AKA Lower Criticism
Definition
An analysis of the date, unity, and authorship of the biblical writings in search of a hypothetical "original" text with limited resources that are in varying degrees of deterioration.
(The Origin of the Bible: Newly Updated by F. F. Bruce, J. I. Packer, Philip W. Comfort, and Carl F. H. Henry, 2020. Texts and Manuscripts of the Old Testament by Mark R. Norton, Page 155)
Process
- Collection and collation of existing manuscripts translations, and quotations
- Development of theory and methodology that will enable the critic to use the gathered information to reconstruct the most accurate text of the biblical materials
- Reconstruction of the history of the transmission of the text in order to identify the various influences affecting the texts
- Evaluation of specific variant readings in light of textual evidence, theology, and history
Textual Criticism of the Bible
Textual criticism is used to analyze manuscripts of varying degrees of deterioration and ascertain the "original" text. The New Testament is more certain, as it was mostly written within the A.D. 1st century and has complete manuscripts from only a few hundred years later. The Old Testament was written over a 1000 years with parts dating to at least the 12th century B.C., and its manuscripts are 2000 years removed from the original.
The New Testament was written primarily in the A.D. 1st century, and complete manuscripts exist that were written only a few hundred years later. The Old Testament, however, was written over a thousand-year period with the oldest parts dating to at least the 12th century B.C. Its earliest known Hebrew manuscripts are medieval, 2000 years removed from the ancient times. Consequently, Old Testament textual history is more complex than the New Testament.
Until the Dead Sea Scrolls were discovered in the 1940s-1950s, the significant witnesses to the early Hebrew Scriptures were secondary Aramaic, Greek, and Latin translations. As translations, they are subject to sectarian and contextual alterations and interpolations and are of limited use to critics. The Dead Sea Scrolls are primary witnesses, though, and they generally affirm the accuracy of the Masoretic Text.
As the Masoretic Text did not stabilize until A.D. 500 and its development is not well-understood, the primary task of Old Testament textual critics has been to compare earlier writings in order to discover how the Masoretic Text came to be, and how it and earlier witnesses of the Hebrew Bible are related.
(The Origin of the Bible: Newly Updated by F. F. Bruce, J. I. Packer, Philip W. Comfort, and Carl F. H. Henry, 2020. Texts and Manuscripts of the Old Testament by Mark R. Norton, Page 155-157)
Versions with value to textual criticism
Before the discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls in the 1940s-1950s, scholars relied on Aramaic, Greek, and Latin translations of the Old Testament. Most medieval manuscripts of the Old Testament exhibit a fairly standardized form of the Hebrew text after the work of the Masoretes. Most of the important manuscripts from the A.D. 11th century or later reflect this same textual tradition. But since the Masoretic Text did not stabilize until well after A.D. 500, so its development in preceding centuries is not well-understood. The Masoretic texts include the Codex Cairensis, a collection of The Prophets from 895 A.D., and the Aleppo Codex, a 950 A.D. complete Old Testament.
The Dead Sea Scrolls became the earliest Hebrew Bible witnesses in place of the Nash Papyrus by a 1000 years at discovery. They match the Masoretic texts well despite the age gap, containing no changes in substance and remarkable matches in spelling and grammar. They contain a complete copy of Isaiah, a paraphrase of Genesis, and 200 copies of Bible books. At least fragments of all Hebrew Bible books are included, except for Esther.
Other significant manuscripts have been found, like the Cairo Geniza (captures the development of the Masoretic work prior to the Masoretic standard) and the Samaritan Pentateuch (contains 6000 differences from the Masoretic text and captures the complexity of the Old Testament textual tradition prior to the Masoretic standard).
Greek manuscripts are poor for textual criticism, as the Septuagint is the only surviving intact Bible and has inconsistent translation standards. The Aramaic Targums are also poor, as the translation is dynamic, extremely interpretative, and includes paraphrases, explanations, and contemporary reinterpretations of the text.
The Syriac Version or Peshitta ("simple") and the Syro-Hexapla were used by the Syriac (eastern Aramaic) church. The Peshitta's origin and purpose is unknown, so it lends little insight into the history of the Hebrew text.
The Old Latin version was translated from the Septuagint before A.D. 160 (Tertullian apparently used a copy by then) or 258 (Cyprian used a copy by then), so it is a valuable witness to the early Septuagint text and provides hints to the nature of the Hebrew text at the time of the Septuagint's translation. No complete manuscript has survived, but fragmentary manuscripts exist.
Jerome's Vulgate was originally commissioned as a Latin translation from the Septuagint, but between A.D. 390 and 405, Jerome used the Hebrew text used in Palestine as the base text. He was still reliant on the various Greek versions and Latin translations, so the Vulgate's value to textual criticism is its pre-Masoretic witness to the Hebrew Bible, compromised by the influence of pre-existing Greek translations.
Other ancient versions tend to be primarily dependent on the Septuagint, including the Coptic versions and Ethiopic version, so they are valuable early witnesses to the Septuagint. The Armenian version used the Syriac Peshitta as its textual base. Arabic translations are also based on the Septuagint, but they are too late to be useful (circa A.D. 900).
The church fathers quoted heavily from the Bible, so the range of quotations that cover most of the New Testament and parts of the Old provide evidence on the history of transmission of variant readings and text types.
The Origin of the Bible: Newly Updated by F. F. Bruce, J. I. Packer, Philip W. Comfort, and Carl F. H. Henry, 2020. Texts and Manuscripts of the Old Testament by Mark R. Norton, Page 155-173)
Transmission and Standardization of the text
Tracking the transmission of the Hebrew text is important when evaluating variant readings. The early history of the Old Testament text as reflected in the Dead Sea Scrolls, Samaritan Pentateuch, Septuagint, and ancient Hebrew text show fluidity and diversity that suggests the standardizing process did not begin at the earliest stages. For example, the materials from the Qumran community do not reflect any frustration with multiple versions of Hebrew scriptures.
Diversity may point to the existence of local texts, where various localities (Babylon, Palestine, Egypt) had differing text types. It may also point to a precanonical fluidity, meaning until canonization was complete, accurate reproduction was not viewed as important. Note that modern scholarship has identified as closest to the original was among the Dead Sea texts (like the large Isaiah scroll).
The destruction of the Temple in A.D. 70 drove a need for standardization of the consonantal text. The texts found at Wadi Murabba'at (copied during the 1st centuries A.D.) reflect the new stage. Scholars reporting on the discovery were disappointed to find so few variations from the standard Masoretic Text despite them being dated slightly later than the Dead Sea Scrolls. It seems the Hebrew consonantal text was already approaching a standard in Palestine by the first centuries A.D. Scholars have gone as far as to identify the Wadi Murabba'at texts as a proto-Masoretic standard.
Masoretic standardization was practiced by identifying one text as normative, copying carefully from that text, and correcting existing texts by the normative text. Over a thousand year period starting early in the New Testament period, the next stage in transmission was the standardization of punctuation and vowel patterns (as Hebrew was written with only consonants). A long series of Masoretes provided annotations known as Masora ("tradition"), including defining irregular forms, abnormal patterns, and the number of times a form or word was used as margin or foot notes and also a system of vocalization after insertion of vowels had been prohibited. Oral tradition differed between Babylon and Palestine, but the Tiberian Masoretes provided the most complete and exact system. The earliest dated usage is a codex of the Prophets from the Karaite synagogue of Cairo (A.D. 896). Today, Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia is constructed on the basis of the Tiberian Masoretic tradition.
Standardization of both the consonantal text and vocalization display a remarkable agreement, with only minor scribal errors that do not affect interpretation.
The Origin of the Bible: Newly Updated by F. F. Bruce, J. I. Packer, Philip W. Comfort, and Carl F. H. Henry, 2020. Texts and Manuscripts of the Old Testament by Mark R. Norton, Page 173-175)