Edward Freer Hills - William Pierpont discussion on ETC

Steven Avery

Administrator
Evangelical Textual Criticism
“Guest Post” from the Grave: William G. Pierpont on E.F. Hills
https://evangelicaltextualcriticism...howComment=1655584206135#c4440855487018249567

Let's have Edward Freer Hills speak directly:
The King James Bible Defended

The special providence of God is particularly evident in the fact that the text of the Greek New Testament was first printed and published not in the East but in Western Europe where the influence of the Latin usage and of the Latin Vulgate was very strong. Through the influence of the Latin-speaking Church Erasmus and his successors were providentially guided to follow the Latin Vulgate here and there in those few places in which the Latin Church usage rather than the Greek Church usage had preserved the genuine reading. Hence the Textus Receptus was a further step in the providential preservation of the New Testament. In it the few errors of any consequence occurring in the Traditional Greek Text were corrected by the providence of God operating through the usage of the Latin speaking Church of Western Europe.

... during the 16th century when the New Testament text was being printed for the first time, God worked providentially through the usage of the Latin-speaking Church to influence Erasmus and the other editors and printers of that period to follow the Latin Vulgate in those few places in which the Latin Church usage rather than the Greek Church usage had preserved the genuine reading. ...

There are also a few passages in which the Latin Vulgate has preserved the true reading rather than the Greek Traditional New Testament Text. As we shall see in the next chapter, these few true Latin Vulgate readings were later incorporated into the Textus Receptus, the first printed Greek New Testament text, under the guiding providence of God.
 
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Steven Avery

Administrator
Steven Avery6/19/2022 4:08 pm
Clearly no one is anxious to get into a discussion of accuracy relating to two respected men who have both passed.

William Grover Pierpont (1915-2003)
Edward Freer Hills (1912-1981)

Positions could have been in flux, they may have changed, the conversation may be recorded from a one-sided perspective.

And I think it is very clear that there is a big difference between what is put in the book in 1983 by Hills, and/or his compiler, compared to how his position is represented in the post above.

The book was originally published in 1956 but it is not easy to check that edition. It would be interesting to see if it has more of a Greek-primacy approach than the 1983 edition, which might help us understand the William Pierpont summary above.

Anybody have the 1956 handy? Or even any intermediary edition before 1983.

Thanks!

Steven Avery
Dutchess County, NY USA
 

Steven Avery

Administrator
CARM

Rick Norris
In the 1956 first edition of his book The King James Version Defended, Edward F. Hills maintained that "the special providence of God has operated in the sphere of the Greek Church and expressed itself in its usage and that therefore the Byzantine text, found in the vast majority of the extant manuscripts, is a trustworthy representative of the divinely inspired original text and the best of all extant texts" (pp. 140-141). I did not notice any mention of 1 John 5:7 in this first edition.

In the expanded 1984 fourth edition of his book printed after the death of Edward F. Hills (1912-1981) with the 1984 copyright by Marjorie J. Hills, someone may have done some editing and even someone may possibly have added some sentences that Edward F. Hills himself may not have written. Some claims in the fourth edition could be considered to conflict with statements in the first edition.

In this fourth edition, a mere speculation is suggested. This edition suggested: "It is possible, therefore, that this Sabellian heresy brought the Johannine comma into disfavor with orthodox Christians" (p. 212). No direct quotations from the 2nd and 3rd centuries are provided to support or prove this claimed "possible" speculation.

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Steven Avery
Without your comparing the 1973 2nd edition, or more importantly the 1979 3rd edition, your speculations remain up in the air.
Interesting, though.

Do you have examples of the supposed "could be" conflicts?
Yet again, we would really need the 3rd edition.

Worldcat has the 3rd and 1984 4th edition as both 280 pages, 1973 2nd is 254, 1st 1958 as 158.

That looks to make the 3rd and 4th edition the same, pretty much eliminating speculation of changes after Hills passed.

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Rick Norris
On the copyright page of the 1984 edition, [Reprint 1988]
this is stated:
"Copyright 1956, 1973 by Edward F. Hills.
Copyright 1984 by Marjorie J. Hills"

No copyright by Edward F. Hills is listed for the 1979 Third Edition. Since the copyright for the 1984 edition is by Marjorie J. Hills and since you claim that the third and fourth editions have the same number of pages, it could still be possible that she could be responsible for editing and even for the additional pages in 1979 for which she later claimed a copyright in 1984 (1979 is just a couple years before Hills died). Edward Hills could possibly have been sick or unable to write a period of time before he died. At least the fourth edition suggests that Edward F. Hills did not claim a copyright for the third edition additions.

In his 1956 first edition, Edward F. Hills advocated the text found in the vast majority of the extant Byzantine Greek NT manuscripts while in the fourth edition the acceptance of some non-Greek or minority readings such as 1 John 5:7 is supported. Surely you are aware of the fact that 1 John 5:7 is not found in the vast majority of extant Byzantine manuscripts.

Along with the quotation from Hills as on pp. 140-141, Edward F. Hills also wrote in 1956: "The text of the majority of the manuscripts is the providentially preserved and approved text" (p. 30) and wrote: "The New Testament text, therefore, which is found in the vast majority of the extant manuscripts is the providentially preserved and approved text" (pp. 34-35). Hills also wrote: "The Byzantine text, then, found in the vast majority of the New Testament manuscripts, is the text upon which God, working providentially through the usage of the Greek-speaking Church, has placed the stamp of His approval" (p. 35).

Edward F. Hills noted: "It [referring to 1 John 5:7] was not included in Jerome's original edition of the Latin Vulgate, but around the year 800 it was taken into the text of the Vulgate from the Old Latin manuscripts" (p. 210).

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Steven Avery

In the 1983 edition we have:


But God in His mercy did not leave His people to grope after the True New Testament Text. Through the leading of the Holy Spirit He guided them to preserve it during the manuscript period. God brought this to pass through the working of His preserving and governing providence. First, many trustworthy copies of the original New Testament manuscripts were produced by faithful scribes. Second, these trustworthy copies were read and recopied by true believers down through the centuries. Third, untrustworthy copies were not so generally read or so frequently recopied. Although they enjoyed some popularity for a time, yet in the long run they were laid aside and consigned to oblivion. Thus as a result of this special providential guidance the True Text won out in the end, and today we may be sure that the text found in the vast majority of the Greek New Testament manuscripts is a trustworthy reproduction of the divinely inspired Original Text. This is the text which was preserved by the God-guided usage of the Greek Church. Critics have called it the Byzantine text, thereby acknowledging that it was the text in use in the Greek Church during the greater part of the Byzantine period (452-1453). It is much better, however, to call this text the Traditional Text. When we call the text found in the majority of the Greek New Testament manuscripts the Traditional Text, we signify that this is the text which has been handed down by the God-guided tradition of the Church from the time of the Apostles unto the present day.

That sounds like your description of what Hills wrote on the Byzantine Text, as given in the 1956 edition.

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Rick Norris

Not completely or totally. In the fourth edition, no copyright by Edward F. Hills is listed for the 1979 third edition of KJV Defended.

Edward F. Hills' other book Believing Bible Study may provide additional evidence that someone could have added to Hills' books.
I have a copy of the third edition of Hills' Believing Bible Study, which I obtained in 1993.
On its copyright page this is stated:
"First Edition 1967
Second Edition 1977
Third Edition 1991

Copyright 1967, 1977 by Edward F. Hills.
Copyright 1991 by Marjorie J. Hills."

This Third Edition is copyrighted ten years after Edward F. Hills' death in 1981. This third edition has 258 pages.

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Steven Avery

There is no legal imperative to claim a copyright.

“As of January 1, 1978, under U.S. copyright law, a work is automatically protected by copyright when it is created. Specifically, “A work is created when it is “fixed” in a copy or phonorecord for the first time.”













Rick Norris


Steven Avery



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Just working on the chronology.

Is the Hills 1973 second edition essentially identical to the 1983 that is online?

Going to the 1956 1st edition:
"the special providence of God has operated in the sphere of the Greek Church and expressed itself in its usage and that therefore the Byzantine text, found in the vast majority of the extant manuscripts, is a trustworthy representative of the divinely inspired original text and the best of all extant texts" (pp. 140-141). The heavenly witnesses are apparently not mentioned.
 
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