A Brighter Day Begins with His Word.

New Schaff-Herzog Encyclopedia of Religious Knowledge • VOLUME 2

RELIGIOUS ENCYCLOPEDIA

['Herzog, J. J. (Johann Jakob), 1805-1882', 'Schaff, Philip, 1819-1893', 'Hauck, Albert, 1845-1918', 'Jackson, Samuel Macauley, 1851-1912', 'Sherman, Charles Colebrook, 1860-1927', 'Gilmore, George W. (George William), 1858-1933'] • Public-domain historical edition in the United States (published 1908); OCR from Internet Archive scan

RELIGIOUS ENCYCLOPEDIA

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rency, especially in Germany, did much toward breaking down the superstitious reverence for the textus receptus which had long prevailed.

Next to be noted are the editions of Tischendorf and Tregelles. Through their combined labors we have a solid basis for a completely critical edition of the Greek Testament in the accurate knowledge, not possessed before, of all manuscripts of the oldest class (not including lectionaries), comprising many newly dis- 6. Tisohen- covered, among them the Sinaitic of dorf. the fourth century. Lobegott Friedrich Constantin Tischendorf (q.v.) spent about eight years of his life in travels in search of manuscripts (for which he visited the East three times— in 1844, 1853, and 1859), or in collating with extreme care or transcribing and preparing for publication the most important of those in the various libraries of Europe which were before known, but had not been published or thoroughly examined. The following uncial Greek manuscripts (see the list above) were discovered by Tischendorf: X G2 I N2 02 Tbd r ea-d A n; first used by him: Fa P Ni 0bf OS P2 Q2 R, „ T*-° Wb-C 9*-h; published: N B, „ C D2 E2 F* I P L, M2 N, Oa P12 Qi R, Wac Y 6" (cf. C. R. Gregory's Prolegomena to Tischendorf 's Novum Testamentum Grace, ed. viii, i, Leipsic, 1884, p. 31). His editions of the texts of Biblical manuscripts (including some of the Septuagint) comprise no less than seventeen large quarto and five folio volumes, not including the Anecdota sacra et profana (1855, new ed. 1861), or the Notitia editionis Codicis Sinaitici (1860), two quarto volumes containing descriptions or collations of many new manuscripts; and many of his collations, or copies of manuscripts, remain unpublished.

The titles of Tischendorf's various writings, most of them relating to Biblical criticism, fill pages 7-22 of Gregory's Prolegomena. His first edition of the Greek Testament (Leipsic, 1841) was promising as a first essay, but of no special importance except for the refutation, in the prolegomena, of Scholz's theory of recensions. In the Editio Lipsiana secunda (1849) the critical apparatus was much enlarged, and the text settled on the basis of ancient authority, generally with good judgment. In 1859 appeared the Editio septima critica maior (2 vols.), in which very large additions were made to the critical apparatus, not only from manuscripts, Greek and Latin, but from the quotations in the writings of the Christian Fathers, and the evidence was for the first time fully stated, both for and against the readings adopted. In the first volume, Tischendorf, influenced perhaps by Scrivener, showed a tendency to allow greater weight to the later uncials and cursives than he had done in his edition of 1849; but he soon found that he was on the wrong track; and on the whole, if orthographical changes are included, his edition of 1859 differs more widely from the textus receptus than that of 1849. Its publication was immediately followed by Tischendorf's third journey to the East, and the discovery of the great Sinaitic manuscript, together with the

acquisition of much other new critical material. After the publication of the Codex Sinaiticus in 1862, in a magnificent edition of four volumes folio, in facsimile type, with twenty-one plates of actual facsimiles, at the expense of the Russian Government, the edition being limited to three hundred copies, he issued in 1863, in 4to, his Novum Testamentum Sinaiticum, in ordinary type, but representing the manuscript line for line, with full prolegomena; and his Novum Testamentum Grace ex Sinaitico Codice, Vaticana itemque Elzeviriana lectione notata, in 1865, 8vo, with a supplement of additions and corrections in 1870. After some other publications, particularly the second edition of his Synopsis evangelica in 1864, in which the Sinaitic manuscript was first used, he undertook his last great critical edition of the Greek New Testament, Novum Testamentum Greece, editio octava critica maior (issued in eleven parts, i, Leipsic, Oct., 1864, xi, at the end of 1872; collected into two volumes, 8vo, 1S69-72). This edition far surpassed all that had preceded it in the richness of its critical apparatus, and, as compared with that of 1859, rests much more on the authority of the oldest manuscripts, particularly the Sinaitic. The preparation of the prolegomena by Tischendorf himself was prevented by his sudden illness and subsequent death, and was entrusted to an American scholar residing in Leipsic, Caspar Rene Gregory (q.v.), who had also the valuable assistance of Ezra Abbot (q.v.). In the interest of the work Dr. Gregory made special journeys through Europe and into the Orient, and was thus enabled to give first-hand descriptions and collations of many manuscripts. It was published in three parts at Leipsic, 1884-94. Besides the works mentioned, the most important publications of Tischendorf pertaining to the textual criticism of the New Testament are : Codex Ephraemi Syri rescripts (1843, 4to; Old Testament part, 1845); Monumenta sacra inedita (1846, 4to); Evangelium ineditum (1847, 4to); Codex Amiatinus (Vulgate; 1850, new ed. 1854); Codex Claromontanus (1852, 4to) ; Monumenta sacra inedita, nova collectio, vols, i-vi, ix (1855-70, 4to); Novum Testamentum Vaticanum and Appendix Novi Testamenti Vaticani (1867-69, 4to) ; cf . Responsa ad calumnias Romanas (1870, Svo), also Appendix codicum celeberrimorum, Sinaitici, Vaticani, Alexandrini (1867, 4to); Die Sinaibibel, ihre Entdeckung, Herausgabe, und Erwerbung (1S71, large 8vo). His Novum Testamentum triglottum, Grace, Latine, Germanice (Leipsic, 1854, 2d ed., 1865) is a convenient book, the three parts of which were also issued separately, and in various combinations. The Greek is his own text, with the variations of the textus receptus ; the Latin, the Vulgate critically revised from the oldest manuscripts, with the variations of the Clementine edition; the German the genuine text of Luther, though in modern orthography. Tischendorf also issued many manual editions of the Greek Testament, the three latest in his lifetime being published in 1875 by Tauchnitz, Brockhaus (to match his edition of the Septuagint), and Mendelssohn {Editio academica septima), respectively. His large editions of 1859 and 1869-72 were issued with the

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