LAN 402 BEGINNING GREEK II Class IX: Intro to Textual Criticism and Greek Manuscripts

Textual Criticism and Manuscripts 1.1 Introduction  What are the current GNT editions? Their history  What are the major witnesses to GNT? Four major manuscript groups  How to use the GNT?

Textual Criticism and Manuscripts 2.1 GNT – its history and manuscripts Introduction  Latest editions of GNT NA 28 (NA 27/26) SBL GNT (Holmes) UBS 4 th ed.  Precedents von Tischendorf (1872) Westcott & Hort (The NT in the Original Greek, 1881)

Textual Criticism and Manuscripts  Erasmus of Rotterdam ( ) Novum Instrumentum (1516) Novum Testamentum (1522) Used to translate GB and AV (KJV 1611)  Origen the first text critic Hexapla – six parallel editions

Textual Criticism and Manuscripts From GNT to Manuscripts and Back  What text we have in the modern GNT (e.g. NA 28)? A reconstructed Greek text Main text & apparatus w/ textual variants  How did GNT NA 28 come about? History of GNT editions (see previous slides) Establishing the most probable text – closest to the original

Textual Criticism and Manuscripts  From Paul to textual critic to GNT Autographs do not exist E.g. 1 Cor  copied to church in Antioch etc. Today’s manuscripts – thousands of variant readings Scribal errors – intentional, unintentional & translations Finding the most reliable manuscripts [and groups] Date and character Geographical distribution Genealogical relationship of texts and families Weight not count of witnesses Original  copy  copy of copies…  reconstructed GNT

Textual Criticism and Manuscripts The Major Manuscript Families  The four manuscript families 1.) The Alexandrian text – best and most faithful  Characterized by brevity and austerity Generally shorter  Most important witnesses Codex Vaticanus (B) – 4 th century Codex Sinaiticus (א) – 4 th century P66, P75 [Bodmer papyri late 2 nd century]  archetype early 2 nd century

Textual Criticism and Manuscripts 2.) The Western Text – puzzling features  Italy, Gaul, North Africa Known by Marcion, Tatian, Irenaeus, Tertullian, Cyprian  Fondness for paraphrase Words, clauses & sentences changed, omitted, inserted due to harmonization, enrichment & apocryphal traditions Acts is 10% longer than the original!  Most important witnesses Codex Bezae (D) – 5 th cent. Codex Claromontanus (D) – 6 th cent. Codex Washingtonianus (D) – 5 th cent. P38 (AD 300) & P48(end of 4 th cent.)

Textual Criticism and Manuscripts 3.) The Eastern (Caesarean) Text  Mixture of Alexandrian and western readings Question of category  Most important witnesses Ψ - 9 th cent. 565 (9 th cent.) 700 (11 th cent.)

Textual Criticism and Manuscripts 4.) The Byzantine (Koine) text – least reliable  Most recent & least reliable  Characterized by lucidity and completeness Smoothing out “rough” parts & harmonization 2-3 divergent readings combined into new reading  From Antioch to Constantinopole to Byzantine empire  Codex Alexandricus (A), 5 th century Later uncials Later minuscules

Textual Criticism and Manuscripts  Most numerous of all manuscript families From 6/7 th century to Reformation the authoritative text Used by Erasmus for NI (1516) Textus Receptus (Bonaventura & Elzevir 1633)  Basis for all translations up to 19 th century  First corrections of Textus Receptus German classicist K. Lachmann (1831) von Tischendorf (1872) Westcott & Hort (1881) – used for UBS

Textual Criticism and Manuscripts Criteria for choosing the original reading  Appx Greek manuscripts (mss)  No one ms is exactly identical  How many variants? [GNT app. 140,000 words] b/w 300, ,000 variants (Wallace 2010) Max. of 1% of the text in doubt [1400 words] “No cardinal doctrine [i.e. about salvation] is jeopardized by any viable variant” (Wallace 2010)  How to decide the original reading? Generally accepted criteria Probability

Textual Criticism and Manuscripts (a) External Criteria i.) The Date and character of the witnesses The earlier the better [generally] Character of the type of text it embodies ii) Geographical distribution of witnesses  Concurrence of witnesses from various locales E.g. Alexandrian, Caesarean, western etc.

Textual Criticism and Manuscripts iii.) The genealogical relationship of texts & families  Compare the following Two 11 th century mss can be traced to a 4 th century ms 35 9 th century mss traced to a 7 th ms iv.) Witnesses are weighted rather than counted  See the above example

Textual Criticism and Manuscripts (b) Internal Criteria – probabilities i.) The habits of the scribes & paleographical features  More difficult reading preferred  Shorter reading preferred  Verbal dissidence over harmony [tendency to harmonize] ii.) What the author would likely have written  Style and vocabulary  Context – immediate and wider  Harmony and usage elsewhere by the author

Textual Criticism and Manuscripts 3.1 How to use modern GNT versions? The Versions  NA 28 (2012) (NA27, NA 26…) Scholars, professors, pastors  UBS 4 th Ed. (1998) (3 rd, 2 nd …) Bible translators [identical text w/ NA 27; tiny apparatus]  SBL GNT (Holmes, st ed.) Free and widely available “alternative” to NA & UBS – small apparatus Based on 4 earlier GNT editions (WH, Byz, NIV, Tregelles)

Textual Criticism and Manuscripts Novum Testamentum Graece  1 st Novum Testamentum Graece (NTG) 1898 by E. Nestle Used three leading editions of the time Rudimentary apparatus (only Codex Bezae)  13 th Edition (1927) w/ first critical apparatus Apparatus from secondary sources (esp. von Soden)  25 th ed. (1963) – primary sources from Church Fathers Followed majority text largely  NTG 26 th ed. (1979) & UBS 3 rd ed. (1975) First editions to reflect textual criticism of 20 th century

Textual Criticism and Manuscripts  NA 25 th and 26 th ed. – identical text but revision of apparatus in 26 th ed.  NA 28 th ed. & Editio Critica Maior Revised apparatus throughout NT (also digital format) 1 st and 2 nd order distinction removed Conjectures (cj) removed from apparatus etc. Revised text to catholic epistles E.g. Jam 1:20, 2:3, 2:4, 2:15 etc. Largely similar critical signs (some exceptions) ◊ to indicate “undecided”

Textual Criticism and Manuscripts  Most commonly acknowledged textual problems  Mark 16:9-20  John 7:53-8:11  1 John 5:7-8

Textual Criticism and Manuscripts 3.2 Practical example Digging into the use of NA 28  Sections of NA 28  Critical signs, symbols Positive & negative apparatus  Three types of Greek ms witnesses based on quality & frequency of citation in the apparatus (pp ) Consistently cited [esp. papyri, uncials & some minuscules] Frequently cited [minuscules etc.] Occasionally cited (only Appendix I)

Textual Criticism and Manuscripts Textual Examples  Rom 5:1  Mark 1:2  Acts 20:28