Textual criticism is the practice of reconstructing original documents using copies. It is the basis for reconstructing works of literature that have been handed down to us from antiquity.
Documents are passed down through history in a pattern that resembles a family tree.
For example, the original gets copied to copy A, copy B, and copy C. Assume that copy A picks up a small error during the copying process. Then, copy A gets copied to copy A1 and copy A2. Both A1 and A2 pick up the small error that was in copy A. Copies A1 and A2 may have new errors introduced themselves. Over the centuries, a family tree of manuscripts emerges. By looking closely at the variants of the manuscripts, you can actually begin to trace the lineage and family tree of a given document.
To give you a flavor of what it is like to be a textual critic, I took an original sentence from a famous document written in the 17th century and made three copies. I intentionally introduced copy errors into all three children documents. Then, I took each of the three children and made two copies each. Each new copy picked up additional errors. The result is six corrupted documents.
Your job is to reconstruct the original sentence using six corrupted copies.
I gave this exact assignment to four small teams of high schoolers. Two of the teams were able to reconstruct the original document perfectly in 10 minutes. The other two missed by one word. See how you can do.
The Old Testament Hebrew (which was a native language of the people of God old), and the New Testament in Greek (which, at the time of the writing it, was most generally known by the nations), being immediately inspired by God, and, by His singular care and providence, kept pure in all ages, are therefore authentical; in all controversies of religion, the Church is finally appeal to them.
The Old Testament (which was the native language of the people of God of old), and the New Testament (which, at the time of the writing of it, was most known to the nations), being immediately inspired by God, and, by His singular care and providence, kept pure in all ages, therefore authentical; so as, in all controversies of religion, the Church is finally to appeal unto them.
The Old Testament in Hebrew (which was a native language of the people of God old), and the New Testament in Greek (which, at the time of the writing it, was most generally known by the nations), being inspired by God, and, by His singular care and providence, kept pure in all ages, are therefore authentical; in all controversies of religion, the Church is finally to appeal unto them.
The Old Testament (which was the native language of the people of God of old), and the New Testament (which, at the time of the writing of it, was most known to the nations), being immediately inspired by God, and, by His singular care and providence, kept pure in all ages; so as, in all controversies of religion, the Church is finally to appeal unto them.
The Old Testament in Hebrew (which was the native language of the people of God of old), and the New Testament in Greek (which, at the time of the writing of it, was most generally known to the nations), being immediately inspired by God, and kept pure in all ages, are therefore authentical; so as, in all controversies of religion, the Church is finally to appeal to them.
The Old Testament in Hebrew (which was the native language of the people of God of old), and the New Testament in Greek (which, at the time of the writing of it, was most generally known to the nations), being immediately inspired, and, by His providence, kept pure in all ages, are therefore authentical; so as, in all controversies of religion, the Church is finally to appeal to them.
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