Western non-interpolations explained

Western non-interpolations is a term coined by F. J. A. Hort[1] for certain phrases that are absent in the Western text-type of New Testament manuscripts, but present in one of the two major other text-types. The Alexandrian text-type is generally terse or concise; the Western text-type is larger and paraphrased at places (using more words to convey a similar meaning); the Byzantine text-type is a combination of those two. Nevertheless, the Western text is in certain places shorter than the Alexandrian text. All these shorter readings Hort named Western non-interpolations. Because New Testament scholars have generally preferred the shorter reading – lectio brevior – of textual variants since the 19th century, B. F. Westcott and F. J. A. Hort concluded that these shorter readings in Western manuscripts represented the authentic original Biblical text. When they printed The New Testament in the Original Greek (1882), in almost all cases, it followed the Alexandrian text (which critical scholars agree is the most reliable text-type) with the few exceptions that use these Western non-interpolations instead. According to Westcott and Hort, on some rare occasions Western textual witnesses have preserved the original text, against all other witnesses.[2]

Alleged Western non-interpolations

Nine probable non-interpolationsWestcott and Hort concluded that the shorter Western reading of these nine passages (eight in the Gospel of Luke, one in the Gospel of Matthew) were probably in the original text of the New Testament:[3]
Twelve possible but improbable non-interpolationsWestcott and Hort concluded that the shorter Western reading of these twelve passages were possibly in the original text of the New Testament, but it is more likely that they emerged later as a shortening of the original (longer) text:[3]
Six improbable non-interpolationsWestcott and Hort concluded that, although these six passages are shorter in the Western text-type, the longer versions were very likely in the original text of the New Testament:[3]
Other possible non-interpolations

Influence on the New Testament editions

The "Western non-interpolations" were not included in the main text of Westcott-Hort edition (1881), but were instead moved to the footnotes. The editions of Nestle and Nestle-Aland did the same. In 1968, "the editorial committee (or more precisely its majority) decided to abandon the theories of Westcott-Hort and the Western non-interpolations."[4] Since 1968 they are included in the main text, but marked with brackets.

Ehrman (1996) claimed that Westcott and Hort's observations still largely held merit, although he suggested that a better term for the alleged longer readings would be "non-Western interpolations". He made a case that most (but not all) of the longer readings in non-Western witnesses had an anti-docetic character. This might be the reason why they were deleted by docetic Christians in Western manuscripts, but more likely, why they were added to non-Western texts by (proto-orthodox) anti-docetic Christians at a very early stage (before the end of the 2nd century). Whereas scholars such as Aland and Fitzmyer have maintained that new findings such as 75 have refuted Hort's hypothesis, Ehrman concluded they are in line with what Hort expected, and don't undermine his argument.[5]

See also

Further reading

External links

Notes and References

  1. [Brooke Foss Westcott|B. F. Westcott]
  2. [Bart D. Ehrman]
  3. Ehrman (1996), p. 224.
  4. Kurt Aland & Barbara Aland, The Text of the New Testament, Wm. Eerdmans 1995, p. 33.
  5. Ehrman (1996), p. 223–226, 261.

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