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Ausgabe:

1979

Spalte:

270-273

Kategorie:

Kirchengeschichte: Allgemeines

Autor/Hrsg.:

Prien, Hans-Jürgen

Titel/Untertitel:

Die Geschichte des Christentums in Lateinamerika 1979

Rezensent:

Wendelborn, Gert

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Seite 1, Seite 2, Seite 3

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269

Theologische Literaturzeitung 104. Jahrgang 1979 Nr.4

270

all derive from D. They are E 242 407 1845, the great majority of
Latin witnesses from the De. Reha pt ix »inte and 11 Mary of Poitiers
onward inehuling the Latin Irenaeus. (wo Coptic manuscripts and
the Harelean Syriac. Tf all thoso witnesseH derive from D, then D
must he even older than we have been led to think and presum-
ably that much better in text. If they are not derived from D, then
the argument in the Commentary does not explain the reading
zvqioc as far as they are concerned.

Presumably the Statement "In the present passage the textual
decision must be made on the basis of external evidence" (Commentary
296) connects with the genealogieal thinking of the edi-
tors. It is of courae typical of the Commentary as a whole. The
decision about the text has, of courso, still to bo made. All that the
present discussion is concerned to do is to consider the gonealogical
implications of the statement in the Commentary.

In one feature which may relate to genealogy the Commentary
may give an unclear impression. Often where the samo group of
letters recurs we have an accidental Omission. This kind of Omission
A.C.Clark described very convoniently by the abbroviation du
(The Descent of Manuscripts, 1). It is to be distinguiBhed from the
Omission of a line which can happen independently of 6fi.

As for the most part manuscripts were written in scriptio continua
without division of words, punctuation and other aids the recur-
rence of a group of letters has to be seen as a whole and not just as
the ending or beginning of a word or phrase. Thus, at L.xxiv.51
(Commentary, 190) the group of letters involved is not just KAIA
but NKAIA and at A.ii.20 (Commentary, 298) both groups of
letters should be associated thus: AAHNKAIErciyANHKAIEcrriM.
This is particularly important atMk.x.7. Here with hardly an ex-
ception the manuscripts that have the shorter text read not just
u»jrs'p« but uiti£(ia «titoC. This suggests that the group of recurring
Jetters was not just KAI but AAYTOYKAI. This is particularly
important at Mk.x.7. Höre with hardly an exception the manuscripts
that have the shorter text read not just uqiEqa but fj.qzeqa
«Cioß. This suggests that the group of reourring letters was not
just KAI but AAYTOY KAI.

Earlier we noticed a misleading reference to an opinion of
R. E. Brown at J. ix. 38-39a. We should now consider a reference to
an article of R.P.Hanson, "The Provenanoe of the Interpolator in
the 'Western' Text of Acts and of Acts Itself" (NTS, xii.211-30
[1965]). The Commentary (265f) refers to this as follows: "The
view that in general the Alexandrian text preserves more accura-
t«ly the work of the original author and that the Western text
reflects the work of a reviser was set forth with great learning by
James Hardy Ropes in his edition of the text of Acts, and has been
championed more recently by B.P.C.Hanson, who, however, in-
stead of referring to a Western reviser, prefers to speak of a Western
interpolator". Anyone who is interested will do well to read at least
the first two pages of Hanson's article, though the whole article is
well worth reading, and then ask himself whether the reference in
the Commentary seems fairly to represent Hanson's views. If
Hanson's position had been desoribed as a mediating one this
would have seemed to me nearer the truth.

All in all the Commentary is clearly written and manageable
though it has its limitations, but its main contribution is in the
light is throws on the editing of the text of GNT3. Here it is a most
informative and indeed rovealing volume which, however, seems to
suffer from one limitation. As we have soen the quotations of other
scholars' opinions, Statements of fact and argumentation have to
be carefully checked. This is itself an instructive procedura even if
it takes time.

What of the text of GNT3? Great clai ms are made for it. K. Aland
has Witten in his Synopsis Quattuor Evangeliorum9 (1976) "It is
to be hoped that the publication of the new text, which to all
intents and purposes will be the 'Standard Text' of the future, will
make up for this delay" (p.xi.), compare the Latin with its echo of
older languago,'' Quo magis spero Synopsin retractatam et ad eura
textum aptatam qui unus et idem ubique recipiatur, gratam
acceptamque fere" (p. ix.). This conf irmsan impression that has long
obtained that despite modest language about an edition for trans-
lators and students GNT was really planned to be the one New
1 estament text of the future. It is supplanting the Nestle text in

the students' edition. and Synopsis and Concordance arebeim;
liased on it.

Shortly the only form of the Nestle text which will be geneiully
available will be H KAINH AIA0HKH (1958) published by the
Brit ish and Foreign Bible Society, London, England. Procuring
this edition has its difficulties. It sells in England for £ 1.80, but
the American Bible Society which sells Nestle and GNT each for
$4.50 sells the H KAINH AIA0HKH for $ 10.20 without explain-
ing this prico so prejudicial to tho BFBS edition. Nowhere eise do I
know of the pound Sterling at present having such a favourable
rate of exchange.

But let us put aside the matter of a new Standard Text for the
moment and consider GNT on its own merits. The Commentary
enables us to seo clearly the roasons which influenced the editors in
making their decisions. As we have noticed thoir procedura seoms
to be a compromise between Burgon on one side and Westcott and
Hort on the other and in principle GNT might well have appoared
anywhere in the years 1881-1900. The editors are not ignorantof
the conclusions of scholars since then but the work of these scholars
has made surprisingly little impact on GNT. In that sense GNT
seems to be something of an anachronism. Each new edition of the
Greek Testament should be something of a progress report and we
ask ourselves whether GNT really marks eiiough progress to justify
itself.

Many dotails of GNT3 have not been discussed. We have said
nothing about the indications of the State of mind of the editors
about the various readings in the apparatus given by the letters
A, B, C, D. We hope however that enough of the basic features of
the edition have been treated to make its character clear.

Other discussions have been indicated in the references above.
We may also note J.K.Elliott, Nov. Test., xv.278-300 (1973) "The
United Bible Societies Greek New Testament: An Evaluation";
xvii. 130-150 (1975) "The United Bible Societies' Textual Commentary
Evaluated" (see in reply M. Black The Bible Translator xxviii.
116-120 [1977]); J.M.Ross JBL xcr. 112-121 (1976) "The United
Bible Societies' Greek New Testament"; and two reviews of the
Commentary, G.D.Fee Biblica lv.452-455 (1974) and L.W.Hur-
tado, JBL xcii.621 f (1973), containsome severe criticisms.

In all wo remain unconvinoed that GNT has the character that
justifies it in becoming the Standard Text. The United Bible
Societies may exert themselves to this end but this does not give
tho edition the intrinsic quality which a Standard Text of the
future should have. This does not provent us from piying tribute
to the work of all who have taken part in the edition. The editors
have made thoir contribution to ßiblical studies and in the two
volumes lies the work of many whose efiforts do not always come to
notice or review.

Oxford George Dunbar Kilpatrick

Kirchengeschichte: Allgemeines

Prien, Hans-Jürgen: Die Geschichte des Christentums in Latein-
amerika. Göttingen: Vandonhoeck & Ruprecht [1978J. 1302 S.
m. 7 Abb. u. 2 Ktn im Text, 1 Faltktc. gr. 8J. Lw DM 158,-.

Hier ist eine der wesentlichsten und erfreulichsten Neuerscheinungen
theologischer Literatur der letzten Jahre im deutschen
Sprachraum anzuzeigen, die eine empfindliche Lücke schließt und
als ein Standardwerk gelten darf. Es handelt sich um die erste
Gesamtdarstellung der lateinamerikanischen (= la.) Kirchengoschichte
(= KG) von ihren Anfängen bis in die Gegenwart im
Weltmaßstab. Ihr Vf. kennt diesen Kontinent aus eigener Anschauung
, denn er hat in molireren Ländern Lateinamerikas
(= LA) - zuerst als Handelsvertreter, dann nach einem Theologiestudium
in Hamburg als Dozent an der lutherischen Ausbildungsstätte
in SäoLeopoldo-gelebt und gründlichen Einblick in die dortige
kirchliche Situation genommen; auch darf or als ein profunder
Kenner der spanisch- und portugiosischsprachigen Literatur gölten.
Das Werk verbindet einen großou Reichtum verläßlicher Informationen
mit tiefschürfenden Problemanalysen, die in den Schluß-