This episode reiterates the significance of Westcott and Hort's revised Greek Text in 1881, the text upon which most modern translations rest. They wanted to incorporate newly discovered Greek manuscripts into the manuscript tradition, tweaking the Textus Receptus as needed. Importantly, the vast majority of the Greek text remained unchanged. Defenders of the Textus Receptus rejected any "tweaking," insisting that God had perfectly preserved His Word in the Textus Receptus, the underlying Greek text upon which the translators of the KJV relied. The English divine John Burgon linked the doctrine of inspiration with preservation, arguing from some prooftexts that God's providential preservation of the Scriptures followed from divine inspiration, and this miracle is evident in the KJV.
What about “Textual Variants?”
This episode mostly addresses the issue of textual variants. The reason why Critical Text theorists insists on an "older is better" approach to manuscripts is that less chance exists of a copying error occurring when a manuscript is older, closer to the original autograph. Copying over the last 1,900 years has in fact led a large number of textual variants. A textual variant is a difference in wording between 2 or more texts. While this fact alone might cast doubt over transmission of the original autograph, as critics like Bart Ehrman point out, a "textual variant" includes numerous differences that don't change the meaning at all, especially spelling variants, inclusion or absence of the definite article, word order differences, and transposition of words. The vast majority of textual variants don't alter meaning AT ALL. None exists that would alter any central tenet of the Christian faith. Future episodes address the very few substantive variants.
The Majority Text vs. the Critical Text
This episode marks a major shift in the discussion over Bible translations: most modern translations of the Bible reject the Majority Text (Textus Receptus) in favor of the Critical Text. The Majority Text approach established the underlying Greek Text based on the majority of manuscripts, regardless of age. Critical Text proponents reject establishing the text based purely on "majority rule," and instead maintain that newly discovered OLDER manuscripts should carry more weight in establishing the Greek text than the simple majority. The Critical Text therefore incorporates new manuscript evidence when determining the basic text from which to translate into English. The dispute then between TR proponents and Critical Text adherents can simplistically be stated as "majority rule" vs. "older is better." The argument mirrors the early 20th century dispute between fundamentalism and modernity. The episode contends that "modernity" (the discovery of new manuscript evidence) need not be rejected, but should rather be integrated in establishing the underlying text upon which translators depend.
The Conservative Approach of KJV Translation
This episode spells out the conservative approach of the translators of the King James Bible and demonstrates that the KJV relied heavily on previous translations. One word study found that 83.7% of the KJV was identical to William Tyndale's New Testament. Translators were instructed to methodically go through the Bishop's Bible and make any modifications based on the Hebrew or Greek texts. The translators relied on relatively late copies of both testaments, drawing from the Masoretic Text for the Hebrew (11th century). With respect to the New Testament, translators mostly relied on Erasmus' compilation of Greek texts (3rd to 5th editions), as well as collections of Stephanus and Theodore Beza. Together these copies make up the Textus Receptus, or Majority Text. The Majority Text depends on relatively late manuscripts (12th century) but is nevertheless very reliable when compared to modern translations, which depend on manuscripts as old as the second and third centuries.
The Geneva Bible: the First Direct English Translation
This episode mostly addresses the Geneva Bible, the first direct English translation of both Greek and Hebrew Scriptures. The Great Bible, the official bible of the Anglican Church, was a direct translation of the Greek NT but depended on the Latin Vulgate for translation into English. It was understandably less reliable. The Geneva Bible was published in 1560 in Geneva by Marian exiles, Calvinist Christians who fled persecution under queen Mary (1553-58) It was the first Bible translated by committee and incorporated verse distinctions. Commentary in the margins went beyond explicating meaning of words and cross references: it included anti-monarchical, anti-establishment, and anti-Catholic interpretations/applications. At least 2 of the 3 biases would be problematic to English monarchs, who headed up both church and state. King James not surprisingly despised the Geneva Bible.