Subject: Re: Theories of textual transmission / Alexandrian text / etc.

From: [email-masked] (Jim West)
Date: Tue, 11 Jun 1996 18:41:29 -0400 (EDT)

>By "earliest witnesses" I mean, of course, the extensive second-century
>citations which we possess:  Justin, Tertullian, Ignatius, the Didache, etc.
>Even the early third century citations in Clement of Alexandria, Origen,
>etc., are very important for the light they shed on both the text itself and
>how early "academic" Christians handled it.
>

>--Petersen, Penn State Univ.

As I have understood it, use of the Fathers is hazardous because we do not
know exactly their habits of citation.  Do they cite from manuscript or
memory?  Since we do not know, it seems that using them as primary sources
for textual reconstruction is a bit risky.

But perhaps I have been misinformed.

Jim West

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From: Maurice Robinson <[email-masked]>
Date: Tue, 11 Jun 1996 23:14:31 -0400 (EDT)

> for textual reconstruction is a bit risky.

I agree on this point, but I should mention that I would be quite content 
to have a NT text constructed from the consensus (majority) testimony of 
the fathers of the first five centuries, since I have no doubts regarding 
the texttypical nature of an edition constructed on that basis.  It might 
not be purely Byzantine, but it would come close.

_________________________________________________________________________
Maurice A. Robinson, Ph.D.           Assoc. Prof./Greek and New Testament
Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary     Wake Forest, North Carolina
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From: Maurice Robinson <[email-masked]>
Date: Tue, 11 Jun 1996 23:24:37 -0400 (EDT)

Although I have been enjoying the current line of discussion, I will be
away from the list for the next two weeks while visiting Wichita to
complete the digital audio recording of the Greek NT (Byzantine text, of
course; modified Erasmian pronunciation) for an ongoing multimedia
project.  Not to worry though -- I plan to return and answer all 
pertinent points after the 26th. *;-)