BI500 Notes

Interpretive Practices by Marianne Thompson


9–29–14
Introduction to the Course: Reading the Bible I. Reading the Bible A. One Bible study guide’s approach…

  • Acts 1:1–11 Bible study about you or the Bible?

B. Its assumptions about… 1. Audience 2. Purpose 3. Content 4. Formation of readers and their habits 5. What kind of book is the Bible? 6. What is the goal in reading the Bible? C. The “posture” of readers of Scripture…

  • 1. Uninformed
  • 2. Unformed
  • 3. Informed
  • 4. Formed II. Some models for reading the Bible A. Traditional model 1. What the text says applies to us 2. Text is communicating directly to us a. “See I am doing a new thing” (Isa 43:19) b. “Surely I know the plans I have for you” (Jer 29:11) c. “Enlarge the site of your tent” (Isa 54:2) B. Scientific Model 1. Historical context is key 2. Text is about “there” not “here” 3. What do we do with the historical information and context? a. Ignore it b. Allow it to silence the text c. Allegorize it (“disciples in the boat on the lake”) d. Find points of convergence C. Discursive Model

1. What is the discourse in the text? 2. What discourse do we have with the text? 3. How does what we bring to the text impede, shape, or aid hearing its discourse? 4. Active role of the reader 5. Location of the reader

D. Text, reader, and contexts

  • Be haunted by the texts
  • Learn to recognize and question your own framework(s) for interpretation
  • Recognize the multiple contexts that shape the text and the reader

10.06.14 Textual Criticism of The Old and New Testament

I. Textual criticism

Definition: establishing the original version of a document; tracing the transmission of an original version. II. The situation in the New Testament

A. Loss of the original texts (autographs) of the NT B. Over 5300 hand-written copies (“manuscripts”) in Greek C. 8000 other early translations into Syriac, Latin, Coptic, Armenian (“versions”) D. Scribal errors in reproducing texts/versions by hand copying 1. Accidental 2. Intentional: stylistic; harmonizing; theological

III. Goal: the production of a “critical text”

A. Hebrew: BHS (Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia) B. Greek NT: NA28/UBS5 (Nestle-Aland; United Bible Society)

IV. Definition of key terms

A. “Witnesses” to a “reading” or “variant” 1. Greek manuscripts

a. Papyri: (1) writing material; (2) also manuscript written upon it (till 5th c.); (3) p 46, p66; 97 fragments/sections; oldest AD125 (p52, John 18:31–33, 37–38) b. Codex: book form of ancient manuscripts; all our ancient papyri mss are apparently in codex form. c. Uncial (1) style of handwriting (2) manuscripts til 9th c. (3) designated by capital letters, numbers (B = 03 = Vaticanus); 300 uncials d. Minuscule (1) replaces uncial by 10th c.; (2) 90% of our Greek texts; 2818 mss; 56 have the whole NT (3) designated by arabic numbers (137, 2386) e. Lectionaries: Greek; mostly from 10th c. & later; designated by cursive l and arabic number (over 2200 lectionaries)
B. Versions:
Latin, Syriac, Armenian, Coptic, Ethiopic; designated by abbreviations (arm, syr, eth); Old Latin versions (it) from 2nd c. (over 8000)
C. Patristic citations:
quotations of texts; cited by name of church father
D. “Families” of texts

1. Alexandrian a. Egpt; early; austere, brief, less harmonized b. Vaticanus: B; Sinaiticus a; p66, p 75; Alexandrinus (in Acts, Paul) 2. Western: paraphrastic, additions, harmonizing; Old Latin; Codex Bezae [D] in Gospels/Acts; Acts 10% longer; church Fathers; widespread, early, not as consistent as Alexandrian text 3. Byzantine text: latest; lucidity, completeness; conflated readings; Alexandrinus (Gospels); “majority text,” 80% of all mss; Byz; 95% are from 8th c. and later; the basis for earliest printed Greek NT and the KJV

V. Rules/guidelines for assessing a textual variant

A. Assess the external evidence (manuscripts; versions; patristic citations) for each variant reading in terms of… 1. the quality of the evidence: manuscripts are to be “weighed” not counted
2. the date or age of the text
3. the geographical distribution of the evidence B. Assess the internal evidence 1. Transcriptional probability a. Fundamental rule: The reading which best explains the origin of the other readings is preferable b. Prefer the more difficult reading. c. Prefer the shorter reading. d. Prefer the least harmonized reading (especially in the Synoptic Gospels).
2. Intrinsic probability: Prefer the reading which is closest to the author’s style & theology. 3. Weigh external and internal evidence in coming to a conclusion and making a decision about the original reading of the text (reasoned eclecticism) a. Dominant approach/method b. Lies behind the NA/UBS texts c. Slight preference to (1) external criteria and (2 “the variant that best explains the others”

VI. The Old Testament

A. The Masoretic text (MT)

1. Leningrad Codex (1009) 2. The Aleppo Codex (930); missing the Pentateuch 3. Sanderson: it is a “witness to the HB (Hebrew Bible ), not the HB” (often but not always the best witness to the Bible)

B. The Samaritan Pentateuch (Pentateuch only; in Hebrew)

1. Grammatical differences from MT 2. Additional material 3. Some variant readings are corroborated in the DSS (pre-Samaritan)
C. The Septuagint (LXX: a “version” or “translation”)

1. Some complete MSS
2. Translated by Jews, preserved by Christians
3. Jeremiah: 1/7 shorter than MT and has blocks of material in different order; the DSS agree with the LXX in both order and length
4. Other versions: Old Latin, an old translation of the LXX; the Vulgate (late 4th c.); the Targums (Aramaic); the Peshitta (Syriac) D. The DSS (Dead Sea Scrolls)

1. The oldest extant biblical texts (250–135 BC) 2. Different types/tendencies a. Proto-Masoretic (consonants very similar to MT) b. Pre-SP c. Readings like the Hebrew that seems to underlie the LXX 3. Mostly fragmentary (exceptions: the great “Isaiah Scroll”)