INTRODUCTION
A NECESITY ...
Where are the originals of the biblical writings? Why are there so many "different" Bibles each other? There is an edition better than another?
The books of the Bible were written by hand, several centuries before the printing press was invented in the western world (1453, by Johann Gutenberg). During that time, the only method of reproducing the Bible was hand copied: word by word, sentence by sentence, page by page ...
None of the surviving manuscripts is old enough to be based on the original writings; ie they are based on other copies of copies. And necessarily questions arise: in the process of recopy the Scriptures for centuries, some copyists errors were filtered? Or even, was there conscious modifications made by theological, economic or political reasons?
Generally, the accuracy of printed works can be checked if we have the original manuscripts of the author. It can be detected corrections or changes when a new edition is published.
However, all the original manuscripts of Scripture, as well as the classical writings of Plato, Cicero and Seneca have been lost. Therefore, all the ancient texts that we now have in its various translations, are edited on the basis of copies, the oldest of which were written many years (or even centuries) after the death of their original authors.
It is in these cases that a laborious search method, comparison and selection of prints, with the aim of scholars (who precisely because of their work, they have to work in academic committees), may submit a proposal for the "original text" of each passage..
Or at least that was the first idea of the "Textual Criticism".
ONE DISCIPLINE ...
What is Textual Criticism?
Textual criticism is the verification of the meaning and writing original text, as it must leave the mind and textual wording of its author. - Dr. Luciano Jaramillo Cardenas (1)
Textual criticism is a branch of textual scholarship, philology, and literary criticism that is concerned with the identification and removal of transcription errors in texts, both manuscripts and printed books... Given a manuscript copy, several or many copies, but not the original document, the textual critic seeks to reconstruct the original text (the archetype or autograph) as closely as possible... The ultimate objective of the textual critic's work is the production of a "critical edition" containing a text most closely approximating the original. - Wikipedia (2)
The phrase "lower criticism" is used to describe the contrast between textual criticism and "higher criticism", which is the endeavor to establish the authorship, date, and place of composition of the original text:
The object of textual criticism [or lower criticism] is to restore the best as posible the original text of a work whose autograph is lost. The textual criticism differs from higher criticism aimed at investigating the sources of a literary work, its composition, its date and trace the influences and various transformations throughout the ages. - Catholic Encyclopedia Online (3)
However, you can constantly check that the dependence between the two is essential.
Why is important the Textual Criticism?
Historical and theological reasons.
a) Since we do not own the original biblical text, lost for many centuries, we must discover it through subsequent transmissions of the same in a variety of manuscripts, lectionaries, quotations and translations they have been formed through the centuries . (...) "
b) Since biblical exegesis is concerned with extracting meaning and sense of the texts, it must be distinguish what really conveyed the original authors of the Bible, than for one or another reason was built by copyists and interpreters that later transcribed that text. "
c) There is also a hermeneutical interest: we must return to the original text, because only this can tell us something about the theology of the biblical writers.
- Dr. Luciano Jaramillo Cardenas (1)
Through a diligent process of comparison and analysis, textual criticism strives to detect errors of copyists or deliberate changes in a certain writing, in order to approach the knowledge of the original text ...
A LONGING ...
Currently it is considered that this aspiration, while there was no certainty of how the original text, it is impossible to prove; so now it is considered that the purpose of textual criticism is the best "eclectic text" or "ideal text," we can, based on the arguments presented as "probable" or "close" to the familiar text, not both the author, but by their first readers.
Although only a few of the thousands of variants in the New Testament are theologically significant, since the Christian theologian and Bible student must base their faith in the authentic statements of the writers of the Bible, is extremely important the task of procuring a text worthy of trust.
Therefore, the biblical scholar has the task of carefully studying the biblical manuscripts, in order to establish a text near to the original as humanly possible. Usually such work is known by the name of "textual criticism" or "lower criticism".
REFERENCES:
1) Jaramillo Cárdenas, Luciano et al. ¡Fidelidad! ¡Integridad! En busca del mejor texto de las Escrituras. Editorial Vida, Miami, E.U. 2001, pág. 11.
2) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Textual_criticism [accessed July 20, 2014]
3) http://ec.aciprensa.com/wiki/Crítica_Textual [accessed July 20, 2014]
