Oct 10, 2014

Charles Haddon Spurgeon and Textual Criticism

I just received the most recent edition of the Journal of the Evangelical Society. Although there appears to be a number of interesting articles one in particular caught my attention, an article by Elijah Hixson entitled  "New Testament Textual Criticism in the Ministry of Charles Haddon Spurgeon." Here is a paragraph to whet your appetite.

"This article seeks to understand better how Spurgeon used NT textual criticism in his ministry and to present Spurgeon as a model for contemporary ministers and scholars through an analysis of his remarks on textual variants and critical editions of the NT. An examination of Spurgeon's works reveals that, although he lived in an age dominated by the King James or Authorized Version (AV), he was aware of variant readings in the NT manuscripts. Spurgeon favored a critical text of the NT and discussed textual variants publicly, and his views began to develop much earlier than the 1881 publication of Westcott and Hort's N.T in the Original Greek. He was an independent thinker who examined the evidence for each variant and came to his own conclusions on the original text" ("New Testament Textual Criticism in the Ministry of Charles Haddon Spurgeon," Journal of the Evangelical Society 57:3 [September 2014]: 556).

2 comments:

James Snapp Jr said...

He seems to have adamantly endorsed the canonicity of Mark 16:9-20 --
From
http://www.spurgeon.org/sermons/0573.htm
--

"The lines containing the commission of our ascended Lord are certainly of the utmost importance, and demand devout attention and implicit obedience, not only from all who aspire to the work of the ministry, but also from all who hear the message of mercy. A clear understanding of these words is absolutely necessary to our success in our Master's work, for if we do not understand the commission it is not at all likely that we shall discharge it aright. To alter these words were more than impertinence, it would involve the crime of treason against the authority of Christ and the best interests of the souls of men."

Charles Savelle said...

Thanks for sharing this, James.