Christian “Textual Criticism”

1. Christian “Textual Criticism” OneWorldInsight.com

2. What is Textual Criticism? This is the science of restoring original words of a manuscript that have been altered. OneWorldInsight.com

3. Why is textual criticism important? The original manuscripts of the first Christian experiences were all written in Greek. The first Latin version was written 400 years later. Our popular English translation of the King James Bible was based on a poor Latin manuscript. The Question remains: What were in the original Greek manuscripts and do they contain different ideas than our common English translations? OneWorldInsight.com

4. Tools of Textual Criticism • Age of the manuscript • Family grouping of copyists • Word selection & style • Smooth clarity versus difficult passage • Social commentaries on women • Deliberate shifts in social commentaries • Christology: human, divine, both at once OneWorldInsight.com

5. New Testament Timeline • 150 CE – Marcion makes first attempt to pull writings together, one gospel & 10 epistles • 220 – Church Father, Origen complains that the negligence of copyists is perverse and, “…they make additions or deletions as they please.” OneWorldInsight.com

6. Three Different Christologies in the Second Century • Adoptionists – Jesus fully human, blood & sweat, adopted by God at baptism • Docetists – Jesus only appeared to be human but was not • Separationists – Jesus was both human and Divine at the same time • There were many changes and copying errors in the first two centuries OneWorldInsight.com

7. Emperor Constantine Constantine conquers what remains of the Roman Empire in 313 CE. He Makes Christianity the religion of Rome and orders 50 Bibles in 331 to start the first professional copyists in Christianity. OneWorldInsight.com

8. 4th Century Efforts • 367 - Athanasius compiles 27 books to complete the first New Testament • Codex Sinaiticus – today’s oldest surviving manuscript, no punctuation or spaces • Codex Vaticanicus – one of the oldest, found in the Vatican library OneWorldInsight.com

9. St. Jerome • 390 CE - Pope Damasus hires Jerome to create a Latin translation from all the Greek manuscripts. It becomes the Latin Vulgate. • For the next thousand years in the west the Latin Vulgate assumes the status of the original teachings OneWorldInsight.com

10. Poor Scholarship… • 1500 CE - Erasmus attempts to translate Vulgate back into Greek without consulting the original Greek manuscripts. • This becomes the source for the King James Bible. OneWorldInsight.com

11. John Mill – Textual Criticism enters • 1707 CE – John Mill publishes 30 years of work examining early Greek manuscripts and comparing them to the English versions. • He found 30,000 variations, errors, citations, deletions, additions comparing the Greek to the popular Latin version. OneWorldInsight.com

12. Examples of Differences • Woman taken in adultery in John 7:53 • It is not found in earlier manuscripts, its style is different, and the words and phrases are alien to the rest of John. • Conclusion: this story was not in Gospel but added later by scribes. OneWorldInsight.com

13. Gospel of Mark – last 12 verses • Mark 16:4 – “But the women flee the tomb and say nothing to anyone…” This is where the earlier texts end. • Later translations added 12 verses: Jesus appears to Mary Magdalene, upbraids them for failing to believe, signs of believers will be casting out demons, taking up snakes, drinking poison, etc. • Conclusion: Last 12 verses were added later by scribes. OneWorldInsight.com

14. Doctrine of the Trinity • Earlier Greek manuscripts use “…the Spirit, the water, and the blood, and these three are one.” • Modern Trinity uses,”…the Father, the Word, and the Spirit, and these three are one. • Conclusion: The Trinity theology was added later by scribes. OneWorldInsight.com