Sat Aug 17 19:17:39 1996

From owner-tc-list  Sat Aug 17 19:17:39 1996
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From: Maurice Robinson 
To: tc-list@scholar.cc.emory.edu
Subject: Re: Announcing "The Encyclopedia of New Testament Textual Criti
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On Sat, 17 Aug 1996, Robert B. Waltz wrote:

> As for Ehrman & Holmes, I agree, it is the best available summary of
> the state of the art. But there are a lot of holes. I can't blame them
> for leaving me out; I'm nobody. But what about the essay on the
> Majority Text debate? It completely leaves out Maurice Robinson,
> who is the only supporter of the Majority Text whose opinions I value.

Robinson (and his co-editor Pierpont) _are_ mentioned in Daniel Wallace's
article in the Fee and Epp volume which also has been cited.  Of course,
Robinson/Pierpont receive only footnote mention, and that not in the least
favorable (though I do consider Wallace's jibe that I am a true
"Burgonite" as a compliment, left-handed as it may be, within a proper
assessment of Burgon's theories, since Burgon's seven canons of criticism
were openly stated in our Introduction to be our basic working
principles).

> Ehrman and Holmes show the state of mainstream textual criticism.

This should be qualified as "mainstream eclectic textual criticism",
unless you want to specifically define "mainstream" as "modern
eclecticism" (sort of like all the "mainline denominations" when mentioned
tend to include all the larger ones except the Southern Baptists *;-) 

> But mainstream criticism, as Epp pointed out, has hardly advanced
> at all since Hort's day. What we need is to look at the crackpot
> theories. Most of them will prove to be worthless -- but chances
> are that the next big advance is in there. Somewhere.

I suppose from a modern eclectic standpoint my own theory might be
considered "crackpot"; however, should one be able clearly to disassociate
my "Byzantine-priority" theory from whatever is advocated by the TR
defenders, the KJV-Only crowd, and even the other "majority text" 
supporters" who often have questionable agendas and methodologies, I would
suggest that there is at least a modicum of plausibility within my theory
which is defensible.  Some subscribers to this list already know this from
what I have previously posted on this list; some from private
correspondence.  At least there is some recognition that there is a
certain viability in what I am claiming.  Next Spring a lengthy published
article will appear from my own hand regarding my position (in the journal
_Faith and Mission_), which might move me somewhat outside of the
"crackpot" stage.  (I hope all participants realize that I was fully
within the modern eclectic fold for some time before departing upon
recognition of its theoretical weaknesses; I have stated this before, but
it likely needs repeating to avoid any further "crackpot" impressions). 
*;-) 

I will be interested indeed to see if the proposed Encyclopedia of TC will
end up as anything more than the Encyclopedia of Modern Eclectic Textual
Theory and Praxis, and whether opposing positions will be stated fairly
and whether all sides of various theories will be presented by advocates
and critics alike (which of course, if done in fairness, will likely make
the proposed volume so large as to be economically unpublishable).  The
other volumes previously mentioned have in my opinion been rather myopic
when it comes to theories which the editors themselves do not hold ("Hort
has put ... blinders on our eyes" -- Colwell).  

_________________________________________________________________________
Maurice A. Robinson, Ph.D.           Assoc. Prof./Greek and New Testament
Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary     Wake Forest, North Carolina
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

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