Understanding BHS

by Reinhard Wonneberger

Publisher:

Pontifical Biblical Institute

, 1990

Overview

Understanding BHS is designed as a manual to be used in conjunction with the Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia (BHS). This elucidating volume is dedicating to a number of goals. Firstly, it seeks to enable beginners to gain access to the language of the text apparatus of BHS and to the Masoretic apparatus as well. Secondly, it documents the apparatus language of BHS in its entirety, providing references to the Old Testament text whenever possible. Lastly, it proposes a new concept of dealing with the apparatus of BHS, advancing the science of publishing critical editions of a text.

Understanding BHS achieves these goals through a translation of the items of the apparatus of BHS into English and through a complex but clear presentation of the relevant material in “paragraphs,” figures and indexes. All translations and presentations are linked together by a structured explanation. A selected bibliography is also provided for further study in depth.

Contents

Top Highlights

“The current state of affairs⁵ can be improved by adding to the twin pillars of text-criticism,⁶ ‘textual transmission’⁷ and ‘variant evaluation’ (i.e. text-criticism in the narrow sense),⁸ a third pillar. We have called this pillar ‘Editionskunde’—‘edition information’—and we distinguish three aspects of Editionskunde: 1) the special, dealing with the concrete problems of a certain edition; ii) the comparative, examining the designs of other editions; and iii) the general, treating the general principles of critical editions.” (Pages 1–2)

“Although these countings do not directly effect text-critical decisions, they do give us an idea of the care with which the texts were transmitted and consequently can warn against too quickly and frivolously assuming scribal errors.” (Page 68)

“Words treated in the Masoretic apparatus are indicated in the text by a small circle called ‘circellus’ (°)” (Page 62)

“Vrs — versiones omnes vel plurimae {Gn 7:2; Ez 37:22; Jer 5:24; Jer 23:26} all or most of the versions” (Page 37)

“A single text is selected as the base text¹⁷ and is printed without alteration.¹⁸ Other texts are then used to indicate divergencies from the base text. The connection between the base text and the variants is produced by the reference system.” (Page 7)

Product Details

• Title: Understanding BHS: A Manual for the Users of Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia
• Author: Richard Wonneberger
• Publisher: Editrice Pontificio Istituto Biblico
• Publication Date: January, 2001
• Pages: 118

About Reinhard Wonneberger

Reinhard Wonneberger was born in 1946. He studied theology in Erlangen, Basel, and Heidelberg, where he received a Doctorate in Theology in 1975 for his dissertation “Syntax und Exegese. Eine generative Theorie der griechischen Syntax und ihr Beitrag zur Auslegung des Neuen Testamentes, dargestellt an 2 Korinther 5,6f und Römer 3,21-26.” From 1977 to 1986 he taught Old Testament Theology at the University of Hamburg. Since 1986 he has been working for Electronic Data Systems (Deutschland) GmbH in Russelsheim, and teaching Old Testament Theology in his spare time at the University of Mainz.