In 1910, Scottish scholar Alexander Souter (1873-1949) released his Novum Testamentum Graece. This was just 21 years after Westcott and Hort replaced the Textus Receptus with their own very heavily pro-Alexandrian compilation, and only nine years after Eberhard Nestle released the first edition of his Novum Testamentum Graece in 1898. Souter’s Greek New Testament presented what he understood to have been the base-text of the 1881 Revised Version. Souter’s GNT is not the text of Westcott and Hort, but of Westcott and Hort after it had been filtered through the minds of their fellow creators of the 1881 Revised Version.
In 1912 Souter wrote The Text and Canon of the New Testament (revised in 1935). He also produced a Pocket Lexicon of the Greek New Testament, which (unlike the UBS Greek-English Dictionary) includes some terms that are used in the text of Codex Bezae but which are not found in most other manuscripts. Souter also edited The Earliest Latin Commentaries on the Epistles of St. Paul (1927). His last major work was A Glossary of Later Latin to 600 A.D.
Souter’s GNT (copies of which can still be found at online markets such as eBay, etc.) has been superseded in the marketplace by the UBS and Nestle-Aland editions. Those who seek it out will, however, find a tidy edition of the Greek New Testament very similar to what is in print today.
How did Souter introduce his work? With two very short prefaces, written in Latin. Since Latin is treated as a relic in many
schools in
1910 PREFACE:
The
purpose of this edition of the Greek New Testament is to present the text which
was the basis for the Revised Version in English published in 1881, which was
produced by scholars at
Regarding
the selection of readings that I have noted in the apparatus: although I
devoted much time to this, I am unable to placate everyone, and it can scarcely be doubted that readers will reproach me for having omitted a particular
variant somewhere. But if I am going to please no one in this
regard, at least it may be said that many of the apparatus-notes here are more
complete and more accurate than can be found in any other edition.
I have consulted versions as they are represented in the most recent editions, which were not covered in Tischendorf’s Greek compilations: Latin (Old Latin and Vulgate), Syriac (the Old Syriac, the Peshitta, the Philoxenian, the Palestinian), Coptic (Bohairic, Sahidic [from Horner]), and, in the Apocalypse, Armenian (as represented in both the ancient text and in ordinary editions). I have also consulted the patristic evidence; I cannot say how many thousands of passages in the fathers’ works I have re-examined. And finally, I have consulted the writings of the primarily Latin interpreters, such as Ambrosiaster, Tyconius, Pelagius, Pseudo-Jerome, Cassiodorus, and Bede, using in some cases editions which I have prepared and which, I am confident, will not be significantly altered in the future either by our scholars or by foreigners. It should be noted that the elegant work of William Sanday was always on hand to guide me. May that tireless patron of New Testament studies be given his due honor and commemoration, and may the same be done for the printers, who have exercised extraordinary diligence.
For
now it is clear that there are many more textual variations than previous generations imagined, and it is also clear that it is better to rely on the many minuscule copies than has been
done previously. See, for example, the
research by Kirsopp and
In
the following pages, I have taken precisely this approach, and shared some
readings from recently-discovered papyri, like those in the Chester Beatty
collection, and from Codex Washingtoniensis (W) and Codex Koridethi (Θ) and
also from some small fragmentary sources.
I reviewed the versional data in accordance with the current editions,
citing readings from the best editions of the fathers which I have on hand,
such as the Venerable Bede in Acts of the Apostles by M.L.W. Laistner, and in
the General Epistles by British Library curator C.H. Milne, which is not yet published.
Readers,
both known and unknown, have corrected a few mistakes of the first edition, for
which I am grateful. This edition was prepared with proof-reading by Frederick
Fyvie Bruce, A.M. (a former student of mine), who is now a lecturer at Leeds
Here is Souter’s Latin text, for those who would like to correct my no-doubt flawed renderings:
PRAEFATIO
Huius editionis Novi Testamenti Graecu lex haec constituta eat, ut is textus, qui Anglae recensioni anno 1881 editae subesse uidetur quique Oxoniensium manibus teritur, denuo actum agere uideamur, breuem ad paratum criticum addidimus, quo adiutus multa inuenias quae sine ad uerum textum enucieandum siue ad historiam eius inlustrandam neglegi non possint. In elegendis uero lectionibus quas adnotarem etsi multam operam impendi, omnibus scilicet satis facere nequeo et uix dubium est quin praetermissum hoc additum illud exprobraturi sint mihi lectores.
Quod si in illa re nemini sum placiturus, fortasse non siaplicebunt adnotatiunculae ipsae, quas diligentius interdumque plenius quam in ulla alia editione conscriptas reperias, nammpraeter quam in ulla alia editiones codicum Graecorum Tischendorfio ignotorum quoas fieri poterat adhibui, uersiones laudaui secundum editiones criticas recentissimas : Latinas (et antiquioris et uulgatam), Suras (ueterem, uulgatam, Philoxenianam. Palaestinensem), Aegyptiacas (Bohairicam, Sahidicam), in Apocalypsi Aemeniacas (ueterem et uulgatam), idem quoque de testimonio sanctorum patrum feci, nec possum dicere quot milia locorum denuo inspexerim. Quod denique in libellostudiosis nostris maxima ex parte destinato ἐξηγητὰς Latinos, in quibus iam diu lucubro, Ambrosiastrum, Tyconium, Pelagium, Pseudo-Hieronymum, Cassiodorum, Bedam, secundum codicun conlationes a me ipso factas citaui, id doctis et nostris et alienigenis haudingratum fore confido.
Concinnanti opus numquam deerat mihi consilium sagacissimum Guilelmi Sanday S.T.P. studiorum talium patroni indefessi, neque taceda est typographorum eximia diligentia.
Dabam Oxonii mense Septembri
Anno Salutis MCMX.
EDITIONIS ALTERIUS PRAEFATIO
Feliciter
mihi contigit ut post XXXIII annos, intra quos permulta exemplaria editionis
prioris sunt diuendita, bibliopola honestissimus alteram poposcerit. Quantum quidem ad textum ipsum pertinet,
recentuirum annorum reperta eius generis sunt ut praesenti tempore imprudentis
me iudice esset textus editionem nouam refingere. Nunc enim luce clarius est antiquissimis
temporibus multo plures fuisse uarias letiones quam maiores nostri putarant et
codices uetustos non necessario semper omnium optimos quia sint uetusti, neque
recentiores minoris momenti esse quod antiquitate scriptionis non
gaudeant. Codices quoque multos qui ‘minusculi’
dicuntur, melius e diligentius quam adhuc factum est innitescere oportet,
exemplo Kirsopp et
Editionis prioris pauca errata correxerunt lectores noti ignotique, quibus maximam habeo gratiam. Fridericus Fyuiee Bruce, A.M., olim discipulus meus, Universitatis Leodiensis nunc praelector, plagulas huius editionis, qua est summa doctrina diligentiaque, perlegit, magno emolumento meo et lectorum.
Dabam Oxonii mense Septembri
Anno Salutis MCMXXXXIIII.
Translation Latin is easier to translate, especially if it began as English anyway.
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