Apographa
Apographa refers to established copies or transcripts of certain texts, usually religious or ecclesiastical, rather than the original autographs by the original authors or writers.[1][2][3]
Issues
There are scholars and theologians who consider only the original autographs of Scripture as infallible and as final authority, while others hold more to what is called the "Ecclesiastical Text" view, that Scripture canon is also authoritative in various renderings in later copies or manuscript traditions, or established "apo-grapha" (meaning "copied-writings"), and not just the original autographs alone. The reason being that the "original autographs" no longer actually exist, in tangible extant form, so later verified copies of copies, or "apographa", are the only real tangible or present "canon" that we have, and providentially preserved for current knowledge. And that the "apographa" or "Ecclesiastical Text" is all that is really available and should be mainly considered realistically, from established and accepted confessions, church traditions, revivals, productivity, understandings, and interpretations, and should be all that is accepted reasonably, efficiently, or sufficiently, for study or edification.[4][5]
Other theologians and scholars hold to what's called the "Critical Text" position,[6] such as put forth by Westcott and Hort, that seeks to find out and put forth what the original Apostles and Prophets actually wrote, regardless of later tradition or confessional history, or "majority text" views.[7] Regarding Westcott and Hort's work, according to Bible scholar and translator Bruce M. Metzger, "the general validity of their critical principles and procedures is widely acknowledged by scholars today."[8][9]
References
- Paolo Sacchi - The History of the Second Temple Period A&C Black, 2004. Chapter 2 - The Jewish Culture of the Sixth Century BCE. Page 91.
- Definition of apograph - plural apographa Merriam-Webster.
- Identification Of God's Preserved Words (I) - Inspiration, Preservation, and Translations: In Search of the Biblical Identity of the Bible-Presbyterian Church Archived 2018-01-01 at the Wayback Machine - Lesson 8. B. Autographs Only or Apographs Also? truthbpc.com.
- Dr. Jeffrey Khoo - SOLA AUTOGRAPHA OR SOLA APOGRAPHA? A CASE FOR THE PRESENT PERFECTION AND AUTHORITY OF THE HOLY SCRIPTURES - Dean Burgon Society. Retrieved 31 May 2017.
- A. J. MacDonald, Jr. - The Ecclesiastical Text - wordpress.com.
- Question: "What is the Critical Text?" - GotQuestions.org.
- What is Verbal Plenary Preservation? - GotQuestions.org.
- Bruce M. Metzger, The Text of the New Testament: Its Transmission, Corruption, and Restoration, p. 136.
- Bruce M. Metzger - A Textual Commentary on the Greek New Testament, Second Edition (companion to the UBS Greek NT)