Abbott on
Codex B
Background
One way to get a more comprehensive overview of the quality and nature of Codex Vaticanus (Vat.MS 1209, Cod.B), is to examine other places in the MS which have significant variants or mistakes which have been ignored by those who promote the MS as "most accurate", "the best", etc.
Abbott examines many of the details of Codex B which are ignored or overlooked by other critics. In so doing, he gives a rare and comprehensive view of the kind and frequency of errors committed by the scribe of B and his master-copy. Abbott is exceptionally qualified to comment on the many peculiarities of B, being one of the leading experts in Johannine studies of his era. His monumental Johannine Grammar (from which this appendix is taken) has been described by reviewers as follows:
"There are some works before which criticism must stand hopeless. Where magnitude of bulk and scale are united with multiplicity of detail and microscopic learning, a review that would satisfy its writer would be nearly as large as its subject. Such a work is Liddel & Scott's Lexicon, and Dr. Abbott's Johannine Grammar arouses the same feeling in the mind. Its scope, its diligence, its multifarious learning, can but excite admiration and envy, while its accurate scholarship must make any who would challenge its statements distrustful of their own disagreement. ..."
- Review by T. Nicklin, 1906
The following was taken from:
Edwin Abbott, Johannine Grammar,
Appendix II, (London, 1905)
Headings have been added for clarity and navigation purposes.
