Majority Text

Paul S. Dixon dixonps at juno.com
Fri Sep 11 19:09:03 EDT 1998



On Fri, 11 Sep 1998 18:19:29 -0400 Jonathan Robie <jonathan at texcel.no>
writes:
>At 11:52 AM 9/11/98 EDT, Paul S. Dixon wrote:
>
>>On Fri, 11 Sep 1998 10:20:28 -0500 "Carl W. Conrad" wrote:
>
>>>Generally speaking, those favoring
>>>the Majority Text tend to be quite conservative theologically, while
>>>those favoring the NA27/UBS4 text are less conservative or not at all
>>>conservative.
>>
>>Carl, I'm not sure your last statement here is correct.  Most of the
>>conservative seminaries I am familiar with (at least a dozen, 
>>off the top of my head) endorse, for the most part, the eclectic 
>>text (NA or UBS).  
> 
>Paul,
>
>I think when it comes down to it that most who favor the Majority Text 
>or Textus Receptus also favor the King James translation, and these 
>people are, as Carl suggests, quite conservative in general. Many 
>conservatives, as you say, prefer Nestle-Aland.

>
>A = is quite conservative
>B = prefers Majority Text
>
>Suppose:
>
>B => A
>
>That does not mean that
>
>not B => not A
>
>I think that's called the Negative Inference Fallacy or something like 
>that...

Yes, I think I've seen that fallacy somewhere.  But, do you think the 
author really was governed by such rigid rules of logic in his thinking
and that we have the right to read such rules into his statement? :)

At any rate, the statement might be construed as suggesting the
negation, as I've seen some argue in certain passages.  Regardless,
while the negation may not be inferred, it may still be true.  True?
This is why it is good to clarify it, as was done.  Now, no question
remains.  Carl was not suggesting in any way that conservatives
generally prefer the MT, though some may have thought so.

I go one step further and contend that conservatives generally do not
prefer the MT, just in case anybody (including myself) inferred the
negation, or was wondering about it.

Thanks, Jonathan.  That was fun.

Paul Dixon



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