The Causes of the Corruption of the Traditional Text of the Holy Gospels: Being the Sequel to The Traditional Text of the Holy GospelsBurgon, John William
Religion
The Causes of the Corruption of the Traditional Text of the Holy Gospels: Being the Sequel to The Traditional Text of the Holy Gospels
Burgon, John William
Bible. Gospels -- Criticism, Textual
xiii. 27.-[Greek: tote] [Symbol: Aleph]:-[Greek: meta to psomion
tote] D: (_for_ [Greek: legei oun]) [Greek: kai legei]
D:-[Greek: o] B.
In these seven verses therefore, (which present no special difficulty to
a transcriber,) the Codexes in question are found to exhibit at least
thirty-five varieties,--for twenty-eight of which (jointly or singly) B
is responsible: [Symbol: Aleph] for twenty-two: C for twenty-one: D for
nineteen: A for three. It is found that twenty-three words have been
added to the text: fifteen substituted: fourteen taken away; and the
construction has been four times changed. One case there has been of
senseless transposition. Simon, the father of Judas, (not Judas the
traitor), is declared by [Symbol: Aleph]BCD to have been called
'Iscariot.' Even this is not all. What St. John relates concerning
himself is hopelessly obscured; and a speech is put into St. Peter's
mouth which he certainly never uttered. It is not too much to say that
every delicate lineament has vanished from the picture. What are we to
think of guides like [Symbol: Aleph]BCD, which are proved to be utterly
untrustworthy?
Sec. 5.
The first two verses of St. Mark's Gospel have fared badly. Easy of
transcription and presenting no special difficulty, they ought to have
come down to us undisfigured by any serious variety of reading. On the
contrary. Owing to entirely different causes, either verse has
experienced calamitous treatment. I have elsewhere[210] proved that the
clause [Greek: huiou tou Theou] in verse 1 is beyond suspicion. Its
removal from certain copies of the Gospel was originally due to
heretical influence. But because Origen gave currency to the text so
mutilated, it re-appears mechanically in several Fathers who are intent
only on reproducing a certain argument of Origen's against the Manichees
in which the mutilated text occurs. The same Origen is responsible to
some extent, and in the same way, for the frequent introduction of
'Isaiah's' name into verse 21--whereas 'in the prophets' is what St.
Mark certainly wrote; but the appearance of 'Isaiah' there in the first
instance was due to quite a different cause. In the meantime, it is
witnessed to by the Latin, Syriac[211], Gothic, and Egyptian versions,
as well as by [Symbol: Aleph]BDL[Symbol: Delta], and (according to
Tischendorf) by nearly twenty-five cursives; besides the following
ancient writers: Irenaeus, Origen, Porphyry, Titus, Basil, Serapion,
Epiphanius, Severianus, Victor, Eusebius, Victorinus, Jerome, Augustine.
I proceed to shew that this imposing array of authorities for reading
[Greek: en to Esaia to prophete] instead of [Greek: en tois prophetais]
in St. Mark i. 2, which has certainly imposed upon every recent editor
and critic[212],--has been either overestimated or else misunderstood.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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