Samuel P. Tregelles

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Samuel Prideaux Tregelles

Samuel Prideaux Tregelles (born January 30, 1813 in Falmouth , † April 24, 1875 in Plymouth ) was a British Bible scholar, text critic and theologian .

Life

Tregelles was born as the son of the businessman Samuel Tregelles (1789–1828) and his wife Dorothy. Prideaux (1790–1873) was born on the Wodehouse Place estate in Falmouth ( Cornwall ). His parents were Quakers , but he himself was associated with the Brethren ( Plymouth Brethren ) movement for many years . In his later life he joined the Presbyterians (or perhaps the Anglicans ).

From 1825 to 1828 Tregelles attended the ancient language grammar school of Falmouth. 1829-1835 he was employed at the ironworks of Neath Abbey , Glamorgan . He used his free time to learn Greek , Hebrew , Aramaic and Welsh . His interest in the Welsh language grew out of a desire to spread the gospel and specifically to combat the influence of atheism , Catholicism and Mormonism in Wales. In 1835 Tregelles became a private tutor at Falmouth, and eventually he devoted himself to research until paralysis prevented him from doing so in 1870 .

In April 1839 Tregelles married his cousin Sarah Anna Prideaux (1807-1882). They didn't have any children. In 1850 Tregelles received a doctorate in law from the University of St Andrews and in 1862 a pension of £ 200 from the civil list (doubled in 1870).

plant

Tregelles discovered that the Textus receptus is not based on ancient sources, so he wanted to reissue the Greek New Testament on the basis of ancient manuscripts and quotations from early church fathers. For many years he did not know that his text-critical work ran parallel to that of the German philologist and text critic Karl Lachmann . Tregelles first became well known for his "Book of Revelation in Greek, edited from ancient sources" ( Book of Revelation in Greek Edited from Ancient Authorities , 1844), which also contained the announcement that a new Greek New Testament would be prepared.

1845 Tregelles went to the Vatican with the intention of the Codex Vaticanus to collate . Although he negotiated for five months, he was not allowed to copy the manuscript. Still, he was able to jot down some important readings from memory that he had seen when presented. From Rome he traveled on to Florence , Modena , Venice , Munich and finally to Basel , where he read and collated manuscripts everywhere. He returned to England in November 1846 and went on to collate manuscripts in the British Museum . Tregelles also visited Paris , Hamburg , Berlin (where he met Lachmann) and Leipzig , where he worked with Konstantin von Tischendorf . He finally came to Utrecht via Dresden and Wolfenbüttel .

Most of his numerous publications were related to his major text-critical edition of the New Testament (1857–1872). They included the " Account of the Printed Text of the Greek New Testament ," 1854, a revision of the chapter on textual criticism in Thomas Hartwell Hornes "Introduction" ( Introduction to the Critical Study and Knowledge of the Holy Scriptures , 1860) and an edition of Canon Muratori ( Earliest Catalog of Books of the New Testament , 1868). Tregelles was a member of the committee that oversaw the revision of the English King James Bible , known as the Revised Version , of which the New Testament was published in 1881, six years after Tregelles' death.

Tregelles also wrote “ Heads of Hebrew Grammar ” ( Heads of Hebrew Grammar , 1852) and translated the Hebrew Lexicon by Wilhelm Gesenius (1846, 1857) from Latin into English. He also wrote a little book about the Jansenists (1851).

In various works he presented his special eschatological views: "Remarks on the prophetic visions of the Book of Daniel" ( Remarks on the Prophetic Visions of Daniel , 1852, new ed. 1864) and "The Hope of the Second Coming of Christ" ( The Hope of Christ's Second Coming , 1864). Like his cousin Benjamin Wills Newton , who played a role in Tregelles' conversion and financially supported the publication of his books, Tregelles was also a proponent of the doctrine of the " Great Tribulation Rapture " (Post-Tribulationist). He later supported Newton in his argument with John Nelson Darby and the "Exclusive Brothers".

Despite his great learning, Tregelles was a warm-hearted evangelical Christian who wrote numerous sacred songs that are largely forgotten today. His first songs were published in a Plymouth Brethren hymn book ( Hymns for the Poor of the Flock , 1838).

A friend of Tregelles said that he was “able to shed light on any subject that could be taken up” but that it was also dangerous to ask him a question because “when you did that, it was like when you reach for a book and throw the whole shelf full of books on your head. "

literature

  • The Fry collection: papers relating to BW Newton, SP Tregelles, FW Wyatt, AC Fry, and others , in the Christian Brethren Archive of the John Rylands University Library, Manchester ( catalog ).
  • George H. Fromow (Eds.): BW Newton and Dr. SP Tregelles: Teachers of the Faith and the Future . 2nd edition Sovereign Grace Advent Testimony, London 1969.
  • EC Marchant, JK Elliott: Tregelles, Samuel Prideaux (1813-1875) . In: Oxford Dictionary of National Biography , Oxford University Press, Oxford 2004.
  • Timothy CF Stunt: The Life and Times of Samuel Prideaux Tregelles. A Forgotten Scholar. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham 2020. ISBN 978-3-030-32265-6

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Cf. Fromow, p. 28. FF Bruce writes that the "conflict in the evidence suggests that Fromow was very close to using the [denominational] label ".
  2. ↑ Tregelles was particularly concerned about the spread of Mormonism. In 1854 he wrote to his evangelical friend Eben Fardd: “while Mormonism and other things are spreading themselves in Wales, it is well for some effort to be made to uphold the simple historical authority of the Scriptures which God has been pleased to give us as the sure record of His holy will. " Quoted from: Fromow, p. 33.
  3. ↑ SP Tregelles: A Lecture on the Historic Evidence of the Authorship and Transmission of the Books of the New Testament , London 1852, pp. 83-85.
  4. ^ Excerpt from The Hope of Christ's Second Coming by Samuel Prideaux Tregelles
  5. ^ Victorian Web
  6. ↑ Twelve examples of Tregelles' songs can be found in Fromow, pp. 84–90.
  7. ↑ J. Brooking Rowe, cited in: Fromow, p. 31.
personal data
SURNAME Tregelles, Samuel P.
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Tregelles, Samuel Prideaux
BRIEF DESCRIPTION British Bible scholar, text critic and theologian
DATE OF BIRTH January 30, 1813
PLACE OF BIRTH Falmouth
DATE OF DEATH April 24, 1875
Place of death Plymouth