The History of the Biblical Text in the Light of Discoveries in the Judean Desert

Updated by: 
Un Sung Kwak
Research notes: 
Unsung/not checked/02/06/2016
Reference type: 
Journal Article
Author(s): 
Cross, Frank Moore
year: 
1964
Full title: 

The History of the Biblical Text in the Light of Discoveries in the Judean Desert

Journal / Book Title || Series Title: 
Harvard Theological Review
Volume: 
57
Issue / Series Volume: 
4
Abbreviated Series Name: 
HTR
Place of Publication: 
New York
Publisher: 
Cambridge University Press
Pages: 
281-299
Work type: 
Essay/Monograph
Abstract: 

The publication in January, 1953, of fragments of an unknown recension of the Greek Bible gave the first unambiguous warnings of a revolution to come in the textual criticism of the Hebrew Bible. Earlier the publication of the great Isaiah scroll of Qumrân, Cave I (IQ Isaa), and later of the second fragmentary roll of Isaiah (IQ Isab), created noise and excitement, but none of the major text-critical schools was forced to shift significant ground. Champions of the Hebraica veritas who had increasingly dominated the field, especially in Europe, noted the close affinities of the scrolls with the traditional text. The failure of IQ Isa to produce a significant number of superior readings despite its antiquity embarrassed lingering survivors of the great critical tradition of the nineteenth century, and delighted biblical exegetes and historians who wished to ply their trade without entering the miasmal precincts of text-critical labors. Despite some attention paid to its occasional affinities with the Old Greek, most scholars, whether prompted by traditionalist prejudgment or sheer inertia, were pleased to label the text vulgar or even sectarian, avoiding thereby a serious reexamination of their text-critical theories.

URL: 
http://journals.cambridge.org/action/displayAbstract?fromPage=online&aid=7820241&fulltextType=RA&fileId=S0017816000023294
Record number: 
101 739