[B-Greek] [textualcriticism] RE: Westcott-Hort Greek

Mark House mark at thehousehouse.com
Tue Jun 20 08:00:16 EDT 2006


I've been away from the digest for a few days and just got word of a thread 
requesting information about the Westcott-Hort Greek New Testament that will 
be released by Hendrickson Publishers this fall. As the editor in charge of 
the project, I hope I can shed some light on this new edition. My apologies 
to Dr. Conrad for following up on a cross thread that had its beginnings in 
the textual criticism forum, but the information does seem relevant to the 
B-Greek list since it addresses a recent thread dealing with different 
versions of the Greek New Testament.
Harold Scanlin wrote:

>> Harold P. Scanlin

>> Sent: Wednesday, June 14, 2006 10:05 AM

>> To: textualcriticism at yahoogroups.com

>> Cc: B-Greek

>> Subject: Re: [B-Greek] [textualcriticism] RE: Westcott-Hort Greek 
>> NewTestament

>>

>> Buit I'm still curious about the numerous additional features Hendrickson 
>> describes. What about the Dictionary? And when they say, "Critical 
>> apparatus compares the Westcott/Hort text with significant differences in 
>> the current Nestle/Aland and Majority texts somebody constructed a new(?) 
>> critical apparatus and decided what are the "significant differences."

>>

>> Harold P. Scanlin

Let me provide more information about this project under three headings:

1. The Text: Hendrickson's Westcott-Hort (WH) GNT has been careful to 
preserve the text and formatting of the original edition, including some of 
the unusual spellings of Greek proper names that have been purged from other 
editions of WH. However, English headings have been added to make the text 
easier for students to navigate. All citations of the OT that WH highlighted 
have been preserved in boldface type, with the biblical references at the 
foot of each page. (WH originally had them all listed in the back.) Those 
familiar with WH will recognize this as a very detailed and comprehensive 
list of OT citations.

2. The Apparatus: This will not be a full critical apparatus, but rather a 
comparative apparatus, detailing every place in which the NA27-UBS4 editions 
and the Robinson Byzantine (sometimes referred to as the "Majority Text") 
edition vary from WH. Thus the reader has at his or her disposal not only 
the complete WH text, but (through the comparative apparatus) the complete 
NA27 and Robinson-Pierpont Byzantine texts as well. This gives the reader 
the essential text of all three prominent text-critical schools: the 
Alexandrian (represented in the WH text itself), the eclectic (represented 
in the NA27), and the Byzantine or Majority (represented in the 
Robinson-Pierpont text). WH's original footnotes will also be preserved 
using a special designator. All variants will be included except those which 
represent mere stylistic variations in spelling that are without exegetical 
significance.

3. The Greek Dictionary: This will be an "Essential Souter Dictionary"-an 
abridgment and updating of the Souter Pocket Lexicon. New features of the 
dictionary will include noun cases, adjective endings, and increased 
information about irregular verb forms.

Eldon J. Epp has written a fine Foreword for the edition that details and 
puts in perspective the substantial contribution made to the field of New 
Testament textual studies by Westcott and Hort. We will also include WH's 
original introduction, along with a helpful introduction to the new edition, 
and maps of the biblical world.

Since I know this has been a somewhat shameless sales pitch, I would be 
happy to answer any further inquiries about this new edition off-list.

Dr. Mark A. House

Associate Editor

Hendrickson Publishers

mhouse at hendrickson.com

> Message: 4
> Date: Thu, 15 Jun 2006 14:51:22 -0400
> From: "James Spinti" <JSpinti at Eisenbrauns.com>
> Subject: Re: [B-Greek] [textualcriticism] RE: Westcott-Hort Greek
> NewTestament
> To: <textualcriticism at yahoogroups.com>
> Cc: B-Greek <b-greek at lists.ibiblio.org>
> Message-ID:
> <2FC463E6B2073B4D998C93A858C0D476283D56 at HPLH301.ane.eisenbrauns.com>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"
>
> I'm still waiting for my rep to get back to me about the dictionary, but
> here is what he told me about the apparatus:
>
> "I spoke with our New Testament editor who did confirm, that yes, there
> is a "new" critical apparatus for this edition of Westcott/Hort.
>
> "The problem lies with the word "significant".  My editor said that a
> better choice of words would have been: "virtually all differences of
> any significance at all, save for spelling/stylistic differences."  He
> said there is indeed a new critical apparatus, but only a relatively few
> minor editorial decisions actually had to be made.  This information
> regarding the nature of the apparatus and the criteria for materials
> included therein will be included in the Introduction.  In brief--they
> included virutally EVERY difference, except for the minor
> spelling/stylistic differences which do not affect the meaning.
>
> "For example, Matthew 19:22--Westcott Hort places the word [touton] in
> brackets.  In the apparatus, it is noted that Nestle-Aland and MT omit
> this word.  A quick glance at the Nestle-Aland shows that not only do
> they omit touton, there is no note in their apparatus about the
> omission.
>
> "While the Nestle-Aland apparatus includes the citations of actual texts
> upon which they based their decisions, this Westcott Hort edition
> includes a comparison of Nestle-Aland and MT to the WH text.  The
> original Westcott Hort footnotes are also still included--they are cited
> simply as WH or as {WH}.  Also, the Old Testament citations are still
> included as well, now they are at the bottom of the page."
>
> Once he lets me know where the dictionary is coming from, I will forward
> that information as well. I suspect it will be either Strongs or an
> abridged version of Thayers, both of which are public domain and of
> limited value (OK, I'm being nice).
>
> HTH,
>
> James
>
> ________________________________
> James Spinti
> Marketing Director, Book Sales Division
> Eisenbrauns, Good books for over 30 years
> Specializing in Ancient Near Eastern and Biblical Studies
> jspinti at eisenbrauns dot com
> Web: http://www.eisenbrauns.com
> Phone: 574-269-2011 ext 226
> Fax: 574-269-6788
>
>
>
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: b-greek-bounces at lists.ibiblio.org
>> [mailto:b-greek-bounces at lists.ibiblio.org] On Behalf Of
>> Harold P. Scanlin
>> Sent: Wednesday, June 14, 2006 10:05 AM
>> To: textualcriticism at yahoogroups.com
>> Cc: B-Greek
>> Subject: Re: [B-Greek] [textualcriticism] RE: Westcott-Hort
>> Greek NewTestament
>>
>>
>> thanks to James for checking on  this. Buit I'm still curious
>> about the
>> numerous additional features Hendrickson describes. What about the
>> Dictionary? And when they say,
>>
>> "Critical apparatus compares the
>>  > Westcott/Hort text
>>  > > with significant differences in the current Nestle/Aland
>>  > and Majority
>>  > > texts
>>
>> somebody constructed a new(?) critical apparatus and decided what are
>> the "significant differences."
>>
>> Harold P. Scanlin
>>





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