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The Textual History of the Greek New Testament Society of Biblical Literature

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The Textual History of the Greek New Testament Society of Biblical Literature The Textual History of the Greek New Testament Society of Biblical Literature Text-Critical Studies Editor Sidnie White Crawford Number 8 The Textual History of the Greek New Testament The Textual History of the Greek New Testament Changing Views in Contemporary Research Edited by Klaus Wachtel and Michael W. Holmes Society of Biblical Literature Atlanta The Textual History of the Greek New Testament Copyright © 2011 by the Society of Biblical Literature All rights reserved. No part of this work may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying and recording, or by means of any information storage or retrieval system, except as may be expressly permitted by the 1976 Copyright Act or in writing from the publisher. Requests for permission should be addressed in writing to the Rights and Permissions Office, Society of Biblical Literature, 825 Houston Mill Road, Atlanta, GA 30329 USA. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data The textual history of the Greek New Testament / edited by Klaus Wachtel and Michael W. Holmes. p. cm. — (Society of Biblical Literature text-critical studies ; no. 8) Proceedings of a colloquium held in 2008 in M?nster, Germany. Includes bibliographical references. ISBN 978-1-58983-624-2 (paper binding : alk. paper) — ISBN 978-1-58983-625-9 (electronic format) 1. Bible. N.T.—Criticism, Textual—Congresses. I. Wachtel, Klaus. II. Holmes, Michael W. (Michael William), 1950- BS2325.T49 2011 225.4'86—dc23 2011042791 Printed on acid-free, recycled paper conforming to ANSI /NISO Z39.48–1992 (R1997) and ISO 9706:1994 standards for paper permanence. CONTENTS Abbreviations . .vii Introduction Klaus Wachtel and Michael W. Holmes . 1 1 I s “Living Text” Compatible with “Initial Text”? Editing the Gospel of John D. C. Parker . 13 2 Original Text and Textual History Holger Strutwolf . 23 3 T he Need to Discern Distinctive Editions of the New Testament in the Manuscript Tradition David Trobisch . 43 4 Conceptualizing “Scribal” Performances: Reader’s Notes Ulrich Schmid . 49 5 W orking with an Open Textual Tradition: Challenges in Theory and Practice Michael W. Holmes . 65 6 T raditional “Canons” of New Testament Textual Criticism: Their Value, Validity, and Viability–or Lack Thereof Eldon Jay Epp . 79 7 W hat Should Be in an Apparatus Criticus? Desiderata to Support a Thoroughgoing Eclectic Approach to Textual Criticism J. K. Elliott . 129 vi CONTENTS 8 C ontamination, Coherence, and Coincidence in Textual Transmission Gerd Mink . 141 Conclusions Klaus Wachtel . 217 ABBREVIATIONS AGLB Vetus latina; die Reste der altlateinischen Bibel: Aus der Geschichte der lateinischen Bibel ANTF Arbeiten zur neutestamentliche Textforschung BETL Bibliotheca ephemeridum theologicarum lovaniensium Bib Biblica BT The Bible Translator BZNW Beihefte zur Zeitschrift für die neutestamentliche W issenschaft CBET Contributions to Biblical Exegesis and Theology CCSL Corpus Christianorum, Series Latina CCSG Corpus Christianorum. Series graeca CPG Clavis patrum graecorum. Edited by M. Geerard. 5 vols. Turnhour: Brepols, 1974–87. CSEL Corpus scriptorum ecclesiasticorum latinorum EKKNT Evangelisch-katholischer Kommentar zum Neuen T estament ETL Ephemerides theologicae lovanienses ExpTim Expository Times GCS Die griechische christliche Schriftsteller der ersten drei Jahrhunderte GNT4 The Greek New Testament. Edited by Kurt Aland et al. 4th rev. ed. Stutt gart: Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft, 2001. HibJ Hibbert Journal HSCP Harvard Studies in Classical Philology HTR Harvard Theological Review ICC International Critical Commentary JBL Journal of Biblical Literature JECS Journal of Early Christian Studies JGRChJ Journal of Greco-Roman Christianity and Judaism JSNT Journal for the Study of the New Testament JTS Journal of Theological Studies KEK Kritisch-exegetischer Kommentar über das Neue T estament -vii- viii ABBREVIATIONS NA27 N estle, Eberhard, and Erwin Nestle. Novum Testamentum Graece. Edited by Kurt Aland and Barbara Aland. 27th rev. ed. Stutt gart: Deutsche Bibelstiftung, 1993. NICNT New International Commentary on the New Testament NovT Novum Testamentum NovTSup Supplements to Novum Testamentum NTGF New Testament in the Greek Fathers NTOA Novum Testamentum et orbis antiquus NTS New Testament Studies NTTS New Testament Tools and Studies NTTSD New Testament Tools, Studies, and Documents PG J.-P. Migne, Patrologia cursus completus: Series graeca. 162 vols. Paris: J.-P. Migne, 1857–86. RB Revue biblique SBLTCS Society of Biblical Literature Text-Critical Studies SD Studies and Documents SNTSMS Society for New Testament Studies Monograph Series StPatr Studia Patristica TSAJ Texte und Studien zum antiken Judentum TZ Theologische Zeitschrift WBC Word Biblical Commentary WUNT Wissenschaftliche Untersuchungen zum Neuen T estament INTRODUCTION THE TEXTUAL HISTORY OF THE GREEK NEW TESTAMENT: CHANGING VIEWS IN CONTEMPORARY RESEARCH Klaus Wachtel and Michael W. Holmes In August 2008 the Institute for New Testament Textual Research and the German Bible Society convened in Münster a colloquium on the topic of “The Textual History of the Greek New Testament: Changing Views in Contemporary Research.” Internationally renowned scholars represent- ing a broad range of quite diff erent views and methodological approaches gathered to discuss basic issues of New Testament textual criticism today. The fi rst day of the colloquium featured the presentation and discus- sion of a series of invited papers, while the second day was devoted to an extensive introduction to the theory and practice of the Coherence-Based Genealogical Method (CBGM) by its developer, Gerd Mink.1 Mink subse- quently expanded his contribution about contamination and coherence so that it includes much of the presentation he gave on the second day. Thus, the present volume documents the presentations from both days of the colloquium.2 The colloquium was initiated by the editors of the Novum Testamen- tum Graecum: Editio Critica Maior (ECM), the core project of the Münster Institut für Neutestamentliche Textforschung, to discuss a decisive phase 1. A comprehensive reproduction of his contribution can be found at htt p:// www.uni-muenster.de/NTTextforschung/cbgm_presentation/. 2. Our sincere gratitude is due to Ryan Wett laufer for reviewing the English of contributions by German authors. -1- 2 KLAUS WACHTEL AND MICHAEL W. HOLMES of their work with partners and colleagues. The appearance in 2005 of the fourth installment of the ECM brought to completion the critical text and apparatus of Part IV of the ECM, comprising the Catholic Lett ers. An accompanying study volume, the core of which will be a textual commen- tary on the Catholic Lett ers, is currently being prepared. In the course of this work, the editorial decisions taken so far will be reviewed by means of the CBGM. Mink devised the CBGM as a method for the analysis of the manuscript transmission with the aim of reconstructing the initial text, that is, the form of text from which the transmission started. Thanks to the continuing work of the Institute since the appearance of the fi rst installment in 1997, the revision can now be based on the full evidence for all the Catholic Lett ers, and this may lead to diff erent results in some instances. For the ECM user—who was fi rst introduced to the concept of “coher- ence” in the second installment (2000), and then to the “Coherence-Based Genealogical Method” as such in the third installment (2003)—it will be much easier to comprehend the CBGM because now there is an online version of it that allows for a reproduction of the tables and graphs uti- lized for the method. The new application (“Genealogical Queries”) is available at htt p://intf.uni-muenster.de/cbgm/en.html. In view of these circumstances—the completion of Part IV of the ECM, the availability online of key results of the CBGM, and the ongo- ing review of editorial decisions embodied in Part IV as the editors work on the accompanying study volume—it seemed a propitious time to dis- cuss the ECM’s achievements, its methods, and associated questions with interested partners and colleagues. 1. The Initial Text: Construction or Reconstruction The concept of editing or reconstructing the original text is no longer a matt er of course. What status can be claimed for the text of a critical edition? Is it at all justifi ed to call it a reconstruction or recovery of a text no longer extant, or is it nothing more than a projection of our own think- ing on the material that the transmission preserved for us? In view of contemporary discussions, it may be both appropriate and necessary to treat this subject more extensively here than would usually be required to introduce the contributions of David Parker and Holger Strutwolf. The distinction made in the ECM between the “initial text” (Ausgangs- text), on the one hand, and the original text as composed by the author, on the other, may be seen by some as a recourse to Karl Lachmann, who, according to his 1830 “Rechenschaft,” was not yet aiming for the true INTRODUCTION 3 reading but for the oldest among widespread variants in his Editio Maior of the New Testament.3 Lachmann’s method4 consists of “a complex of criteria for recensio”: 1. rejection of the vulgate (i.e., the Byzantine text) and the requirement that the edited text should be entirely based on the manuscripts as determined by methodical recensio; 2. “distrust for manuscripts of the Humanist period”; 3. reconstruction of the textual history and the genealogical relations linking the manuscripts; 4. mechanical determination of which reading goes back to the arche- type according to clearly defi ned criteria (stemma codicum). According to Lachmann, the reconstruction of the initial text would ideally result from a recensio sine interpretatione,5 that is, without any inter- nal criteria being applied. He distinguished two main classes of tradition of the Greek New Testament, Eastern and Western, in analogy with Ben- gel’s Asian and African nationes.6 He regarded readings shared by both classes as having equal value, regardless of whether the att estation from both supported just one or several variants.
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