From: CAROL CLARK TAYLOR (TAYLOC@micah.chowan.edu)
Date: Wed Dec 06 1995 - 08:55:28 EST
I, too, am guilty of lurking and now wish to jump into something.
John Hall recently wrote:
> Biblical Textual Criticism [BTC] and Modern Textual Criticism [MTC]
are
> different in their foundational authority and in their purpose. While MTC's
> authority comes from human intellect and reasoning, BTC's authority is
> Scripture. The purpose of MTC is to "recover" the original text of the NT,
> the purpose for BTC is to "identify" the original text of the NT.
My question is, when push comes to shove, what's the real difference
between "recover" and "identify" when used in this context? It seems
to me, the bottom line is trying to "unearth" the original text, and
that's a task that most everybody I've read admits is impossible
because no matter how close you think you are, it's still only
hypothetical.
And to put in a good word for scholars, the MTC kind, their authority
IS Scripture. I've not seen evidence of any of them trying to
outreason God, but they do take seriously Jesus' own admonition to
love the Lord your God with all your "mind."
To tell you the truth, I think your dichotomy is unfair and divisive.
In another post there was the judgment of people not believing in the
inerrancy of Scripture as being "foolish men." Check Matthew 5:22,
and 7:1-2.
Now it's my turn to rejoin the wallflowers.
Carol Taylor
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