|
|
"...there may be some advantage in considering internal evidence first, since it is more subjective, so that one's thinking will not from the first be unduly influenced by evidence of the mss."
|
|
"There can be no Science of Textual Criticism, I repeat -- and therefore no security for the Inspired Word -- so long as the subjective judgment, which may easily degenerate into individual caprice, is allowed ever to determine which readings shall be rejected, which retained."
|
Procedure for Deciding Internal Evidence
|
|
(i) The shorter reading is often preferable...
|
1. Antiquity, or Primitiveness;
|
|
(ii) The harder reading is often preferable...
|
2. Consent of Witnesses, or Number;
|
|
(iii) The reading from which the other readings in a variant could most easily have been derived is preferable...
|
3. Variety of Witnesses, or Catholicity;
|
|
(iv) The reading which is characteristic of the author is generally preferable...
|
4. Respectability of Witnesses, or Weight;
|
|
Procedure for Deciding External Evidence
|
5. Continuity, or Unbroken Tradition;
|
|
(i) Divide the manuscripts into text-types.
|
6. Evidence of the Entire Passage, or Context;
|
(ii) The characteristics of the individual witnesses to a text-type must likewise be considered.
|
7. Internal Considerations, or Reasonableness.
|
|
(iii) Which reading has the best mss. support by text-types and/or parts of text-types.
|
|
(iv) Weigh the evidence against the internal evidence.
|
|
The "Witnesses" referred to are the manuscripts, lectionaries, versions and quotations from early writers.
|
|