Apographa Explained

Apographa refers to established copies or transcripts of certain texts, usually religious or ecclesiastical, rather than the original autographs by the original authors or writers.[1] [2] [3]

Issues

There are scholars and theologians who consider only the original autographs of Scripture as infallible and as final authority, while others hold more to what is called the "Ecclesiastical Text" view, that Scripture canon is also authoritative in various renderings in later copies or manuscript traditions, or established "apo-grapha" (meaning "copied-writings"), and not just the original autographs alone. The reason being that the "original autographs" no longer actually exist, in tangible extant form, so later verified copies of copies, or "apographa", are the only real tangible or present "canon" that we have, and providentially preserved for current knowledge. And that the "apographa" or "Ecclesiastical Text" is all that is really available and should be mainly considered realistically, from established and accepted confessions, church traditions, revivals, productivity, understandings, and interpretations, and should be all that is accepted reasonably, efficiently, or sufficiently, for study or edification.[4] [5]

Regarding Westcott and Hort's work, according to Bible scholar and translator Bruce M. Metzger, "the general validity of their critical principles and procedures is widely acknowledged by scholars today."[6] [7]

See also

Notes and References

  1. Paolo Sacchi - The History of the Second Temple Period A&C Black, 2004. Chapter 2 - The Jewish Culture of the Sixth Century BCE. Page 91.
  2. https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/apograph Definition of apograph - plural apographa
  3. http://www.truthbpc.com/v3/main.php?&page=resources/vpp_08 Identification Of God's Preserved Words (I) - Inspiration, Preservation, and Translations: In Search of the Biblical Identity of the Bible-Presbyterian Church
  4. Dr. Jeffrey Khoo - SOLA AUTOGRAPHA OR SOLA APOGRAPHA? A CASE FOR THE PRESENT PERFECTION AND AUTHORITY OF THE HOLY SCRIPTURES - Dean Burgon Society. Retrieved 31 May 2017.
  5. A. J. MacDonald, Jr. - The Ecclesiastical Text - wordpress.com.
  6. Bruce M. Metzger, The Text of the New Testament: Its Transmission, Corruption, and Restoration, p. 136.
  7. Bruce M. Metzger - A Textual Commentary on the Greek New Testament, Second Edition (companion to the UBS Greek NT)