Textual Criticism

Question 1

external evidence principles

Answer 1

Guidelines more than rules

1. Prefer the reading found in the oldest manuscript
2. Prefer the reading found in the majority of manuscripts
3. Prefer the reading found in the largest variety of manuscripts.

Question 2

internal evidence

Answer 2

1. Prefer the shorter reading
2. Prefer the most difficult reading - aka the things that are most unusual and the things that are harder to swallow from a philosophical level
3. Prefer the reading that best fits the author

Question 3

haplography

Answer 3

Haplography (from Greek: haplo- ‘single’ + -graphy ‘writing’), also known as lipography, is a scribal or typographical error where a letter or group of letters that should be written twice is written once.

Question 4

vorlage

Answer 4

I think it’s the ability to reconstruct the original text from a translation.

You can use multiple texts to construct a vorlage - look for consistency in the other texts.

Question 5

parablepsis

Answer 5

parablepsis (countable and uncountable, plural parablepses)

(palaeography) A circumstance in which a scribe miscopies text due to inadvertently looking to the side while copying, or accidentally skips over some of it.

Question 6

changes for theological reasons

Answer 6

Scribes changing something because they were uncomfortable with someone who was uncomfortable with the theology found in the text

• > These are very rare - there are many changes that are uncomfortable that the scribes left and the scribes were extremely careful to reproduce what they found
• > Changes made at a very late date - We still can find the original reading in some of the witnesses

Deuteronomy 32:8

Question 7

changes made to protect reputation

Answer 7

• > this type of change is very rare
• > this change is relatively late

Judges 18:30 - The Levite is the son of Moses but changed to Manasseh because of the Levite’s idolatry - he was in the class of Manasseh.

Question 8

Process of exegiting a passage

Answer 8

TOCMA

Text
1. Text boundaries
2. Text criticism
3. Translation
Observation
4. Grammar & thought flow
5. Structure
6. Genre (shouldn’t this be first?) - compare to similar genres
7. Word studies - clarify key words, phrases, and concepts
Context
8. Historical context - Understand the nature and implications of the situation when the author composed the literature and settings details from the time and place
9. Literary context - The role the passage plays in the book
Meaning
10. Biblical theology - Build connections with the rest of scripture. What does the passage contribute to our understanding of the bible and Jesus
11. Systematic theology - How does it touch on key doctrines?
Application
12. Pastoral theology - What is the lasting significance of this passage? Keeping Jesus at the center.