Subject: Re: The new TR

From: Curt Niccum <[email-masked]>
Date: Fri, 09 May 1997 09:13:12 -0500

Lake indeed called Westcott and Hort's edition a failure. Unfortunately I do
not have the original source so that it can be quoted within context. I do
offer some quotes which may be useful.

Lake's criticism of W-H was borrowed by K. Aland and applied to von Soden:

"But this attempt must be adjudged a 'failure, though a splendid one,' to
borrow the words of the outstanding American textual critic Kirsopp Lake
with regard to Westcott-Hort's edition in 1904." (Text of the New Testament,
2nd ed., 22)

The following is offered by Lake concerning W-H:

"No one would claim that this theory is final; but certainly, whenever the
history of the century is written, it will be found that in the field of
textual criticism the work of Drs. Westcott and Hort is a landmark which,
whether for agreement or disagreement, forms the necessary point of
departure for the next generation, and in parts at least will be the
foundation of all successful work." (K. Lake, Text of the New Testament, 4th
ed., 1908, 68) 

Finally Colwell's statements:

"The dead hand of Fenton John Anthony Hort lies heavy upon us. In the early
years of this century Kirsopp Lake described Hort's work as a failure,
though a glorious one. But Hort did _not_ fail to reach his major goal. He
dethroned the Textus receptus. After Hort, the late medieval Greek Vulgate
was not used by serious students, and the text supported by earlier
witnesses became the standard text. This was a sensational achievement, an
impressive success. Hort's success in this task and the cogency of his
tightly reasoned theory shaped - and still shapes - the thinking of those
who approach the textual criticism of the New Testament through the English
language.
   I do not mean to suggest that this influence is undeserved. Hort's second
volume is still the best statement of theory and method in this field of
study. His knowledge was comprehensive, and his judgments were marked by a
wisdom so unusual as to merit the word 'unique.' Any one who would think
constructively here must first rethink Hort's thoughts.
   But I would be the last to suggest that his system was the perfect
one...." ("Scribal Habits in Early Papyri: A Study in the Corruption of the
Text," in Bible in Modern Scholarship, 1965, 370).

At 08:36 AM 5/9/97 -0500, you wrote:
>On Fri, 9 May 1997 [email-masked] wrote:
>... 
>> 2.) Dave, where did Kirsopp Lake call _Hort's_ approach "a failure, though a 
>> splendid one"?...
>
>I do not have any sources with me, but I remember reading that Colwell 
>"Scribal Habits in Early Papyri...", p. 370 mentioned the Lake ref.  If 
>some one knows has this reference or the Lake ref, I will appreciate the 
>clarification for myself and for Prof. Ulrich.
>--
>Prof. Ron Minton: [email-masked]   W (417)268-6053  H 833-9581
>Baptist Bible Graduate School 628 E. Kearney St. Springfield, MO 65803
>
>
>
>

---

From: [email-masked]
Date: Fri, 09 May 97 19:34:34 +0100

Gentlemen,

indeed, with respect to the famous "failure, though a splendid one" statement of 
K. Lake I have to confess a fatal error on my side. I thought I read it in one 
of the reviews of von Soden's edition. Infact, it was Hans Lietzmann, who said 
of von Soden, "daß sein Werk in der Hauptsache ein Fehlschlag war" (Kleine 
Schriften II, p. 192 [TU 68]).
Kirsopp Lake said in the opening of his Inaugural Lecture, delivered before The 
University of Leiden on January 27, 1904 (_The Influence of Textual Criticism on 
the Exegesis of the New Testament_, Oxford 1904, p. 3): 

"In the 19th century the efforts of textual critics were directed constantly to 
the construction of the 'true text' of the Gospels, by an examination of the 
evidence contained principally in Greek MSS. and an attempt to to classify it 
historically and genealogically.
	The culminating point in this process was probably the great work of 
Westcott and Hort. This has two sides, a destructive and a constructive - the 
former successful, the latter a failure, though a splendid one." 

My apologize for the confusion. I should not have entered this thread zealously. 
It seems as if this never pays off.

Ulrich Schmid, Muenster