The views expressed in this article are of the author only and do not necessarily represent those of the Center for Pastor Theologians.
The Ecclesiastical Text: Text Criticism, Biblical Authority, and the Popular Mind
Theodore P. Letis
Just and Sinner (repr., 2018). 277 pp.
Theodore Letis’s work is a necessary discussion partner to anyone endeavoring to navigate the issues surrounding biblical text criticism, particularly of the New Testament. While this third edition of his work is a reprint of the now deceased Letis, Just and Sinner Publishing House has done a service to the current text criticism enthusiast for making it available. The work is a collection of essays on text criticism issues that Dr. Letis wrote during and around the time of his doctoral studies. While not an overly easy read, the work is not too academic or technical for someone with a little knowledge of the discussion of textual criticism.
Within the book, Letis demonstrates his own acumen in dealing with the technical nature of textual criticism. In one of the chapters, he intricately deals with Egyptian manuscripts and John 1:18. While no novice at the textual issues related to New Testament texts, Letis’s greatest contribution to the discussion in this work is his historical analysis of the impact of B.B. Warfield upon textual criticism and the move to the Modern Critical Text, as well as the historical overview of what previous generations believed regarding autographa (the original or first copy of a biblical writing) and apographa (the original language copies of that initial copy). In discussing Warfield in a well-written chapter, he writes, “Warfield’s first step in this process was to distance himself from the Protestant scholastic approach to text critical matters, while retaining the scholastic view of verbal inspiration” (p. 12). He ultimately shows that Warfield changed the entire discussion, perhaps with good motives, and caused significant change to how Bible believing scholars viewed text criticism. Specifically looking to reconstruct an illusive original manuscript versus maintaining a preservationist approach with the apographa did this. The specific chapter on B. B. Warfield and Inerrancy is a necessary historical read and is worth the entire book, whether one agrees or disagrees with Letis’s ultimate manuscript choices.
Throughout the book, while clearly preferring the King James Version, or Authorized Version, Letis is a far cry from an official KJV-only position (arguing for some type of special inspiration of the English King James Version), but rather bemoans the assumptions of the Modern Critical Text position and methodology and advocates instead for the Textus Receptus, or a form of the Majority Text. He also shows a clear ability to demonstrate historical development as this work contains several chapters that reveal the chronological development of thought within church history of the field of biblical text criticism.
Although this work is over two decades old, the recent reprint is timely as there is a renewed interest among Evangelical, confessional and Reformed groups in the issues. With the advent of social media, many are questioning the Modern Critical Text methodology, and this work is a necessary, albeit older work for that discussion. Part of this necessity is seen in the continued output of Christian Apologist Dr. James White on the issue. Among Reformed individuals, he has become a popularizer of the Modern Critical Text and has come to its defense. Within Letis’s work there are several Appendices, one of which is a critique of White’s approach. Anyone influenced by White’s apologetic approach to the Modern Critical Text position needs to be aware of Letis’s bold critique.
In addition to these strengths, the work offers text critical examples as well as historical research. Text Criticism did not simply appear with the discovery of manuscripts, it developed chronologically, particularly over the last 200 years, and Letis is very helpful in understanding that development. His use of Brevard Childs is also helpful in that Letis himself argues for a particular approach from within an historical outlook of a particular individual. To the reader looking to understand the myriad of issues regarding the text criticism of the Christian New Testament this book is a necessary read and will be helpful in laying the groundwork for other works. The reader is encouraged to not allow confusion between “KJV-onlyism” and discussion of the Textus Receptus to interfere with benefitting from the historical and textual benefits of picking up this book.
This particular reprinting suffers from a few typos or layout issues here and there, but this is not a regular occurrence. Given that the work is a collection of articles by a now deceased scholar, there is no amending the work, yet, if a suggestion for another chapter could be made, given the current discussion, it would be helpful for the reader to see Letis work out a current articulation of the finer distinctions between the Majority Text position and the Textus Receptus position. Through no fault of Letis, scholars seeking to defend both positions have used the phrase “Ecclesiastical Text”, and therefore, an additional essay on the differences between these two, albeit much closer, positions than the Modern Critical Text, would be helpful. These critiques notwithstanding, the work is of great value and will provide benefit to persons new to the discussion, and those who have been involved in the discussion of Text Criticism for awhile.
J. Ryan Davidson (PhD, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam) serves as pastor at Grace Baptist Chapel (Reformed) in Hampton, VA, as well an Assistant Professor of Pastoral Theology at International Reformed Baptist Seminary in Mansfield, TX. He is a member of the St. Peter Fellowship of the Center for Pastor Theologians.
