Subject: RE: Erasmus

From: [email-masked] (bakker)
Date: Mon, 30 Jun 1997 11:18:00 +0200

Mr. Helge Evensen wrote:

>I did not, of course, assert that Erasmus knew more than modern scholars
>about MSS and TC. My point was referring to his critical ability and his
>competence as a scholar, and that this must be taken into consideration
>when judging his text.

If the eurodite Rotterdammer were alive today, I speculate he would:

1. reject 'his' Textus Receptus or a mechanically produced Majority Text,
when confronted with the evidence now available.
Erasmus was was an open-minded realist, not a dogmatist.

2. exploit comments by textual critics avant la lettre.
Erasmus extensively quotes patristic evidence on theological interpretation
and text-critical issues in his Novum Instrumentum. (However, he
erroneously latinises the Greek byname of Theophylact of Bulgaria (Ohrid)
and quotes him as 'Vulgarius' in the editions of 1516 and 1519.)

3. be with his biting remarks the poltergeist of this list. His
Annotationes are a TC list avant la byte.

Dr Michael Bakker

Slavic Seminar
University of Amsterdam