by Stanley E. Porter and Andrew W. Pitts (PP).
This review is from a Skeptical Textual Criticism standpoint
and only covers PP’s coverage of identifying and weighing External evidence
which in their Kindle version starts at Location 2250 Chapter 8 Methodology
(2) Weighing External Evidence.
PP identifies their related objective as follows:
“In this and the following two chapters, we will outline a
(not necessarily the) method for working through variant readings in an attempt
to recover the original text of the NT based roughly on the reasoned eclecticism
method laid out in the previous chapter.”
As a Skeptic understand that the method PP presents is the
method for Traditional Textual Criticism (TTC), the historical and currently
dominant position, but not the Skeptical method. As PP presents their
methodology the implication is usually that what they are presenting is what
they consider to be the most common and what they recommend.
In the big picture PP writes:
“External evidence, most textual critics agree, should take
priority in making text-critical judgments, because it is the most objective
tangible evidence that we have for the textual history of the NT.”
A fair statement for TTC but Skeptical Textual Criticism
(STC) would flip priority to Internal evidence. Specifically, PP lists the following criteria for External
evidence:
1) Date combined with Text-type
2) Geographical distribution
3) Genealogical relationship
Another fair description of TTC and this time also a fair
description of the current state of STC. But, STC is relatively new and
therefore its methodology is relatively undeveloped and informal compared to
TTC’s.
A good methodology to compare TTC’s methodology to would be
the English legal system. The following criteria should be added:
1 - Credibility of
source
A - General = Considered in TTC for Manuscripts (Age &
Text type). Not generally considered for Patristics. Patristics that exhibit
Textual Criticism outlook and critical thinking such as Origen, Eusebius and
Jerome, should have more credibility (relative to Patristics). Others with more
errors per line and more conclusion oriented like Irenaeus should have less.
B - Specific - variation present? = For the Patristic that
presents variation in witness, credibility is less for that specific issue.
2 - Explanatory power
A - Direction (of change) = Considered by TTC for Internal
evidence but not so much for External evidence even though it is the single
most important question of Textual Criticism. When manuscripts/Patristics have
extant evidence of editing/related indications this goes beyond
"what" to "when", "how" and "why".
B - Coordination/Consistency with other evidence = Again,
TTC considers for Internal evidence, not so much for External. Does the
specific "what" witness coordinate with the "what",
"when", "how" and "why" witness of other
categories of evidence.
3 - Applicability (to
the Textual Criticism issue)
A - Scope of the evidence. Group versus individual
reference. For Patristics, witness with a context of Textual Criticism has exponentially
more weight than witness without.
B - Directness. Explicit or implicit. = TTC tends to round
up or down with implications. Implications should be weighted in between
Explicit and nothing.
Regarding categories of external evidence PP writes:
“Besides the biblical manuscripts, we also have other Greek
manuscript evidence that does not play a direct role in textual criticism but
that we should at least recognize and take into account as appropriate. The
most important of this evidence is some of the quotations found in some of the
early church fathers”
By indicating that Patristic evidence is secondary to
Manuscript evidence in the external category PP understates the value of
Patristic evidence even in TTC as TTC does favor the Manuscript as to quantity
but not quality. STC is flipped with Patristic evidence favored over Manuscript
when there is a minimum of Patristic evidence.
In summary then, the presentation of External evidence
methodology in Fundamentals of New
Testament Textual Criticism is a reasonable presentation of Traditional
Textual Criticism with the main criticism being that it has improperly
identified Patristic evidence as overly secondary to Manuscript evidence. The
complaint is that because the scope of the book is only trying to present
Traditional Textual Criticism, the Skeptical reader would not know based on the
book that:
1 1) In
general Skeptical Textual Criticism has a significantly different methodology
with a major difference being the priority of Internal evidence.
2 2) Specifically
there are good criteria such as Credibility, Explanation and Applicability that
are generally not included in Textual Criticism leading to over emphasis of
quantity of Manuscripts.
