Subject: Re: Announcing "The Encyclopedia of New Testament Textual C

From: "Dave Washburn" <[email-masked]>
Date: Sun, 18 Aug 1996 00:58:57 -7

Maurice Robinson wrote:
> 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).  

If, as seems likely, I get to have some input into this work, it will 
definitely not end up being the "Encyclopedia of Modern Eclectic 
Textual Theory and Praxis"; I hope it will present various sides of 
the issues under appropriate headings--for example, under "Text 
Types" an article might present the Hort-inspired viewpoint, as well 
as Colwell's, Bob Waltz', and even some variation of Zane Hodges' 
suggestion that the NT mss do not have text-types as they are defined 
in classical TC.  Each theory ought to be presented using in-context 
citations from its adherents, and (as much as possible in a work 
written by human hands) refrain from judgmentalism and caricature.  
Presumably, the average reader of this encyclopedia will be fairly 
capable of looking at the various theories and sifting through them 
to arrive at informed conclusions.  

Dave Washburn
http://www.nyx.net/~dwashbur/home.html
"Just reach out, and He'll reach in..."