View source for Bible: Textual Criticism

'''Textual Criticism''' is the field of biblical study that conceptually follows the development of the [[Biblical canon]]. It attempts to ascertain the original wording of the text in situation when the very original manuscripts (''autographs'') were lost and only their copies are available, whereas there are variations among them.<ref name="Virkler">{{cite book |author= Henry A. Virkler and Karelynne Gerber Ayayo|title= Hermeneutics: Principles and Processes of Biblical Interpretation|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=FqOTmR7JYREC&printsec=frontcover&dq=Virkler+Hermeneutics:+Principles+and+Processes+of+Biblical+Interpretation&hl=en&sa=X&ei=ldmWUMbwA-_34QTcwYHADA&ved=0CCsQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q=Textual%20Criticism&f=false|edition=2|year=2007|origyear=1981 |publisher= Bacer Academic|location= Grand Rapids, Michigan|isbn= 978-0-8010-3138-0|pages= 17, 40|chapter= 1:Introduction to Biblical Hermeneutics |quote= |ref= }}</ref> These discrepancies are assumed to result from copyists' errors.<ref>{{cite book
|author=Craig L. Blomberg
|editor=David G. Dunbar et al.
|title=Hermeneutics, Authority, and Canon
|editor=D.A. Carson and J.D. Woodbridge
|publisher=Wipf and Stock Publishers 
|year=1986 (Zondervan), 2005
|location=Eugene, Oregon
|chapter=Four: The Legitimacy and Limits of Harmomnization
|pages=141
|url=http://books.google.no/books?id=XHoFAQAACAAJ&dq=Carson+Hermeneutics,+Authority+and+Canon&hl=en&sa=X&ei=kuGLUJb3AouL4gSF0IGoDg&redir_esc=y
|isbn=1-59752-118-3
}}</ref>  

Textual criticism is strongly opposed by those in the [[King James only]] movement, based on their view that the only true line of original Scripture is found in the Masoretic Hebrew and Textus Receptus Greek, and that other lines, such as Codex Sinaticus and Codex Vaticanus, are corrupt (along with the more radical Ruckmanite position that the King James is advanced revelation over the Hebrew and Greek texts).  Their view is that textual criticism is actually an attempt to undermine Biblical inerrancy by claiming that only the "Originals" were inspired, thus allowing the use of non-Masoretic/TR texts in an attempt to "discover the original text".

See also: [[Historical-critical method (Higher criticism)]]

== References ==
{{Reflist}} 

== External links ==
[http://standardbearers.net/uploads/The_King_James_Version_Defended_Dr_Edward_F_Hills.pdf The King James Verson Defended, Dr. Edward F. Hills (standardbearers.net)] pdf

{{Christian Theology}}
[[Category:Bible]]
[[Category:Christian Theology]]