Re: Text of the Apostolic Fathers

From: Michael Holmes (holmic@homer.acs.bethel.edu)
Date: Tue Dec 05 1995 - 21:54:31 EST


Edgar Krentz's answers to Ken Litwak's questions about the Apostolic
Fathers and lunar sigma's were, as usual, very informative and
helpful. Perhaps I may be permitted to subjoin a few additional
remarks to what he has already said.

Re the lunar (or lunate) sigma: this form has been utilized for the new
editions of the papyri in the latest volume from the International Greek
New Testament Project, The Gospel According to St. John, vol. 1: The
Papyri, ed. by W. J. Elliott and D. C. Parker (Leiden: Brill, 1995).

Re the Apostolic Fathers:

1) the *text* of Clement, Ignatius, and Polycarp in Lightfoot's five-vol.
set and the text in the editio Minor, _Patrum Apostolicorum Opera_, ed. O.
v. Gebhardt, A. v. Harnack, and T. Zahn(Leipzig: J. C. Hinrichs, 1920) is,
as Edgar notes, out of date. But the textual apparatuses contain loads of
data not otherwise available, and remain (much like Tischendorf's NT) very
valuable resources. No one should avoid consulting them simply because the
text is dated.

2) For Barnabas and the Didache, the textual apparatus in the Sources
chretiennes edition of Prigent and Bob Kraft--Kraft did the the textual
work--is absolutely superb, and very full. For serious work on Barnabas,
especially, this should probably be the starting point.

3)
>The best criticial edition at present, in my opinion, of Clement, Ignatius,
>Polycarp, and Quadratus is _Die apostolischen Vaeter griechisch und
>deutsch_, edited by Joseph A. Fischer (Muenchen: Koesel, 1956; also
>Wissenschaftliche Buchgesellschaft).
>The second volume is titled _Dicache (Apostellehre) Barnabasbrief Zweiter
>Klemensbrief Schrift an Diognet_, ed. Klaus Wengst Schriften des
>Urchristentums II. (Darmstadt: Wissenschkaftliche Buchgesellschaft, 1984).

--yes, certainly, to the extent that I'm not sure that the
Funk/Bihlmeyer/Schneelmecher edition should any longer be described as "the
standard critical edition." The Fischer and Wengst vols (+ Kraft for Barn
and Did) clearly supercede it, as Edgar indicates.

--but do be aware that in some cases the presentation of evidence is
incomplete or very selective; e.g., in the case of the letter of Polycarp,
both F/B/S and Fischer present only one of the nine extant Greek MSS, thus
hiding completely some of the significant divergences within that MS
tradition (for exx., see the apparatus to the Letter of Polycarp in the
following edition).

4) re _The Apostolic Fathers. Greek Texts and English Translations of their
Writings_, by J. B. Lightfoot and J. R. Harmer, 2nd edition edited and
revised by Michael W. Holmes (Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 1992), about
which Edgar said: "presents a text with a very slight critical apparatus":
-- first, thanks for the mention (it's always nice to get noticed);
--second, I might wish to describe it as "a revised and updated text with a
very selective critical apparatus." The text is a thoroughly
reconsidered and updated edition of Lightfoot (more up to date than
even Fischer, at some points), with a selective apparatus that attempts
(how successfully is for others to say) to present as many variants as
possible that might affect the interpretation of the document, without
cluttering up the apparatus with some of the textual trivia found in the
more extensive apparatuses of the Fischer/Wengst and F/B/S editions. Not
intended as a full critical apparatus, it is much more extensive than
anything in the Loeb volumes, which I hoped my volume might supercede.
[In this respect one may wish to consult the review in Journal of Early
Christian Studies 3 (1995) 81-83].

Mike Holmes
Bethel College
St. Paul, MN



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