) and which cannot itself be explained by the other readings is given priority

Page 40: Textual variants

NOTE

• Not all criteria will apply to every reading. Textual Criticism is a science as well as an art, therefore the criteria are balanced against each other.

Page 41: Textual variants

Conclusion Having gone through the processes of:

1. The Collation of manuscripts

2. Classification of manuscripts into groups (text-types)

3. Selection of representative manuscripts from each text-type

4. The application of specific criteria to specific variant readings

Specific readings are chosen that are then printed as part of the Greek Bible

Page 42: Textual variants

Conclusion

From the above discussion, a number of facts emerge: •The historical circumstances of the text of scripture influenced its content •The Greek Bible is an eclectic text, i.e., it cannot be traced to any one Greek manuscript, but is a synthesis of the thousands of available manuscripts •The process of determining the earliest original is a long and tedious one.

Page 43: Textual variants

Conclusion

• Because all autographs are lost and because all manuscripts differ, the selection of the actual words of the Bible has to be done by scholars.

• Whereas new manuscripts and new methodologies are constantly being developed, the process of determining the actual words of scripture is an ongoing process

Page 44: Textual variants

Conclusion

• Before we can interpret the text, we must first determine whether or not the text exists to be interpreted. This entire process is called Textual Criticism. Without it we would not have a coherent Bible

Page 45: Textual variants

Conclusion

• Jesus said: “And I will ask the father and He will give you another counselor to be with you forever- the Spirit of truth … and when comes he will convict the world of guilt in regard to sin and righteousness and judgment.”

John 14:15;16:8

Page 46: Textual variants

Conclusion

• The Christian’s guide is more than a book, it is a person.

• God has not only given us a road map- the Bible, He has also given us a personal guide- Jesus/the Holy Spirit.

• The Bible points to Jesus, John 5:39-40

Page 47: Textual variants

.

.

THE END