4 - Marginal annotation and the origin of some Western readings in Acts

Summary

Introduction

It has long been recognised that some Western readings in Acts appear to have entered the text from marginal readings or glosses. Such annotations, it has been argued, are the explanation for readings which are inconsistent with their context, either grammatically or in content, or which are overloaded and redundant in form.

This approach to the Western readings in Acts has been largely neglected since the generation of Clark and Streeter. Although it is occasionally referred to in recent treatments of the subject, it deserves fuller consideration than it has received for some time. This chapter will first examine the variety of theses which have been proposed to explain some Western readings as originating in marginal notes. We shall then draw attention to some Western readings in Acts which appear to show evidence for the incorporation of marginal or interlined notes. It will then be possible to assess the significance of this feature of the Western textual tradition in Acts.

Scrivener suggested that Acts 8.37 made its way into the text from a marginal note. The credal statement was, he thought, first placed in the margin, and then worked into the text, being given a narrative framework. He noted that Irenaeus (Adv.Omn.Haer. 3.12.8) cited only the confession itself, showing both how early the words had entered the text, and what the original form had been.

Blass made more comprehensive use of the notion of marginal annotation as the explanation of Western readings in Acts.