Editing Textual criticism (section)

=== Canons of textual criticism ===
[[Image:Codex Sinaiticus-small.jpg|thumb|200px|[[Gospel of Luke|Luke]] 11:2 in [[Codex Sinaiticus]]]]
Various scholars have developed guidelines, or ''canons'' of textual criticism, to guide the exercise of the critic's judgment in determining the best readings of a text. One of the earliest was [[Johann Albrecht Bengel]] (1687–1752), who in 1734 produced an edition of the [[Textus Receptus|Greek New Testament]]. In his commentary, he established the rule ''Proclivi scriptioni praestat ardua'', ("the harder reading is to be preferred").<ref name="bengelrules">{{cite web|url=http://www.bible-researcher.com/rules.html#Bengel|title=Critical Rules of Johann Albrecht Bengel|publisher=Bible-researcher.com|access-date=2008-05-24|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100213010108/http://www.bible-researcher.com/rules.html#Bengel|archive-date=2010-02-13}}</ref>

[[Johann Jakob Griesbach]] (1745–1812) published several editions of the New Testament. In his 1796 edition,<ref>J.J. Griesbach, [https://books.google.com/books?id=BLk9AAAAIAAJ&q=novum+testamentum+graece ''Novum Testamentum Graece'']</ref> he established fifteen critical rules. Among them was a variant of Bengel's rule, ''Lectio difficilior potior'', "the harder reading is better." Another was ''Lectio brevior praeferenda'', "the shorter reading is better", based on the idea that scribes were more likely to add than to delete.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.bible-researcher.com/rules.html#Griesbach|title=Critical Rules of Johann Albrecht Bengel|publisher=Bible-researcher.com|access-date=2008-05-24|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100213010108/http://www.bible-researcher.com/rules.html#Griesbach|archive-date=2010-02-13}}<br /> "Brevior lectio, nisi testium vetustorum et gravium auctoritate penitus destituatur, praeferenda est verbosiori. Librarii enim multo proniores ad addendum fuerunt, quam ad omittendum."</ref> This rule cannot be applied uncritically, as scribes may omit material inadvertently.{{citation needed|date=May 2023}}

[[Brooke Foss Westcott]] (1825–1901) and [[Fenton Hort]] (1828–1892) published an edition of the [[The New Testament in the Original Greek|New Testament in Greek in 1881]]. They proposed nine critical rules, including a version of Bengel's rule, "The reading is less likely to be original that shows a disposition to smooth away difficulties." They also argued that "Readings are approved or rejected by reason of the quality, and not the number, of their supporting witnesses", and that "The reading is to be preferred that most fitly explains the existence of the others."<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.bible-researcher.com/rules.html#Hort|title=Theories of Westcott and Hort|publisher=Bible-researcher.com|access-date=2008-05-24|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100213010108/http://www.bible-researcher.com/rules.html#Hort|archive-date=2010-02-13}}<br />"The reading is to be preferred that makes the best sense, that is, that best conforms to the grammar and is most congruous with the purport of the rest of the sentence and of the larger context." (2.20)</ref>

Many of these rules, although originally developed for biblical textual criticism, have wide applicability to any text susceptible to errors of transmission.{{citation needed|date=May 2023}}