Textual Criticism is the disciplined comparison of biblical manuscripts and ancient versions to establish the earliest recoverable form of the text.[1]
Why manuscripts differ
The biblical books were copied by hand for centuries, and surviving witnesses contain spelling changes, accidental omissions, repetitions, harmonizations, marginal additions, and sometimes substantial alternative readings. Textual critics compare manuscripts, quotations, and early translations to assess which readings best explain the others.
The result is normally a critically edited text with an apparatus recording significant variants, not the discovery of one miraculously untouched physical manuscript. Major Christian doctrines do not depend on concealing this evidence.
A Catholic scholarly task
Pius XII called textual criticism legitimately and reverently applicable to the sacred books precisely because of the care owed to God's word. Catholic scholars participate in ecumenical critical editions while interpreting their results within the canon and living faith of the Church.[2]
Textual criticism asks what wording was transmitted; source, form, redaction, literary, and canonical criticism ask different questions. None by itself settles the full theological meaning of Scripture.
References
- 1.Divino afflante Spiritu — Pius XII on original languages, literary forms, ancient versions, and textual criticism
- 2.Dei Verbum — Sections 12 and 22–23 on interpretation, ancient versions, and scholarly work