Mon Oct 28 07:38:01 1996

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Date: Mon, 28 Oct 1996 07:33:09 -0500 (EST)
From: Maurice Robinson 
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Subject: Re: Original Byzantine Text (Was: Re: a presentation of Amphoux's work)
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On Sun, 27 Oct 1996, Robert B. Waltz wrote:

> But I would also argue that it is the reading of the majority of
> Byzantine *groups*, and the testimony of groups -- to me -- is
> stronger than the testimony of number of witnesses.

I would conclude this to fall under the same fallacy as that of Sturz with
his "majority of texttypes" view.  The Byzantine archetype (whatever it
might be) should not be established merely by finding all possible
sub-groups and taking their "majority" testimony.  This again avoids the
question of historically explaining the transmission of the various
components which are part of the Byzantine Textform.  

Certainly if one wants to hold Ka or K1 as original solely because of age
of witnesses, that is a possibility, and a better one than merely counting
up the subgroups;  however, my objection to that method is that I consider
it a fallacy to presume earlier date of witnesses necessarily means an
earlier text, when in fact such might reflect an early Byzantine text with
intrusions from non-Byzantine texttypes, from which the later Byzantine
MSS are free.  Otherwise, one also will be compelled to explain
transmissionally how the readings found in the Ka or K1 types were
rejected and/or otherwise altered so as to produce the "standard" reading
found in the Kx mass of Byzantine MSS.  I continually find it far simpler
to view minority texttypes as well as minority sub-types as localized
deviations from the primary Textform rather than earlier forms of the text
which is dominant. 


_________________________________________________________________________
Maurice A. Robinson, Ph.D.           Professor of Greek and New Testament
Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary     Wake Forest, North Carolina
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