Franz Anton Knittel
Encyclopedia
Franz Anton Knittel was a German
, Lutheran orthodox
theologian
, priest, and palaeographer
. He examined palimpsest
s' text of the Codex Guelferbytanus 64 Weissenburgensis and deciphered text of Codex Carolinus
. He was the author of many works.
.
After receiving work in the main church of Wolfenbüttel Knittel started to examine manuscripts housed in the Ducal Library of Wolfenbüttel. In 1756 he examined Codex Guelferbytanus 64 Weissenburgensis. The manuscript and its palimpsest text was earlier examined by Heusinger, who described it in 1752, but Knittel was the first who recognized that the palimpsest Greek text belonged to two different manuscript of the New Testament. Knittel designated these two texts by sigla A
and B
. He recognized also lists of the (chapters) as another, the third Greek manuscript. Knittel also deciphered and reconstructed the Gothic
-Latin text of the palimpsest and published it in 1762 at Brunswick
. It is known as Codex Carolinus
. The upper text of palimpsest contains text of Isidore of Seville
's Origines
and his six letters. Knittel designated it by siglum E and dated to the 11th century.
Knittel made many errors in deciphering palimpsest's text, especially in Latin text of Codex Carolinus (e.g. enarrabilia for scrutabilia). Tischendorf
made a new and more accurate collation for the Latin text (edited in 1855). The new collation of the Gothic text gave Carla Falluomini
in 1999. Knittel examined also other manuscripts (e.g. Minuscule 126
, 429
).
Knittel defended tradition point of view in theology and was against the modern textual criticism
. He defended an authenticity of the Pericopa Adulterae (John 7:53-8:11), Comma Johanneum
(1 John 5:7), and Testimonium Flavianum. According to him Erasmus
in his Novum Instrumentum omne
did not incorporate the Comma from Codex Montfortianus, because of grammar differences, but used Complutensian Polyglotta
. According to him the Comma was known for Tertullian
.
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
, Lutheran orthodox
Lutheran Orthodoxy
Lutheran orthodoxy was an era in the history of Lutheranism, which began in 1580 from the writing of the Book of Concord and ended at the Age of Enlightenment. Lutheran orthodoxy was paralleled by similar eras in Calvinism and tridentine Roman Catholicism after the...
theologian
Theology
Theology is the systematic and rational study of religion and its influences and of the nature of religious truths, or the learned profession acquired by completing specialized training in religious studies, usually at a university or school of divinity or seminary.-Definition:Augustine of Hippo...
, priest, and palaeographer
Palaeography
Palaeography, also spelt paleography is the study of ancient writing. Included in the discipline is the practice of deciphering, reading, and dating historical manuscripts, and the cultural context of writing, including the methods with which writing and books were produced, and the history of...
. He examined palimpsest
Palimpsest
A palimpsest is a manuscript page from a scroll or book from which the text has been scraped off and which can be used again. The word "palimpsest" comes through Latin palimpsēstus from Ancient Greek παλίμψηστος originally compounded from πάλιν and ψάω literally meaning “scraped...
s' text of the Codex Guelferbytanus 64 Weissenburgensis and deciphered text of Codex Carolinus
Codex Carolinus
Codex Carolinus is a Gothic-Latin diglot uncial manuscript of the New Testament on parchment, dated to the 6th or 7th century. The Gothic text is designated by siglum Car, the Latin text is designated by siglum gue or by 79 , it represents the Old Latin translation of the New Testament...
. He was the author of many works.
Life
In 1751 he became a priest, in 1753 Archdeacon of the main church in Wolfenbüttel. In 1766 he became general superintendent and the first preacher in Wolfenbüttel and in 1776 general superintendent in BraunschweigBraunschweig
Braunschweig , is a city of 247,400 people, located in the federal-state of Lower Saxony, Germany. It is located north of the Harz mountains at the farthest navigable point of the Oker river, which connects to the North Sea via the rivers Aller and Weser....
.
After receiving work in the main church of Wolfenbüttel Knittel started to examine manuscripts housed in the Ducal Library of Wolfenbüttel. In 1756 he examined Codex Guelferbytanus 64 Weissenburgensis. The manuscript and its palimpsest text was earlier examined by Heusinger, who described it in 1752, but Knittel was the first who recognized that the palimpsest Greek text belonged to two different manuscript of the New Testament. Knittel designated these two texts by sigla A
Codex Guelferbytanus A
Codex Guelferbytanus A designated by Pe or 024 , ε 33 , is a Greek uncial manuscript of the Gospels, dated palaeographically to the 6th century. The manuscript is very lacunose.- Description :...
and B
Codex Guelferbytanus B
Codex Guelferbytanus B designated by Q or 026 , ε 4 , is a Greek uncial manuscript of the Gospels, dated palaeographically to the 5th century.It is a palimpsest.- Contents :Gospel of Luke...
. He recognized also lists of the (chapters) as another, the third Greek manuscript. Knittel also deciphered and reconstructed the Gothic
Gothic language
Gothic is an extinct Germanic language that was spoken by the Goths. It is known primarily from the Codex Argenteus, a 6th-century copy of a 4th-century Bible translation, and is the only East Germanic language with a sizable Text corpus...
-Latin text of the palimpsest and published it in 1762 at Brunswick
Braunschweig
Braunschweig , is a city of 247,400 people, located in the federal-state of Lower Saxony, Germany. It is located north of the Harz mountains at the farthest navigable point of the Oker river, which connects to the North Sea via the rivers Aller and Weser....
. It is known as Codex Carolinus
Codex Carolinus
Codex Carolinus is a Gothic-Latin diglot uncial manuscript of the New Testament on parchment, dated to the 6th or 7th century. The Gothic text is designated by siglum Car, the Latin text is designated by siglum gue or by 79 , it represents the Old Latin translation of the New Testament...
. The upper text of palimpsest contains text of Isidore of Seville
Isidore of Seville
Saint Isidore of Seville served as Archbishop of Seville for more than three decades and is considered, as the historian Montalembert put it in an oft-quoted phrase, "le dernier savant du monde ancien"...
's Origines
Etymologiae
Etymologiae is an encyclopedia compiled by Isidore of Seville towards the end of his life. It forms a bridge between a condensed epitome of classical learning at the close of Late Antiquity and the inheritance received, in large part through Isidore's work, by the early Middle Ages...
and his six letters. Knittel designated it by siglum E and dated to the 11th century.
Knittel made many errors in deciphering palimpsest's text, especially in Latin text of Codex Carolinus (e.g. enarrabilia for scrutabilia). Tischendorf
Constantin von Tischendorf
Lobegott Friedrich Constantin Tischendorf was a noted German Biblical scholar. He deciphered the Codex Ephraemi Rescriptus, a 5th century Greek manuscript of the New Testament, in the 1840s, and rediscovered the Codex Sinaiticus, a 4th century New Testament manuscript, in 1859.Tischendorf...
made a new and more accurate collation for the Latin text (edited in 1855). The new collation of the Gothic text gave Carla Falluomini
Carla Falluomini
Carla Falluomini, professor at the University of Sassari, Gothic palaeographer; area of interest: Gothic language and culture.Falluomini gave a new collation for Gothic text of Codex Carolinus in 1999. The first collation of the codex was made by Franz Anton Knittel in 1762, who made some errors.-...
in 1999. Knittel examined also other manuscripts (e.g. Minuscule 126
Minuscule 126
Minuscule 126 , ε 185 . It is a Greek minuscule manuscript of the New Testament, written on parchment. Palaeographically it has been assigned to the 12th century. It has complex contents with full marginalia.- Description :The manuscript contains a complete text of the four Gospels on 219 parchment...
, 429
Minuscule 429
Minuscule 429 , α 398 , is a Greek minuscule manuscript of the New Testament, on cotton paper. Palaeographically it has been assigned to the 14th century .- Description :...
).
Knittel defended tradition point of view in theology and was against the modern textual criticism
Textual criticism
Textual criticism is a branch of literary criticism that is concerned with the identification and removal of transcription errors in the texts of manuscripts...
. He defended an authenticity of the Pericopa Adulterae (John 7:53-8:11), Comma Johanneum
Comma Johanneum
The Comma Johanneum is a comma in the First Epistle of John according to the Latin Vulgate text as transmitted since the Early Middle Ages, based on Vetus Latina minority readings dating to the 7th century...
(1 John 5:7), and Testimonium Flavianum. According to him Erasmus
Desiderius Erasmus
Desiderius Erasmus Roterodamus , known as Erasmus of Rotterdam, was a Dutch Renaissance humanist, Catholic priest, and a theologian....
in his Novum Instrumentum omne
Novum Instrumentum omne
Novum Instrumentum omne was the first published New Testament in Greek . It was prepared by Desiderius Erasmus and printed by Johann Froben of Basel. Although the first printed Greek New Testament was the Complutensian Polyglot , it was the second to be published...
did not incorporate the Comma from Codex Montfortianus, because of grammar differences, but used Complutensian Polyglotta
Complutensian Polyglot Bible
The Complutensian Polyglot Bible is the name given to the first printed polyglot of the entire Bible, initiated and financed by Cardinal Francisco Jiménez de Cisneros . It includes the first printed editions of the Greek New Testament, the complete Septuagint, and the Targum Onkelos...
. According to him the Comma was known for Tertullian
Tertullian
Quintus Septimius Florens Tertullianus, anglicised as Tertullian , was a prolific early Christian author from Carthage in the Roman province of Africa. He is the first Christian author to produce an extensive corpus of Latin Christian literature. He also was a notable early Christian apologist and...
.
Works
- Gedanken von einem Lehrgebaude einer gemessenen Geistlerlehre und ihrem Bussen in der Gottesgelahrtheit 1746
- Epistola, in qua de eo, quod in Georgicis Hesiodes, quae εργα και ημεραι inscribuntur, supposititium est, disseruit de salis vallibus et a viro celebrrimo in arte critica M. horum, quae accusantus, vindice atquae assertore, dissentit, Brunsvick 1754
- Neue Gedanken von den allgemeinen Christsehlern in den Handschriften des Neuen Testamtns u. s. w., mebst einem Versuche einer hermeneutischen Muthmassunge - Sitten - Lehre der ersten Kirche, Braunschweig 1755
- Praecopium Ulphilanum primum, Brunovici 1758; alterum 1760
- Ulphilae versionem Gothicam nonnullorum capitum epistolae Pauli ad Romanos e litura MS. rescript Bibliothecae Guelferbytanae, cum variis monumentis ineditis eruit, commentatus est, detitque foras, Brunovici 1762
- Friedenspredigt, Braunschweig 1763
- Prisca ruris ecclesia, Brunovici 1767
- Beyträge zur Kritik über Johannes Offenbarung, Schröder, Braunschweig und Hildensheim 1773.
- Neue Kritiken über das weltberühmte Zeugnis dea alten Juden Flav. Josephus von Jesu Christo Braunschweig 1779
- Neue Kritiken über den berühmten Sprych: Drey sind, die da zeugen im Himmel, der Vater, das Wort, und der heilige Geist, und diese drei sind eins Braunschweig 1785
- Ueber die Aufklärung des Lachmannes, Frankfurt und Leipzig 1787
Further reading
- Johann Georg Neusel, Lexicon der vom Jahr 1750 bis 1800 verstorberen Teuschen Schriftsteller (Leipzig 1898), pp. 133–135.
- Heinrich Döring, Franz Anton Knittel, Die deutschen Kanzelredner des achtzehnten und neunzehnten Jahrhunderts, pp. 171–175.
External links
- Fragmenta versionis Ulphilanae: continentia particulas aliquot epistolae Pauli ad Romanos (Upsaliae 1763)
- Franz Anton Knittel & William Alleyn Evanson, New criticisms on the celebrated text: 1 John V. 7. "For there are three that bear record in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost; and these three are one." A synodical lecture, 1829.