[B-Greek] Recension - implications
Eddie Mishoe
edmishoe at yahoo.com
Sat Aug 8 08:03:41 EDT 2009
Mitch:
Just so L. Wittgenstein does not rollover in his grave, let me give a definition of recension: the composite text of an editor (eg, Lucian Recension) using textual criticism principles, created by using two (or more) other mss.
Now, when you talk about the mss of the 2nd century, you have entered into a very dense area of fog as far as the number and quality of mss. I personally agree with you that there were far more mss in the 2nd century than have survived, and already after the first copy, you have variants and a partially lost original ON PAPER -- the Oral Tradition was used to correct mistakes in second century. BUT, in the first century, the Apostolic Core was available for consultation. This is critical to note because these Apostles handed the second century Church a lot of very accurate mss, spread throughout the Empire -- thus ensuring the preservation of the text by virtue of the quantity-quality and geographically dispersed mss.
Your question partly exposes assumptions that many TC scholars make; namely, scribes basically used ONE exemplar (maybe TWO). This is sheer speculation, and I think just plain silly. But, I think it is quite correct to presume that scribes had limited access to a huge variety of mss, but not such that we might conclude they were writing from some kind of limited geographical isolation. Many studies have demonstrated the spread of written documents throughout the empire as early as the first century. They even know the approximate time it took for a document to travel from Rome to Alexandria.
Now, if the scribe used multiple exemplars, then what s/he is producing is in fact a recension. Later, we find recensions of various text-types, but nevertheless, recensions. The problem is that not all scribes would have used multiple exemplars, employing TC methods, and have access to a wide variety of exemplars from throughout the empire. This last point is what makes it hard to acknowledge recensions in the early stages of Church History.
But, the 'negativity' you mentioned is the same today. The CT scholars are criticized by the MT scholars, and vice versa. They employ different assumptions and guesses, just as Lucian would have when he produced a Byz recension (assuming Lucius was the guy).
The second century Christians were not like the Neanderthals. They were very much like us today. They understood the best way to accurately copy the GNT tradition. They had at times limited access, but they should not be faulted for that.
Finally, your concern for the competing documents (Gnosticism, etc) is valid. The early Church was aware of this intrusion, making reference to it occasionally in the writings of the CFs. In conclusion, the reason there appears to be so many "different readings" in the same ms is because there were very often many exemplars being used, exemplars from across the empire. In essence, the movement of documents (via being copied and sent on to the farthest reaches of the empire) was highly sophisticated in the early times, long before Christianity came on the scene. IMO, what we call recensions were more commonplace in the early church than most allow for today.
Eddie Mishoe
Pastor
--- On Fri, 8/7/09, Mitch Larramore <mitchlarramore at yahoo.com> wrote:
> From: Mitch Larramore <mitchlarramore at yahoo.com>
> Subject: [B-Greek] Recension - implications
> To: "B- Greek" <b-greek at lists.ibiblio.org>
> Date: Friday, August 7, 2009, 9:03 AM
> I find the recension I use, the NA27,
> to be a wonderful text. However, I tend to hear the word
> "recension" used in a negative way, as in the Lucian
> recension. If we produce recensions today, as in the UBS, RP
> 2005, NA27, etc, and these are honest attempts to
> reconstruct the original, then why is an ancient recension
> sometimes considered negative by some scholars today? Could
> it not be that there were far more mss in existence even in
> the 2nd century than we know of and that the need for
> creating a recension was just as necessary then as now? In
> the second century, with all the Gnostic and other
> unauthorized mss being produced, would not a recension be a
> good thing?
>
>
> Mitch Larramore
> Augusta, GA
>
>
>
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