Abstract

PRINSLOO, Gert T.M.. Diplomatic or eclectic critical editions of the Hebrew Bible? Considering a third alternative. Herv. teol. stud. [online]. 2022, vol.78, n.1, pp.1-7. ISSN 2072-8050.  https://doi.org/10.4102/hts.v78i1.7813.

Ever since the publication of the third edition of Rudolph Kittel's Biblia Hebraica (BHK3) to the present gradual production of the Biblia Hebraica Quinta (BHQ) so-called editiones criticae minores of the Hebrew Bible are diplomatic editions. The Codex Leningradensis, dating from 1008/9 CE, is used as the base text, and the Biblia Hebraica text editors note significant variants in other Hebrew manuscripts and/or the ancient versions in eclectic fashion in a text-critical apparatus. The Hebrew University Bible Project (HUPB) also publishes a diplomatic text based on the Codex Aleppo but with a more detailed text-critical apparatus. The Hebrew Bible: A Critical Edition (HBCE) follows a different route, traditionally more familiar in the production of critical editions of the Septuagint and New Testament, namely to publish an eclectic edition. The text editors produce a theoretical, reconstructed text of what they regard as the 'correct' reading after careful consideration and weighing of variants in all available textual witnesses. I argue that critical editions of the Hebrew at the disposal of Hebrew Bible scholars, whether based on a diplomatic or eclectic text, have two inherent weaknesses, namely eclecticism and lack of context. Taken together, these shortcomings might be classified as subjectivism. I propose at least considering the alternative of a synoptic text-critical approach beyond the diplomatic-eclectic dichotomy. CONTRIBUTION: This research critically reviews the current diplomatic/eclectic approaches in the production of scholarly Hebrew Bibles and proposes at least considering a third alternative, namely a synoptic approach

Keywords : textual criticism; Masoretic Text; diplomatic edition; eclectic edition; Synoptic edition; text-critical apparatus; Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia; Biblia Hebraica Quinta; Hebrew University Bible Project; Hebrew Bible; A Critical Edition.

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