Introduction to the textual criticism of the Greek New Testament
THEOLOGICAL TRANSLATION LIBRARY
VOL. XIII.
NESTLE’S INTRODUCTION TO THE TEXTUAL
CRITICISM OF THE GREEK NEW TESTAMENT
INTRODUCTION TO THE TEXTUAL CRITICISM OF THE GREEK NEW TESTAMENT
BY
EBERHARD NESTLE, PH. AND TH.D.
MAULBRONN
_TRANSLATED FROM THE SECOND EDITION_
(_With Corrections and Additions by the Author_)
BY
WILLIAM EDIE, B.D.
KING EDWARD
AND EDITED WITH A PREFACE BY
ALLAN MENZIES, D.D.
PROFESSOR OF DIVINITY AND BIBLICAL CRITICISM IN THE
UNIVERSITY OF ST. ANDREWS
WILLIAMS AND NORGATE
14 HENRIETTA STREET, COVENT GARDEN, LONDON
20 SOUTH FREDERICK STREET, EDINBURGH
AND 7 BROAD STREET, OXFORD
NEW YORK: G. P. PUTNAM’S SONS
1901
PRINTED BY
NEILL AND COMPANY LIMITED
BELLEVUE, EDINBURGH
EDITOR’S PREFACE.
Professor Eberhard Nestle of Maulbronn is one of the distinguished
company of philologists who have in recent years directed their
attention to the study of the New Testament. He is by no means a
stranger in this country. Readers of the _Expositor_ and the _Expository
Times_ are familiar with his name, and are accustomed to receive from
him original and independent discussions of New Testament textual
problems. He is consulted by scholars both in this country and on the
Continent on questions of Aramaic and Syriac scholarship, and has
contributed, in the way of criticism and careful proof reading, to many
important publications of English scholars, such as Professor Swete’s
edition of the Septuagint,[1] the publications of Mrs. Lewis and Mrs.
Gibson (_The Sinaitic Palimpsest_, etc.), and the _Gospel of the Twelve
Apostles_ recently published by Professor Rendel Harris.
The readers of this volume may be glad to know a little more of its
author. A native of Württemberg, he was educated at the Gymnasium of
Stuttgart and then at the Theological Seminary of Blaubeuren, the latter
being one of the four old cloister schools of Württemberg, in which, far
from the distractions of large towns, a thorough philological training
is provided for the future clergy of that kingdom. It was as
“Praeceptor” of one of these schools that Albrecht Bengel, that great
textual critic and unaffectedly pious man, spent the best part of his
life, and in his _Marginalien und Materialien_ Dr. Nestle gives an
interesting account of Bengel as a scholar, and describes the studies of
the school over which he presided. Our author studied divinity and
oriental languages at the Universities of Tübingen and Leipzig, and
considers it one of the happy dispensations of his life that he was
permitted to live in England for two years, working in the British
Museum and preaching to German congregations in London. He was then
Repetent or Tutor at the Theological Seminary of Tübingen, and, after a
short period of work as a preacher, was called to the Gymnasium of Ulm
to teach Greek, German, Hebrew, and Religion. For two years he filled
the vacant professorship of Semitic languages at the University of
Tübingen, but, not being appointed to the chair, he returned to Ulm.
From there he moved to the Seminary at Maulbronn, which offered better
opportunities for combined philological and theological studies.
Dr. Nestle’s principal works are:—_Die israelitischen Eigennamen nach
ihrer religionsgeschichtlichen Bedeutung_ (Proper Names in Israel: their
significance for the history of religion), the Prize Essay of the Leiden
Tyler Society, 1876. An earlier Prize Essay at Tübingen on the
Septuagint and Massorah of Ezekiel was also successful, but was not
published.
_Psalterium Tetraglottum_ (_Graece_, _Syriace_, _Chaldaice_, _Latine_),
1879. Sixth and Seventh Editions of Tischendorf’s _Septuagint_ (with new
collation of Codices Vaticanus, Sinaiticus, and Alexandrinus) 1880,
1887.
_Septuagintastudien_, i.-iii., 1886, 1896, 1898.
_Syriac Grammar_ (Latin, 1881; German, 1888; English, 1889).
_Novi Testamenti Graeci Supplementum_, 1896 (Collation of Codex Bezae:
Apocryphal Gospels).
_Philologica Sacra_, 1896.
Minor publications collected in _Marginalien und Materialien_, 1893.
Edition of the _Greek New Testament_ for the Stuttgart Bible Society,
1898, of which a third edition is now in preparation.
Numerous contributions to theological and literary Journals (_Jahrbücher
für deutsche Theologie_, _Studien und Kritiken_, _Theologische
Literaturzeitung_, _Literarisches Centralblatt_) and to Herzog-Hauck,
_Encyklopädie für Protestantische Theologie_.
The _Introduction_ now brought before the English public in Mr. Edie’s
translation is thus the work of one who is, and has long been, actively
engaged in the studies belonging to several parts of the great subject
of the text of the New Testament, and who possesses an exact and
practised knowledge of the words of the sacred books of Christianity.
The present manual accordingly shows the instruments of criticism in
actual operation in the hands of a master. It was meant originally for
the _Göschen-Sammlung_, a collection of small manuals for the general
public, and arose out of the wish of the author to tell his pupils with
whom he read the Greek Testament, as well as others, more about the
history of the New Testament text than was at the time generally
accessible. The handbook was brought out by the theological publishers
Vandenhoeck and Ruprecht, literary references being then added to fit it
for use by students of theology. It met with a warm welcome from such
readers, and the second edition was largely recast so as to meet still
further the purposes of students. The long experience of Professor
Nestle as a teacher of younger pupils has no doubt enabled him to
present the subject so clearly that his book may find favour in the eyes
of the general reader, and commend itself to all who care for the New
Testament.
The absence of theological bias will not be thought by any wise judge a
disadvantage in a work of this character. It will be observed that
Professor Nestle does not regard the texts recently formed by great
scholars as constituting, either singly or jointly, a _Textus Receptus_
in view of which textual enquiry may now desist from its labours, but
that he believes that much is still to be learned about the text both of
the Gospels and of the other books of the New Testament.
This translation, as the title-page indicates, has been made from the
second, enlarged, edition, and the author has kindly furnished various
corrections and additions, bringing the book in its English form up to
date. Some additional references to English books and periodicals have
been inserted by the translator.
A. M.
Footnote 1:
See the Dedication to Dr. Nestle of Professor Swete’s _Introduction to
the Old Testament in Greek_, just published.
CONTENTS.
CHAPTER I.
=History of the Printed Text since 1514=, ...... 1-27
Complutensian Polyglot—Aldus—Erasmus—Collections of
editions—Literature—First critical edition: Colinaeus—Stephen—Verse
division—Beza—Polyglots: Antwerp: Paris: London—Elzevir—_Textus
Receptus_—Critical attempts: Caryophilus: Courcelles: Saubert:
Simon—Mill—Toinard—Bentley—Gerhard von
Maestricht—Bengel—Wettstein—Griesbach—
Matthaei—Birch—Moldenhauer—Adler—Scholz—Lachmann—
Tischendorf—Tregelles—Westcott and Hort: their types of
text—Weymouth—B. Weiss—von Gebhardt—Stuttgart New
Testament—Schjøtt—Baljon—Catholic editions: Gratz—van
Ess—Gehringer—Patricius—Jaumann—Reithmayer—Hetzenauer—Brandscheid—Apocrypha
and Pseudepigrapha.