What version of the Bible do you prefer?

Transcription

1 (Textual Criticism)

2 What version of the Bible do you prefer?

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4 AutoGraph The original letters from the author. Textual Criticism The science of reconstructing the autographs from later copies. Critical Text A text based on textual criticism methods. Codex A Book (versus a scroll) Text-type: A grouping of texts based largely on geography.

5 Manuscripts

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8 NT has been preserved in more manuscripts than any other ancient work: Over 5,800 complete or fragmented Greek manuscripts. 10,000 Latin manuscripts. 9,300 manuscripts in various other ancient languages including Syriac, Slavic, Gothic, Ethiopic, Coptic and Armenian. Dates range from AD 125 (oldest copy of John fragments) to 15 th century with copies done on a printing press.

9 Author Book Date Written Earliest Copies Time Gap No. of Copies Homer Iliad 800 BC C. 400 BC 400 years 643 Herodotus History BC C. 900 AD 1350 years 8 Thucydides History BC 900 AD 1300 years 8 Plato 400 BC 900 AD 1300 years 8 Demosthenes 300 BC 900 AD 1300 years 7 Caesar Gallic Wars BC 900 AD 1000 years 10 Livy History of Rome AD 4 th Century (Partial), Mostly 10 th Century 400 years 1000 years 1 partial 19 copies Tacitus Annals 100 AD 1100 AD 1000 years 20 Pliny Secundus Natural AD 850 AD 750 years 7 History New Testament AD 114 Fragments 200 (Books) 250 (Most NT) 325 (Complete NT) 50 years 100 years 150 years 225 years 5366+

10 Every year, several New Testament manuscripts handwritten in the original Greek format are discovered. The latest substantial find was in new manuscripts were discovered in Albania

11 Over 90 percent of the New Testament text is unanimously supported by all the ancient manuscripts. The vast majority of differences are misspellings, an omitted word, a duplicate line, or whether "the" or a preposition occurs. No doctrine of the Christian faith is put into doubt by these textual questions.

12 Important: Ancient scribes made errors or alterations when copying manuscripts by hand (including the Bible) There are differences texts not all agree which one is correct? Goal: Identification and removal of transcription errors Reconstruct the original text (autograph) as closely as possible. End result is a "critical edition text E.g. Nestle-Aland (1898 today) Westcott and Hort text, (1881) Not just for the Bible used for any ancient text.

13 Start with a base manuscript (usually oldest), and make corrections where it does not make sense or based on other external evidence. Erasmus did this with Textus Receptus (KJV) Westcott & Hort also did this with their NT manuscript

14 Look at a bunch of different manuscripts Independence means common mistakes unlikely Not based on any particular manuscript. External Evidence Age, source, relationship to other manuscripts Older sources frequently preferred Majority readings can identify individual bias Detect changes based on geography Those showing care (marginal notes) Internal Evidence lectio brevior (shorter reading) [scribe might add to clarify] lectio difficilior (more difficult reading) [scribe not make it harder]

15 The earliest New Testament manuscripts were written on papyrus, This tradition continued as late as the 8th century. Papyrus eventually becomes brittle and deteriorates with age. No New Testament papyrus manuscript is complete; Many consist only of a single fragmented page. Beginning in the 4th century, parchment (vellum animal skins) became common. In 12th century, paper (made from cotton or plant fibers) began to gain popularity in biblical manuscripts.

16 Early manuscripts were all hand written. Book-Hand Used for formal, literary Greek works Written in a distinctive style of even, capital letters Cursive Less Formal Could be written more quickly

17 Unical (or majuscule) Consistent height between the baseline and the cap height Minuscule Has ascenders & descenders that move past the baseline and cap height. Generally speaking, the majuscules are earlier than the minuscules, with a dividing line roughly in the 11th century.

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19 Codex (Plural codices) Latin caudex for "trunk of a tree" or block of wood A book made up of a number of sheets of paper, vellum, papyrus with hand-written content Usually stacked and bound by fixing one edge Sometimes continuous and folded concertina-style. The alternative to codex is the continuous scroll. Most existing New Testament manuscripts are codices.

20 Groupings of texts based on location they came from:

21 Groupings of texts based on location they came from: Other Names Alexandrian Western Byzantine Neutral, Minority Majority, Traditional, Ecclesiastical, Syrian Century 2 nd -4 th AD 3 rd -9 th AD 5 th -16 th AD Location Alexandria / Egypt Western Roman Empire: North Africa to Italy France to Syria Texts Many. Notable: Codex Vaticanus Codex Sianiticus Relatively few: Primarily Codex Bezae Style Unical Minuscule (?) Minuscule Bibles NIV, NASB, RSV, ESV, LB, etc Vetus Latina Eastern Roman Empire: (Turkey) 80% of existing texts (eastern church was greek speaking for 1000 yrs) KJV, NKJV, Luther, Tyndale, Coverdale, Geneva, etc

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23 Housed in British Library Found at Saint Catherine s Monastery on Mt Sanai in 1844 Had complete OT & NT + Epistle of Barnabas & Shepherd of Hermes ½ of OT survived and all of NT. Dates from BC in uncial letters on parchment Some think it is closets to autographs It is recognized as most heavily corrected (by scribes)

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25 Housed in Vatican Library Contains almost a complete Septuagint (OT + Apocrypha) NT mostly complete - missing several book (pages gone) were replaced with 15 th century minuscule Dates from in uncial letters on vellum

26 Codex Vaticanus shows a medieval scribe criticizing a predecessor for changing the text: "Fool and knave, leave the old reading, don't change it!

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30 The democratic method. Essentially, each Greek manuscript has one vote Whichever variant has the most votes wins. The Majority Text method does not take into account for age & location of the manuscripts.

31 NIV, NASB, ESV, BLB, etc RV Westcott-Hart [1881] Nestle-Aland [ ] Tischendorf [ ] Weymouth [ ] KJV Reformation Bibles Textus Receptus (Erasmus) [ ] Alexandrian (Unical) Byzantine (Minuscule) others others Vaticanus others others Sinaiticus Western majority (80%) (Older) 1000 s of Fragments & Manuscripts (Newer)

32 Early 15 th century printing press Guttenberg Bible (Latin Vulgate) Late 15 th century Greek language rediscovered in the West Latin Vulgate was compared to Greek text many errors found. Reformation was underway: Bible being translated into many languages. Acknowledged need of a reliable base from which to do this. Several efforts to publish a reliable Greek NT. Spain: Complutensian Polyglot Bible (Greek/Latin parallel) Erasmus (Dutch theologian) Working on a new Latin version (better than Vulgate) Also did a Greek Version Either to show superiority of his Latin or- to beat Spain

33 Based on half dozen manuscripts from 12 th century Made notes directly on manuscript and sent to printer Whole thing done in 8 months. First printing 1516 updates through 1633 (other contributors) Other variations to late 17 hundreds. Based on Byzantine texts (but not same ones used by others), used Vulgate for missing parts (e.g revelation) Erasmus adjusted the text in many places to correspond with readings found in the Vulgate, or as quoted in the Church Fathers; Although the Textus Receptus is classified by scholars as a late Byzantine text, it differs in nearly two thousand readings from the standard form of that text-type.

34 Erasmus published first in 1516, followed by 1519, 1527, 1535 updates to correct errors (leveraging some of the Spanish work) Others continued his work, in That version s preface said: Textum ergo habes, nun cab omnibus receptum, the [reader] now has the text that is received by all. This Received Text became the dominant Greek text of the New Testament for the following 250 years Bibles using this text (there are many) KJV / NKJV Luther Bible Tyndale Bible Modern English Version

35 NIV, NASB, ESV, BLB RV Westcott-Hart [1881] Nestle-Aland [ ] Tischendorf [ ] Weymouth [ ] KJV Reformation Bibles Textus Receptus (Erasmus) [ ] Alexandrian (Unical) Byzantine (Minuscule) others others Vaticanus others others Sinaiticus Western majority (80%) (Older) 1000 s of Fragments & Manuscripts (Newer)

36 Goal of textual criticism: get close to autograph Two important documents: 1. The New Testament in the Original Greek aka Westcott & Hort (1881) Relied heavily on Vaticanus and Sinaiticus. also Bezae (Western) Preferred Lectio brevior (shorter reading) Some techniques they used are now discounted. 2. Novum Testamentum Graece Aka Nestle-Aland (1898 present, 28 th edition in 2012) Original based on: Tischendorf, Westcott/Hort, Weymouth In 1960 s major change & based on original manuscripts Very close to Westcott & Hort Relies more heavily on Unical, but also uses Minuscule. NASB is close to a word for word translation

37 New American Standard 1 American Standard Version 2 New American Standard New American Bible 4 English Standard Version 5 Holman Christian Standard 6 New Revised Standard Version 7 New English Translation 8 Revised Standard Version 9 New International Version 10 New Jerusalem Bible 11 Revised English Bible 12 Jewish New Testament 13 Good News Bible 14 New Living Translation 15 Douay-Rheims (American) 16 The Living Bible 17 Murdock Peshitta translation 18 New King James Bible 19 King James Version 20

38 Which are closer to the autograph? Older documents? Preponderance of documents? Why so many of the Byzantine texts? Western = Roman Catholic Started using latin, Vulgate (thus fewer & fewer greek copies) Eastern = Orthodox Greek speaking for years

39 No doctrinal issues Most differences are trivial Ex: Jesus Christ vs Christ Jesus Differences in a, the A word being dropped A duplicate line

40 Whole Sentences/versus dropped Ex: John 5:4, Acts 8:37, 1 John 5:7, Mark 16:9-20 KJV include such differences NASB will put them in brackets & footnote Some versions omit them. Why? Not in minority (older ) texts Scholars believe they were added &not in original (Shorter reading ) Erasmus and John 5:7-8 Story ( Comma Johanneum ) Read several translations! Compare original manuscripts for yourself:

41 Jn 6:47 Jn 9:4 KJV He that believeth on me hath everlasting life I must work the works of him that sent me 1 Jn 5:7 For there are three that bear record in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost: and these three are one. Acts 8:37 If thou believest with all thine heart, thou mayest. And he answered and said, I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God. NASB He who believes has eternal life. We must work the works of Him who sent Me For there are three that testify [In Brackets]

42 Acts 12:4 uses Easter and not Passover Galatians 2:7 KJV: But contrariwise, when they saw that the gospel of the uncircumcision was committed unto me, as the gospel of the circumcision was unto Peter NASB: But on the contrary, seeing that I had been entrusted with the gospel to the uncircumcised, just as Peter had been to the circumcised What is the difference?

43 Translation Type Attributes Bibles Literal Word For Word Thought For Thought Dynamic Equivalence This is what is says Can be harder to understand Wooden This is what it means Easy to read. Some interpretation required. NASB, ESV, KJV NIV Paraphrase Far end of Dynamic Equivalence Very easy to read. Large liberties taken in interpretation LB, NLT, MSG,

44 Not Present in 1 st & 2 nd Editions Oldest Gk manuscripts do not include it. Did not appear in Latin Vulgate. Is found in other Latin manuscripts. Catholic Church wanted it included (supported Trinitarianism) Erasmus included in 3 rd edition to avoid slander. He was "convinced that it did not belong to the original text of l John."

45 NIV, NASB, ESV, BLB RV Westcott-Hart [1881] Nestle-Aland [ ] Tischendorf [ ] Weymouth [ ] KJV Reformation Bibles Textus Receptus (Erasmus) [ ] Alexandrian (Unical) Byzantine (Minuscule) others others Vaticanus others others Sinaiticus Western majority (80%) (Older) 1000 s of Fragments & Manuscripts (Newer)

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48 Aleppo Codex (920 AD) Missing many books Leningrad Codex (1008 AD) Complete [ BlueLetterBible ] Dead Sea Srcolls (~150 BC) Fragments, Complete Isaiah

49 Hebrew Text (lost) Septuagint (GK) [ BC] { Quoted by Jesus & NT writers } (Probable Linkage) Hebrew Text (lost) Targum [ ] Masoretic (Hebrew) [100 AD] Hebrew Text (lost) Peshitta (Syrian Bible) OT & NT [~150 AD] Dead Sea Scrolls [ BC] Septuagint Hebrew OT (80% Masoretic) (Time)

50 A = Codex Alexandrinus B = Codex Vaticanus א aleph = Codex Sinaiticus

51 Douglas Stuart, Professor OT Studies, Gordon-Conwell: "It is fair to say that the verses, chapters, and books of the [OT] Bible would read largely the same, and would leave the same impression with the reader, even if one adopted virtually every possible alternative reading to those now serving as the basis for current English translations.

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