Biblical Criticism in Early Modern Europe: Erasmus, the Johannine Comma and Trinitarian Debate

Grantley McDonald

Cambridge University Press, Jul 27, 2016 - Religion

Medieval western theologians considered the Johannine comma (1 John 5:7-8) the clearest biblical evidence for the Trinity. When Erasmus failed to find the comma in the Greek manuscripts he used for his New Testament edition, he omitted it. Accused of promoting Antitrinitarian heresy, Erasmus included the comma in his third edition (1522) after seeing it in a Greek codex from England, even though he suspected the manuscript's authenticity. The resulting disputes, involving leading theologians, philologists and controversialists such as Luther, Calvin, Sozzini, Milton, Newton, Bentley, Gibbon and Porson, touched not simply on philological questions, but also on matters of doctrine, morality, social order, and toleration. While the spuriousness of the Johannine comma was established by 1900, it has again assumed iconic status in recent attempts to defend biblical inerrancy amongst the Christian Right. A social history of the Johannine comma thus provides significant insights into the recent culture wars.

Contents

• Erasmus: 13
• The Johannine comma in sixteenthcentury bibles: 56
• Lutheran reactions to the dispute over the comma: 62
• English translations: 69
• Anabaptists Erasmus and the comma: 86
• Eastcentral European Antitrinitarians of the later sixteenth and seventeenth centuries: 94
• The comma in the Eastern Orthodox churches: 111
• Summary: 115
• From Civil War to Enlightenment: 117
• The beginnings of the Socinian controversy in England: 130
• John Milton: 134
• Thomas Hobbes: 136
• Etienne de Courcelles and Jeremias Felbinger: 138
• Richard Simon and the development of the historicalcritical method: 144
• Thomas Smith: 156
• Isaac Newton a Bigot a Fanatique a Heretique: 159
• John Mill: 181
• William Whiston: 186
• Samuel Clarke: 194
• Thomas Emlyn: 209
• satire in the service of orthodoxy: 214
• between confidence and despair: 218
• David Martin and the rediscovery of Codex Montfortianus: 228
• Wells Mace Bengel Wettstein Bowyer Harwood: 241
• Johann Salomo Semler: 255
• Johann Jacob Griesbach: 258
• the appeal to pietism: 260
• Edward Gibbon George Travis Georg Gottlieb Pappelbaum Richard Porson and Herbert Marsh: 266
• Summary: 276
• The Johannine comma in the long nineteenth century: 279
• The scientific study of Codex Montfortianus: 283
• Erasmus and English Unitarianism: 287
• Erasmus and the Johannine comma in the struggle for Catholic emancipation: 291
• Lachmann and Tischendorf: 292
• Renewed defence of the textus receptus: 294
• Westcott Hort and the Revised Version: 296
• The Johannine comma and the Catholic modernist crisis: 300
• Summary: 311
• Conclusion: 312
• translation of Erasmus annotations on the Johannine comma 15161535: 315
• Bibliography: 323
• Index: 375

About the author

Grantley McDonald is a postdoctoral fellow at the Universität Wien, and leader of the research project 'The Court Chapel of Maximilian I: Between Art and Politics'. His research has been distinguished with prizes from the Australian Academy of the Humanities (Canberra) and the Praemium Erasmianum Foundation (Amsterdam). His recent work has focussed on print, religious radicalism and censorship.

Bibliographic information

• Title: Biblical Criticism in Early Modern Europe: Erasmus, the Johannine Comma and Trinitarian Debate
• Author: Grantley McDonald
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press, 2016
• ISBN: 1316790789, 9781316790786
• Subjects: History / Europe / Renaissance; History / General; History / Social History; Religion / Biblical Studies / General; Religion / Biblical Studies / New Testament / General; Religion / Christian Theology / General; Religion / Christianity / General; Religion / General; Religion / Theology