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| Exegesis |
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Textual Criticism
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Definition
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- Textual
criticism aims to trace the history of a given biblical reading,
passage or book by analyzing all manuscripts and ancient translations
(or versions) to ascertain the most likely original readings. Because
it requires judgments about the earliest forms of the texts, the
analysis must be done in the original languages.
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Method
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- Even
though textual criticism properly requires knowledge of ancient
languages, the method can be approximated for students who lack
that knowledge. The adapted method is as follows.
- Begin by collecting five resources for the text you
have chosen:
- two contemporary and academically suitable translations
of the text (the NRSV and NAB are recommended)
- two other contemporary versions of the Bible, and
- a solid commentary on the text that includes references
to terms in the original language (good commentary series
include the JPS Torah Commentary, the Anchor Bible Commentaries,
the Hermeneia series, and the Sacra Pagina series; see
also the description of Commentaries).
- Lay the four Bible texts out side-by-side and examine the text of your passage in all four. Make a list of the translation differences between them; be alert to such things as diction (= vocabulary choice), verb tense, construction and placement of phrases.
- From your list of translation differences, make a shortlist
of what you consider to be the most significant differences.
- At this point, and no earlier, turn to the commentary/ies
you have selected for your passage. What light
do they shed on the translation differences you have noticed?
Does the commentary introduce any new information about
the history of the text?
- Since manuscripts were hand-written until the invention of the printing press, they are prone to certain kinds of errors. A list of such errors appears below. With the help of the commentary, determine whether any of these errors might have occurred in the original texts.
- Finally, read about the textual history of the book within which your passage occurs. Try to place what you have discovered in the context of the book's transmission history.
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- There
is another form of this method you can use if you have two (translated)
texts that appear to parallel one another, but differ on some
points. This is a situation that occurs in the Dead
Sea Scrolls frequently: we have many texts in that corpus that
are almost identical to the biblical text, but differ just enough
to raise the question whether both are biblical texts. For
this situation, follow steps 2-6 above.
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Scribal
Errors and Alterations of the Hand-Written Text |
- Unintentional Alterations
- assimilation
- The scribe replaces one word or formulation with another that is more familiar to him from another text, liturgical formula or hymn.
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- confusion of letters
- Certain letters in all languages can be easily confused with one another, and a copyist working from an old manuscript may therefore misread the letters.
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- dittography
- The scribe repeats a letter, word or passage because his eye goes back to the wrong spot.
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- glosses
- A scribe along the way has added a comment about or explanation
of the text in the margin, and a later copyist incorporates
that "gloss" into the text proper.
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- haplography
- The omission of one word when it has occurred twice, or of two or more words when the scribe's eye skips:
- homoeoarchton
- Two words begin the same way, and the scribe's eye skips from one to the next, deleting all the intervening text.
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- homoeoteleuton
- Two words end the same way (very common in a declined language like Greek), and so the scribe's eye skips the intervening text.
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- interchange of vowel/consonant combinations
- An accident of the ear; as for example when the last letter of the first word is heard as the first letter of the second word (ek sou for eks ou).
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- itacism
- The interchange of certain vowels and dipthongs (vowel combinations) that sounded alike.
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- lost rough breathing mark
- Greek does not have the letter "h," but uses a rough breathing mark over certain vowels that sounds similar. If the scribe does not hear this when a text is read, he loses it in his copy.
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- misread abbreviations or contractions
- Certain terms that occurred frequently, particularly versions of the divine name, were abbreviated in the text, and later copyists sometimes misread these as words, introducing some confusion.
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- metathesis
- Interchanging the order of letters or words.
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- misspellings
- The copyist may repeat or introduce misspellings into the text.
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- parablepsis
- Literally, "looking by the side," this refers to
haplography (lost words) or dittography (repeated words)
because in both cases the scribe loses his place in the
text.
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- use of synonym
- If the scribe remembers the meaning of a word in a passage but not the exact word, he may unintentionally substitute a synonym for the proper term.
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- word choice
- The scribe uses a word more familiar to him when he encounters an unfamiliar word in the text he is copying.
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- word-division errors
- A word is broken at the end of a line and continued on the next, but the next scribe to copy the manuscript treats the broken word as two separate words.
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- Intentional Alterations
- alterations of grammar and style
- Errors and infelicities in the original text are "improved" upon by the later scribe.
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- conflation
- The scribe, working from at least two different manuscripts, conflates two different versions of the verse, creating a composite and longer verse.
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- corrections of fact
- The scribe corrects inaccurate geographical or historical references, or amends the attributed author of a biblical quotation.
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- formulaic additions
- The scribe extends references to include epithets that have become formulaic (e.g., Jesus becomes "the Lord Jesus").
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- harmonization
- Passages that occur in somewhat different forms in different
parts of the book or Bible are harmonized so that they become
identical; sometimes manuscripts are conformed to liturgical texts like lectionaries as well.
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- theological or ideological changes
- Passages are adjusted to conform to contemporary theological
notions (for example, the Samaritan Pentateuch and LXX alter
Gen 2:2 to say that God stopped his work on the sixth day,
not on the seventh day, so as to conform the divine example
to sabbath practice; Mark 3:31 describes Jesus' family as
"his mother and his brothers," but later manuscripts
amend the text to "the brothers and his mother"
to conform the text to the teaching of Mary's perpetual
virginity).
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Bibliography
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- Method
- Tanak/Old Testament
- Klein, Ralph W. Textual Criticism of the Old Testament: The Septuagint after Qumran. Philadelphia: Fortress, 1974.
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- McCarter, P. Kyle. Textual Criticism: Recovering the Text of the Hebrew Bible, Guides to Biblical Scholarship, Old Testament Series. Minneapolis: Fortress, 1986.
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- Tov,
Emanuel. Textual Criticism of the Hebrew Bible, 2d rev. ed. Minneapolis: Fortress, 2001.
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- --------. "Textual Criticism (OT)." Anchor Bible Dictionary (ed. David Noel Freedman; New York: Doubleday, 1992) 6.393-412.
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- Weingreen, Jacob. Introduction to the Critical Studie of the Text of the Hebrew Bible. New York: Oxford University Press, 1982.
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- Wurthwein, Ernst. The Text of the Old Testament: An Introduction to the Biblia Hebraica, 2d rev. ed., trans. Erroll F. Rhodes. Grand Rapids, Michigan: Wm. B. Eerdmans, 1995.
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- New Testament
- Aland, Kurt and Barbara Aland. The Text of the
New Testament: An Introduction to the Critical Editions and to
the Theory and Practice of Modern Textual Criticism, 2d rev.
ed. Grand Rapids, Michigan: Wm. B. Eerdmans, 1995.
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- Black, David Alan. New Testament Textual Criticism: A Concise Guide. Grand Rapids, Michigan: Baker, 1994.
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- Ehrman, Bart D., ed. The Text of the New Testament
in Contemporary Research: Essays on the Status Quaestionis,
Studies and Documents. Grand Rapids, Michigan: Wm.
B. Eerdmans, 1995.
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- Epp,
Eldon Fay. Studies in the Theory and Method
of New Testament Textual Criticism, Studies and Documents 45. Grand Rapids, Michigan: Wm. B. Eerdmans, 1993.
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- --------. "Textual
Criticism (NT)." Anchor Bible Dictionary
(ed. David Noel Freedman; New York: Doubleday, 1992) 6.412-35.
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- Greenlee,
J. Harold. Introduction to New Testament Textual
Criticism, rev. ed. Peabody, Massachusetts: Hendrickson,
1995.
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- --------. Scribes,
Scrolls, and Scriptures: A Student's Guide to New Testament
Textual Criticism. Grand Rapids, Michigan:
Wm. B. Eerdmans, 1995.
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- Metzger, Bruce M. The Text of the New Testament: Its Transmission,
Corruption, and Restoration. New York: Oxford University
Press, 1992.
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- Vaganay,
Léon, Christian-Bernard Amphoux. An Introduction to
New Testament Textual Criticism, 2d rev. ed. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1992.
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- Applications
- Tanak/Old Testament
- Bodine, Walter R. Greek Text of Judges: Recensional Developments. Atlanta: Scholars Press, 1981.
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- Fox, Michael V. The Redaction of the Books of Esther: On Reading Composite Texts. Chico, California: Society of Biblical Literature, 1975.
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- Greenspoon, Leonard Jay. Textual Studies in the Book of Joshua. Atlanta: Scholars Press, 1983.
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- Hendel, Ronald S. The Text of Genesis 1-11: Textual Studies and Critical Edition. New York: Oxford University Press, 1998.
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- Hiebert, Robert J. V. The Syrohexaplaric Psalter, Septuagint and Cognate Studies 27. Atlanta: Society of Biblical Literature, 1990.
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- Jeansonne, Sharon Pace. The Old Greek Translation of Daniel 7-12, CBQMS 19. Washington, D. C.: Catholic Biblical Association, 1998.
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- Person,
Raymond F., Jr. The Kings-Isaiah and Kings-Jeremiah
Recensions, BZAW 252. Berlin: Walter de
Gruyter, 1997.
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- Stulman, Louis. The Other Text of Jeremiah: A Reconstruction of the Hebrew Text Underlying the Greek Version of the Prose Sections of Jeremiah, with English Translation. Lanham, Maryland: University Press of America, 1986.
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- Ulrich, Eugene. The Dead Sea Scrolls and the Origins of the Bible, Studies in the Dead Sea Scrolls and Related Literature. Grand Rapids, Michigan: Wm. B. Eerdmans, 1999.
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- Van der Kooij, Arie. The Oracle of Tyre: The Septuagint of Isaiah XXIII as Version and Vision, VTSup 71. Leiden: Brill, 1998.
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- Waard, Jan de. A Handbook on Isaiah, Textual Criticism and the Translator 1. Winona Lake, Indiana: Eisenbrauns, 1997.
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- New Testament
- Denaux,
Adelbert, ed. New Testament Textual Criticism
and Exegesis: Festschrift J. Delobel. Leuven:
Peeters, 2002.
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- Ehrman,
Bart D. Didymus the Blind and the Text of the
Gospels, SBL: The New Testament in the Greek Fathers 1. Atlanta: Scholars Press, 1987.
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- Epp,
Eldon Gay and Gordon D. Fee, eds. New Testament
Textual Criticism: Its Significance for Exegesis: Essays in
Honour of Bruce M. Metzger. Oxford: Clarendon,
1995.
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- Finegan, Jack. Encountering New Testament Manuscripts: A Working Introduction to Textual Criticism. 1980.
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- Gamble,
Harry. The Textual History of the Letter to
the Romans: A Study in Textual and Literary Criticism. Grand
Rapids, Michigan: Wm. B. Eerdmans, 1988.
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- Hieke,
Thomas. Q 6:20-21: The Beatitudes for the Poor, Hungry, and Mourning, Documenta Q. Leuven: Peeters, 2001.
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- Hurtado,
Larry W. Text-Critical Methodology and the Pre-Caesarean
Text: Codex W in the Gospel of Mark. Grand
Rapids, Michigan: Wm. B. Eerdmans, 1981.
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- Kilpatrick,
G. D. The Principles and Practice of New Testament Textual Criticism, Collected Essays. Leuven: Peeters, 1990.
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- Morton,
A. Q. The Making of Mark, Mellen Biblical Press 41. Lewiston, New York: Edwin Mellen, 1996.
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- Strange,
W. A. The Problem of the Text of Acts, SNTSMS
71. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1992.
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- Taylor,
D. G. K., ed. Studies in the Early Text of the
Gospels and Acts. Atlanta: Scholars Press,
1999.
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- Of
Interest
- Ehrman, Bart D. The Orthodox Corruption of Scripture: The Effect of Early Christological Controversies on the Text of the New Testament. New York: Oxford University Press, 1997.
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- Kelley, Page H., Daniel S. Mynatt, and Timothy G. Crawford. The Masorah of Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia: Introduction and Annotated Glossary. Grand Rapids, Michigan: Wm. B. Eerdmans, 1998.
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- Petersen,
William L., ed. Gospel Traditions in the Second Century: Origins, Recensions, Text, and Transmission, Christianity and Judaism in Antiquity 3. Notre Dame, Indiana: University of Notre Dame Press, 1990.
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- Scott,
William R. and Hans Peter Ruger. A Simplified
Guide to BHS: Critical Apparatus, Masora, Accents, Unusual
Letters and Other Markings, 3d ed. North Richland
Hills, Texas: Bibal, 1995
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