Franz Anton Knittel (April 3, 1721 – December 10, 1792) was a

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany, the country of the Germans and German things **Germania (Roman era) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizenship in Germany, see also Ge ...

, Lutheran orthodox

theologian Theology is the study of religious belief from a religious perspective, with a focus on the nature of divinity. It is taught as an academic discipline, typically in universities and seminaries. It occupies itself with the unique content of ...

, priest, and

palaeographer Palaeography ( UK) or paleography ( US) (ultimately from , , 'old', and , , 'to write') is the study and academic discipline of historical writing systems. It encompasses the historicity of manuscripts and texts, subsuming deciphering and dati ...

. He examined

palimpsest In textual studies, a palimpsest () is a manuscript page, either from a scroll or a book, from which the text has been scraped or washed off in preparation for reuse in the form of another document. Parchment was made of lamb, calf, or kid ski ...

s' text of the ''Codex Guelferbytanus 64 Weissenburgensis'' and deciphered text of Codex Carolinus. He was the author of many works.

Life

Knittel became a priest in 1751 and the archdeacon of the main church in Wolfenbüttel in 1753. In 1766, he became general superintendent and the first preacher in Wolfenbüttel and in 1776 general superintendent in Brunswick. After receiving work in the main church of Wolfenbüttel Knittel started to examine manuscripts housed in the Ducal Library of Wolfenbüttel. In 1756, he studied the ''Codex Guelferbytanus 64 Weissenburgensis''. The manuscript and its palimpsest text had earlier been examined by Heusinger, who described it in 1752, but Knittel was the first who recognized that the palimpsest Greek text belonged to two different manuscripts 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 Isidore of Seville (; 4 April 636) was a Spania, Hispano-Roman scholar, theologian and Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Seville, archbishop of Seville. He is widely regarded, in the words of the 19th-century historian Charles Forbes René de Montal ...

's ''

Origines (, "Origins") is the title of a lost work on Roman and Italian history by Cato the Elder, composed in the early-2nd centuryBC. Contents According to Cato's biographer Cornelius Nepos, the ''Origins'' consisted of seven books. Book I was th ...

'' and his six letters. Knittel designated it by siglum E and dated it to the 11th century. Knittel made many errors in deciphering the palimpsest's text, especially in the 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). A new collation of the Gothic text was published by Carla Falluomini in 1999. Knittel examined also other manuscripts (e.g. Minuscule 126, 429). Knittel defended a traditional point of view in theology and was against the modern

textual criticism Textual criticism is a branch of textual scholarship, philology, and literary criticism that is concerned with the identification of textual variants, or different versions, of either manuscripts (mss) or of printed books. Such texts may rang ...

. He defended an authenticity of the Pericopa Adulterae (John 7:53-8:11),

Comma Johanneum The Johannine Comma () is an interpolated phrase (comma) in verses of the First Epistle of John. The text (with the comma in italics and enclosed by brackets) in the King James Version of the Bible reads: In the Greek Textus Receptus (TR), th ...

(1 John 5:7), and Testimonium Flavianum. According to him

Erasmus Desiderius Erasmus Roterodamus ( ; ; 28 October c. 1466 – 12 July 1536), commonly known in English as Erasmus of Rotterdam or simply Erasmus, was a Dutch Christian humanist, Catholic priest and Catholic theology, theologian, educationalist ...

in his

Novum Instrumentum omne ''Novum Instrumentum Omne'', later titled ''Novum Testamentum Omne'', was a series of bilingual Latin-Greek New Testaments with substantial scholarly annotations, and the first printed New Testament of the Greek to be published. They were prep ...

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 Tertullian (; ; 155 – 220 AD) was a prolific Early Christianity, early Christian author from Roman Carthage, Carthage in the Africa (Roman province), Roman province of Africa. He was the first Christian author to produce an extensive co ...

.Knittel, ''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

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. nglish
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,"
' William Alleyn Evanson, 1829. * ''Ueber die Aufklärung des Lachmannes'', Frankfurt und Leipzig 1787

References

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. {{DEFAULTSORT:Knittel, Franz Anton 1721 births 1792 deaths 18th-century German scholars German Lutheran theologians 18th-century German Lutheran clergy 18th-century German Protestant theologians German male non-fiction writers 18th-century German male writers

Life

Works

References

Further reading

External links