The Legacy of B.F. Westcott and Oral Gospel Tradition

Chapter 16 The Legacy of B.F. Westcott and Oral Gospel Tradition Stanley E. Porter Brooke Foss Westcott (1825–1901), one of the so-called Cambridge triumvirate along with J.B. Lightfoot (1828–1889) and F.J.A. Hort (1828–1892), was a truly outstanding New Testament scholar of the nineteenth century, certainly in Britain.1 These three scholars, all near contemporaries, educated and at one time professors at Cambridge University, became life-long friends dedicated to engaging contemporary biblical criticism and realizing the Bible’s relevance for contemporary life. Many believe that some of the courses that they set are still followed in at least some areas of New Testament scholarship. Lightfoot is today still known primarily as a commentator on several of Paul’s letters and a historian who rebutted the skeptical historical-criticism of the German scholar F.C. Baur and his followers. Hort is known primarily as the formulator of the text-critical principles that stand behind the justly famous Westcott-Hort edition of the Greek New Testament, published in 1881 for the edition and 1882 for the principles.2 Westcott himself, though he too was bishop of Durham (suc- ceeding the perhaps more renowned Bishop Lightfoot), is today less known— even though he published far more and lived considerably longer than either of the other two members of the triumvirate. Besides still being associated with the Westcott-Hort Greek New Testament, Westcott is probably best remembered today, if he is remembered at all, as the author of several often overlooked commentaries on John’s Gospel, the Epistles of John, and Hebrews, 1 For material on Westcott, I have found extremely helpful: Arthur Westcott, The Life and Letters of Brooke Foss Westcott (2 vols.; London: Macmillan, 1903); Wilbert Francis Howard, The Romance of New Testament Scholarship (London: Epworth, 1949), pp. 55–83; Stephen Neill and Tom Wright, The Interpretation of the New Testament 1861–1986 (2nd ed.; Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1987 [1964]), esp. pp. 35–38, 74–81, 92–116; and William Baird, History of New Testament Research, vol. 2: From Jonathan Edwards to Rudolf Bultmann (Minneapolis: Fortress, 2003), pp. 60–82, esp. 73–82 (although I think that Baird sometimes is too negative about Westcott and his contribution). References to the other works of Westcott, as well as of Lightfoot and Hort, can be found in the above works, as well as numerous other places. 2 Brooke Foss Westcott and Fenton John Anthony Hort, The New Testament in Greek (2 vols.; Cambridge: Macmillan, 1881, 1882). © koninklijke brill nv, leiden, ��6 | doi ��.��63/97890043�0339_0�8 The Legacy Of B.f. Westcott And Oral Gospel Tradition 327 as well as Ephesians.3 There is also still occasional reference made to his book on the canon of the New Testament,4 although probably most books on the canon, even if they do recognize this one-time important work by Westcott, now move quickly past him in their often revisionist mode. Westcott also wrote a number of other works of New Testament scholarship and theology. One of the least well known of Westcott’s works began as an essay that he wrote when he was twenty-five years old, entitled “On the Alleged Historical Contradictions of the Gospels.”5 This prize-winning essay (one of several prizes Westcott won on the basis of his academic prowess) was expanded into his first book, The Elements of the Gospel Harmony,6 and then further expanded and subsequently titled An Introduction to the Study of the Gospels, which went through eight editions.7 This is the volume with which I am concerned here. I wish to return to Westcott’s theory of the origins of the Gospels, examine the response to his work in recent scholarship, and then propose some explana- tions for this response. I offer this contribution in honor of my long-time friend Bruce Chilton, because he himself has throughout his career, in many ways like Westcott, Lightfoot, and Hort before him, attempted to bring the church and academy together, but, more than that, because he has been one of the few contemporary scholars to take seriously Westcott’s work on the Gospels. 1 Westcott’s Theory of Oral Tradition Westcott’s discussion of the origins of the Gospels is embedded within a larger discussion regarding the Gospels, including their inspiration, complete- ness of revelation, and interpretation. He also places the Gospels within their 3 Brooke Foss Westcott, The Gospel according to St. John (London: John Murray, 1881), reprinted from F.C. Cook, ed., The Speaker’s Commentary (London: John Murray, 1880); The Gospel According to St. John (2 vols.; London: John Murray, 1908), the previous commentary on the English text adapted to the Greek text, adapted by his son; The Epistles of St John (Cambridge: Macmillan, 1883), with an appendix on “The Relation of Christianity to Art” (pp. 331–75); The Epistle to the Hebrews (London: Macmillan, 1889); and Saint Paul’s Epistle to the Ephesians (London: Macmillan, 1906), completed by J.M. Schulhof after Westcott’s death. 4 Brooke Foss Westcott, A General Survey of the History of the Canon of the New Testament (London: Macmillan, 1855; 7th ed. 1896). 5 This essay won the Norris prize for 1850 in the University of Cambridge. See C.D., “The Harmony of the Gospels,” in The Journal of Sacred Literature 3 (1853), pp. 60–86, here 65. 6 B.F. Westcott, The Elements of the Gospel Harmony (Cambridge: Macmillan, 1851). 7 B.F. Westcott, An Introduction to the Study of the Gospels (London: Macmillan, 1860; 8th ed., 1896)..

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