Textual Criticism
Bradley R. Trick
Nov. 7, 2007
Exercise: Take out a sheet of paper and rewrite the following two
columns in a 4-letter wide column(s). Do not discuss.
DEARST MOFTHEN
UDENTS TWHICH
IHOPEYO AREABOU
UAREDOI TJSCT
INGWEL
COMETO
CLASST
ODAYW
EWILLD
ISCUSST
EXTUAL
CRITICIS
Correct 4-letter-wide column(s)
DEAR ASST HENT
STUD ODAY WHIC
ENTS WEWI HARE
IHOP LLDI ABOU
EYOU SCUS TJSC
ARED STEX T
OIIN TUAL
GWEL CRIT
COME ICIS
TOCL MOFT
What is Textual Criticism?
What is Textual Criticism?
The process of evaluating different variants in a
manuscript tradition, usually in the attempt to
determine the most likely reading of the original
text.
Why is Textual Criticism necessary?
Why is Textual Criticism necessary?
• Scribes make mistakes
Why is Textual Criticism necessary?
• Scribes make mistakes
• Scribes make changes
Why is Textual Criticism necessary?
• Scribes make mistakes
• Scribes make changes
• 4000+ NT manuscripts, no 2 exactly the same
What Kind of Changes Do Scribes Make?
DEARST MOFTHEN
UDENTS TWHICH
IHOPEYO AREABOU
UAREDOI TJSCT
INGWEL
COMETO
CLASST
ODAYW
EWILLD
ISCUSST
EXTUAL
CRITICIS
Marginal Notes
DEARST MOFTHEN
UDENTS TWHICH
IHOPEYO AREABOU
UAREDOI TJSCT
INGWEL
COMETO
CLASST
ODAYW
EWILLD
ISCUSST
EXTUAL
CRITICIS
Marginal Notes
DEARST MOFTHEN
UDENTS TWHICH
IHOPEYO AREABOU
UAREDOI TJSCT
INGWEL
COMETO
CLASST
ODAYW
Question:
EWILLD
Do you add the note as part of
ISCUSST the text?
EXTUAL
CRITICIS
Marginal Notes
DEARST MOFTHEN
UDENTS TWHICH
IHOPEYO AREABOU
UAREDOI TJSCT
INGWEL
COMETO
CLASST
ODAYW
Question:
EWILLD
Do you add the note as part of
ISCUSST the text?
EXTUAL
CRITICIS
What Kind of Changes Do Scribes Make?
DEARST MOFTHEN
UDENTS TWHICH
IHOPEYO AREABOU
UAREDOI TJSCT
INGWEL
COMETO
CLASST
ODAYW
EWILLD
ISCUSST
EXTUAL
CRITICIS
Misspellings / Grammar Problems
DEARST MOFTHEN
UDENTS TWHICH
IHOPEYO AREABOU
UAREDOI TJSCT
INGWEL
COMETO
CLASST
ODAYW
EWILLD
ISCUSST
EXTUAL
CRITICIS
Misspellings / Grammar Problems
DEARST MOFTHEN
UDENTS TWHICH
IHOPEYO AREABOU
UAREDOI TJSCT
INGWEL
COMETO
CLASST
ODAYW
EWILLD
ISCUSST
EXTUAL
CRITICIS
Misspellings / Grammar Problems
DEARST MOFTHEN
UDENTS TWHICH
IHOPEYO AREABOU
UAREDOI TJSCT
INGWEL
COMETO
CLASST
ODAYW
EWILLD
ISCUSST
EXTUAL
CRITICIS
Misspellings / Grammar Problems
DEARST MOFTHEN
UDENTS TWHICH
IHOPEYO AREABOU
UAREDOI TJSCT
INGWEL
COMETO
CLASST
ODAYW
Question:
EWILLD
Do you correct the “mistakes”?
ISCUSST
EXTUAL
CRITICIS
What Kind of Changes Do Scribes Make?
DEARST MOFTHEN
UDENTS TWHICH
IHOPEYO AREABOU
UAREDOI TJSCT
INGWEL
COMETO
CLASST
ODAYW
EWILLD
ISCUSST
EXTUAL
CRITICIS
Nomina Sacra
DEARST MOFTHEN
UDENTS TWHICH
IHOPEYO AREABOU
UAREDOI TJSCT = Jesus Christ
INGWEL
COMETO
CLASST
ODAYW
Nomina Sacra:
EWILLD
Abbreviations of sacred names
ISCUSST (and other key words) usually
EXTUAL involving the first one or two
CRITICIS letters and the last letter
Nomina Sacra
ΧΣ = ΧΡΙΣΤΟΣ = “Christ”
What Kind of Changes Do Scribes Make?
DEARST MOFTHEN
UDENTS TWHICH
IHOPEYO AREABOU
UAREDOI TJSCT
INGWEL
COMETO
CLASST
ODAYW
EWILLD
ISCUSST
EXTUAL
CRITICIS
Parablepsis
DEARST MOFTHEN
UDENTS TWHICH
IHOPEYO AREABOU
UAREDOI TJSCT
INGWEL
COMETO
CLASST
ODAYW
Parablepsis:
EWILLD
Eye skips, often because of
ISCUSST similar line beginnings
EXTUAL (homoioarchton) or endings
CRITICIS (homoioteleuton)
Parablepsis
DEARST MOFTHEN
UDENTS TWHICH
IHOPEYO AREABOU
UAREDOI TJSCT
INGWEL
COMETO
CLASST
ODAYW
Homoioteleuton
EWILLD
ISCUSST
EXTUAL
CRITICIS
Parablepsis: Haplography
DEARST TJSCT
UDENTS
IHOPEYO
UAREDOI
INGWEL
COMETO
CLASST
EXTUAL
Haplography:
CRITICIS
An omission of material in a
MOFTHEN text
TWHICH
AREABOU
Parablepsis: Dittography
DEARST ISCUSST
UDENTS EXTUAL
IHOPEYO CRITICIS
UAREDOI MOFTHEN
INGWEL TWHICH
COMETO AREABOU
CLASST TJSCT
ODAYW
Dittography:
EWILLD
A duplication of material in a
ISCUSST text
ODAYW
EWILLD
What Kind of Changes Do Scribes Make?
DEARST MOFTHEN
UDENTS TWHICH
IHOPEYO AREABOU
UAREDOI TJSCT
INGWEL
COMETO
CLASST
ODAYW
EWILLD
ISCUSST
EXTUAL
CRITICIS
What does the message say?
What does the message say?
DEAR STUDENTS,
I HOPE YOU ARE DOIING …
WELCOME TO CLASS. TODAY WE WILL DISCUSS
TEXTUAL CRITICISM OF THE NT, WHICH ARE ABOUT JS
CT.
What does the message say?
DEAR STUDENTS,
I HOPE YOU ARE DOIING WEL.
COME TO CLASS TODAY. WE WILL DISCUSS TEXTUAL
CRITICISM OF THE NT, WHICH ARE ABOUT JS CT.
What does the message say?
DEAR STUDENTS,
I HOPE YOU ARE DOIING …
WELCOME TO CLASS. TODAY WE WILL DISCUSS
TEXTUAL CRITICISM OF THE NT, WHICH ARE ABOUT JS
CT.
OR
DEAR STUDENTS,
I HOPE YOU ARE DOIING WEL.
COME TO CLASS TODAY. WE WILL DISCUSS TEXTUAL
CRITICISM OF THE NT, WHICH ARE ABOUT JS CT.
A New Variant
A new manuscript surfaces that reads as follows:
DEAR STUDENTS,
I HOPE YOU ARE DOIING WELL. I WANT TO START BY
SAYING WELCOME TO CLASS TODAY. WE WILL
DISCUSS TEXTUAL CRITICISM OF THE NT, WHICH ARE
ABOUT JS CT.
A New Variant
A new manuscript surfaces that reads as follows:
DEAR STUDENTS,
I HOPE YOU ARE DOIING WELL. I WANT TO START BY
SAYING WELCOME TO CLASS TODAY. WE WILL
DISCUSS TEXTUAL CRITICISM OF THE NT, WHICH ARE
ABOUT JS CT.
Which text—this new one or the one you transcribed—likely
represents the original message?
Types of Evidence
Types of Evidence
• External
Types of Evidence
• External
• Internal
Forms of External Evidence for NT
• NT Manuscripts
NT Manuscripts: Papyri
P66 P75
~200 CE 175-225 CE
Images from http://www.earlham.edu/~seidti/iam/interp_mss.html
NT Manuscripts: Uncials / Majuscules
-אSinaiticus-01 A-Alexandrinus-02
4th century 5th century
Images from http://www.csntm.org
NT Manuscripts: Uncials / Majuscules
Close-up of A
NT Manuscripts: Minuscules
669
10th century
Image from http://www.csntm.org
NT Manuscripts: Minuscules
Close-up of 669
Forms of External Evidence for NT
• NT Manuscripts
– Papyri
– Uncials / Majuscules
– Minuscules
Forms of External Evidence for NT
• NT Manuscripts
– Papyri
– Uncials / Majuscules
– Minuscules
• Versions (Latin, Syriac, Coptic, and so on)
Forms of External Evidence for NT
• NT Manuscripts
– Papyri
– Uncials / Majuscules
– Minuscules
• Versions (Latin, Syriac, Coptic, and so on)
• Patristic Citations
Forms of External Evidence for NT
• NT Manuscripts
– Papyri
– Uncials / Majuscules
– Minuscules
• Versions (Latin, Syriac, Coptic, and so on)
• Patristic Citations
• Lectionaries
Evaluating External Evidence
Evaluating External Evidence
• Overall quality of the sources
Evaluating External Evidence
• Overall quality of the sources
• Text Types / Location
Evaluating External Evidence
• Overall quality of the sources
• Text Types / Location
– Alexandrian / Neutral (Hort)
Evaluating External Evidence
• Overall quality of the sources
• Text Types / Location
– Alexandrian / Neutral (Hort)
– Western
Evaluating External Evidence
• Overall quality of the sources
• Text Types / Location
– Alexandrian / Neutral (Hort)
– Western
– Byzantine
Evaluating External Evidence
• Overall quality of the sources
• Text Types / Location
– Alexandrian / Neutral (Hort)
– Western
– Byzantine
– Caesarean (?)
Evaluating External Evidence
• Overall quality of the sources
• Text Types / Location
– Alexandrian / Neutral (Hort)
– Western
– Byzantine
– Caesarean (?)
• Date
Internal Evidence
Internal Evidence
• 2 Types: Conscious and Unconscious
Internal Evidence
• 2 Types: Conscious and Unconscious
• Key Principle: What is a scribe most likely to
have done
Methods for Evaluating Variants
Methods for Evaluating Variants
1. Pick a good exemplar and always follow it.
Methods for Evaluating Variants
1. Pick a good exemplar and always follow it.
2. Consider only the internal evidence.
Methods for Evaluating Variants
1. Pick a good exemplar and always follow it.
2. Consider only the internal evidence.
3. Eclectic: weigh external and internal evidence
for each variant.
Practice Evaluating Variants
Which version is more likely to be original?
DEAR STUDENTS,
I HOPE YOU ARE DOIING WELL. I WANT TO START BY
SAYING WELCOME TO CLASS TODAY. WE WILL
DISCUSS TEXTUAL CRITICISM OF THE NT, WHICH ARE
ABOUT JS CT.
OR
DEAR STUDENTS,
I HOPE YOU ARE DOIING WEL.
COME TO CLASS TODAY. WE WILL DISCUSS TEXTUAL
CRITICISM OF THE NT, WHICH ARE ABOUT JS CT.
Practice Evaluating Variants
DEARST EWILLD DEARST MOFTHEN
UDENTS ISCUSST UDENTS TWHICH
IHOPEYO EXTUAL IHOPEYO AREABOU
UAREDOI CRITICIS UAREDOI TJSCT
INGWEL MOFTHEN INGWEL
LIWANT TWHICH COMETO
TOSTAR AREABOU CLASST
TBYSAY TJSCT ODAYW
INGWEL EWILLD
COMETO ISCUSST
CLASST EXTUAL
ODAYW CRITICIS
Practice Evaluating Variants
DEARST EWILLD DEARST MOFTHEN
UDENTS ISCUSST UDENTS TWHICH
IHOPEYO EXTUAL IHOPEYO AREABOU
UAREDOI CRITICIS UAREDOI TJSCT
INGWEL MOFTHEN INGWEL
LIWANT TWHICH COMETO
TOSTAR AREABOU CLASST
TBYSAY TJSCT ODAYW
INGWEL EWILLD
COMETO ISCUSST
CLASST EXTUAL
ODAYW CRITICIS