More Problems with Tertullian

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Secret Alias
Posts: 18362
Joined: Sun Apr 19, 2015 8:47 am

More Problems with Tertullian

Post by Secret Alias »

Geoffrey Dunn writes:
In one article on Tertullian's use of Luke's Gospel outside the context of the Marcionite controversy, he compared 121 instances of Tertullian's quotations from Luke with several Old Latin versions. His conclusion was that there are many examples in which Tertullian’s text was quite distinct from the Old Latin versions, indicating that he was offering his own translation. In other, fewer instances Tertullian has a translation that agrees with one or other of the African Old Latin versions. Not all of these instances were judged to be coincidence. However, in some of these cases, Tertullian did not depend upon his Old Latin text slavishly; sometimes he corrected or improved the Latin, obviously with his eye on a Greek text.2 Further, he often quoted from memory and not always accurately (Aalders 1937:279–82). Barnes seems to have misread Aalders when, based upon that research, he writes of Tertullian that ‘[a]lthough he sometimes chose to provide his own spontaneous translation of scriptural texts, he more often employed an already existing translation’ (Barnes 1985:277).

What complicates matters is that in his treatise against Marcion, Tertullian made use of Marcion’s version of Luke, the only gospel that Marcion accepted. His principle was to use Marcion’s own version of Luke back against him (Against Marcion 4.6.1–2). This heretic and schismatic had come to Rome from Pontus in the middle of the second century. He believed that there were two gods: the inferior creator god of the Old Testament and the superior God of the New Testament. For Marcion, only Luke’s Gospel was free from Judaizing tendencies, at least after some editorial adjustments. Here the question is whether Tertullian had Marcion’s gospel in Greek and made his own translation or had it in Latin already. Some scholars accept that Tertullian had such a Latin translation, which was probably made in Rome (e.g. Higgins 1951),3 whereas others argue for direct translation from Marcion’s Greek text, although with an eye to existing Latin translations of Luke (Quispel 1943).
There's a lot to unpack here but the first part might well be summarized as - you're the prosecutor in a high profile murder case but your main witness is an alcohol who is generally regarded as unreliable, prone to making up evidence and unstable mood swings. Do you decide to proceed with your case?

In the case of the Marcionite gospel, it's all systems go! Even though Tertullian seems to quote the same passage in many different ways, we somehow can feel "confident" that every reference to the gospel of Luke or the Pauline Epistles is a citation from the Marcionite recension AND what's more when quoting Marcion he gave up his improvisational tendencies.

Of D S Williams (one of the only smart people in the study of Marcion) once noted there is an alternative possibility:
In his study of " Tertullian's Quotation's from St. Luke , " G. J. D. Aalders claims that Tertullian " often quotes from memory and by so doing mixes up the synoptic gospels . Is it possible that some of the passages referred to by Aalders have de- rived not from Tertullian's faulty memory , but rather from his use of a text with occasional harmonistic tendencies ?
So it's like Tertullian is the worst sort of witness and we have no real idea when he is actually citing the actual text of the New Testament but don't worry about that as we reconstruct the Marcionite gospel. Everything's going to be just fine!
Charles Wilson
Posts: 2098
Joined: Thu Apr 03, 2014 8:13 am

Re: More Problems with Tertullian

Post by Charles Wilson »

Our Ol' Poster Jay Raskin had a book on Tertullian all ready to go but it hasn't seen the light of day.

HEY, JAY! Your public is calling!!!
Howsa' bout letting us in on the Secret Doctrines?

CW
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