Volume 7 (2002)

Obituaries

Obituary: Dominique Barthélemy, O.P.

Articles

Johann Cook, The Translator(s) of the Septuagint of Proverbs

Abstract:The translator(s) of the Septuagint of Proverbs had a unique approach towards their parent text. On a micro-level some individual lexical items are varied, while others are rendered consistently. This approach can be described as one of both diversity and unity. This method of translation does not prevent the translator from interpreting in individual instances, even where a specific Hebrew word is normally translated consistently with a single Greek word. On the macro-level the Greek translation of Proverbs also exhibits unique features. The order of some chapters towards the end of the book should be ascribed to its translator(s), as should the removal of the names of Agur and Lemuel, who are mentioned in the Hebrew text as authors of some of the material. In the final analysis, this interpretive approach is ascribed to the translator's ideology, which is characterised by a fundamentally conservative Jewish religious attitude. This inference is, inter alia, based upon the prominent role of the law of Moses in LXX Proverbs. Caution should be exercised, however, since there are a number of burning textual problems that have to be accounted for.

Maurice A. Robinson, Crossing Boundaries in New Testament Textual Criticism: Historical Revisionism and the Case of Frederick Henry Ambrose Scrivener

Abstract: In an article published in 1995, Daniel Wallace correctly pointed out that Scrivener's text-critical views were not identical to those of Dean Burgon; also, that it is misleading for certain "majority text" supporters simply to lump Burgon and Scrivener together as though they supported the traditional text in precisely the same manner. Unfortunately, in making the point regarding revisionist misuse of Scrivener, Wallace has himself caricatured Scrivener in a revisionist manner.

Matthew Spencer, Klaus Wachtel and Christopher J. Howe, The Greek Vorlage of the Syra Harclensis: A Comparative Study on Method in Exploring Textual Genealogy

Abstract: Computer methods are increasingly important in textual criticism. We describe and compare two methods of stemma reconstruction: Mink's Genealogical Method (developed for use with the Greek New Testament) and the cladistic maximum parsimony method (developed in evolutionary biology). We use both methods to study a group of Greek texts of the Letter of James that are closely related to the Syriac Harclensis. We show that the methods are fundamentally different in aims and approaches, although there are some points of agreement in the results they produce. The Genealogical Method is most suitable when the priority of each individual reading can be assessed. Maximum parsimony can be used when such assessments are not possible or not desired.

J. C. Thorpe, Multivariate Statistical Analysis for Manuscript Classification

Abstract: The use of multivariate statistics for the analysis and classification of New Testament manuscripts is examined, the problem of coding the manuscripts for statistical analysis is considered, and various coding schemes are presented. The operation and suitability of a number of statistical techniques for manuscript classification is also discussed.

Tommy Wasserman, The Patmos Family of New Testament MSS and Its Allies in the Pericope of the Adulteress and Beyond

Abstract: This article examines the genetic relationships among 34 MSS suspected of being related because of a peculiar shared reading in John 8:8b-9a: "he wrote on the ground the sins of each..." A quantitative analysis detected several independent families, including new family Π members and a dozen MSS forming "family Patmos/M;" this family, in turn, includes the original Patmos family discovered by Silva New in 1932. The results show that whereas there may be overlap, the history of readings is not synonymous with the history of MSS. The more genetically significant a reading, the more potential it has to affect unrelated MSS.

Richard D. Weis, Biblia Hebraica Quinta and the Making of Critical Editions of the Hebrew Bible

Abstract: Three scholarly editions of the Hebrew Bible, each with its own distinct character, are currently being developed. Weis presents the Biblia Hebraica Quinta edition and compares it with earlier editions in the BH series and with the Hebrew University Bible and the Oxford Hebrew Bible. After developing a typology for describing editions of the Hebrew Bible, he concludes that BHQ is a prescriptive critical edition of the collative type.

Textual Notes

Charles E. Hill, A Notice of Corrections in Standard Editions of Two Johannine Manuscripts

Abstract: The author reports on three minor errors in the standard editions of ⁹⁰ (P. Oxy. 3523) and 0232 (P. Antinoopolis 12).

Reviews

James R. Adair, An Inductive Method for Reconstructing the Biblical Text: Illustrated by an Analysis of 1 Samuel 3 (Bernard A. Taylor, reviewer)

Kim Haines-Eitzen, Guardians of Letters: Literacy, Power, and the Transmitters of Early Christian Literature (D. C. Parker, reviewer)

Kim Haines-Eitzen, Guardians of Letters: Literacy, Power, and the Transmitters of Early Christian Literature (Ulrich Schmid, reviewer)

D. G. K. Taylor, ed., Studies in the Early Text of the Gospels and Acts (William L. Petersen, reviewer) — see also a rebuttal by Kent D. Clarke and Petersen's response

W. M. Thackston, Introduction to Syriac (Robert F. Shedinger, reviewer)