Majority Text: Essays and Reviews in the Continuing Debate

By Theodore P. Letis

Letis, a tutorial student of the late Dr.Edward F. Hills. He approaches his study with conviction and unswerving belief in the verbal and plenary inspiration of Scripture, and the Sovereign... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0944355005
• ISBN13: 9780944355008
• Release Date: January 1987
• Publisher: Inst for Biblical Textual Studies
• Length: 210 Pages
• Weight: 0.15 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.7" x 5.8" x 8.4"

Customer Reviews

A Good, Scholarly Representative Of The Byzantine Text Position

The late Theodore P. Letis (d. 2005) was a church historian and textual scholar with a Master's degree from Candler School of Theology (Emory University) and a Ph.D. from the University of Edinburgh. He was also a confessional Lutheran, a lecturer, and the biographer of the dean of King James Onlyists, Edward F. Hills. (Letis preached Hills' funeral in 1981 and wrote his Master's thesis at Candler about Hills' textual critical journey). This book is a collection of essays, not all of the points with which Letis agrees but that hold to a general view that the Byzantine/Majority/Ecclesiastical Text is the 'preserved Word of God.' It is only a 'defense' of the King James Bible as far as that Bible concurs with the Majority Text. Letis, for example, would be willing to read an edited KJV that did not have I John 5:7 because there's no reason to believe its authenticity. A number of popular writers contribute articles including Wilbur Pickering, who responds to Gordon Fee's criticism of Pickering's book, "The Identity of the New Testament Text," James Borland, who argues for a Majority reading in three instances using inerrancy as his basis, and Letis himself. Some of the essays, in fact, are very good. One shortfall is Letis lightly dismissing D.A. Carson's "The KJV Debate: A Plea for Realism" by dealing with only one of Carson's fourteen theses set out for argumentation. I'm not saying Letis should have gone through point by point because it is clear that in a few cases he would agree with Carson. Letis stated his review was brief because he felt that Carson's book was not 'permanent' on the landscape. Time has proven Letis' prescience as newer and more popular level works by James White and Kevin Bauder have become the new responses to KJV Onlyism. It is an enjoyable read and can be easily digested in two hours or so. I do not agree with many of the arguments postulated, but Dr Letis was a great scholar as is exemplified by his referring readers to those with whom he disagrees to get a fairer picture. One man propped up by Letis is Dr Maurice Robinson, whom Letis regards as a scholar and whose 'Majority Text' he recommends. This is interesting as Robinson and Letis debated the issue of inerrancy at Wake Forest in 1986. Both are scholars and one does not have to agree with any man's conclusion to concede his erudition. If you're looking for more scholarly works that defend the TR or MT - as opposed to the useless pieces of drivel enunciated by D.A. Waite, David Cloud, and Peter Ruckman - this is a good start.

Very enlightening

This was a collection of essays gathered together to further the debate surrounding the call to revive the Byzantine, or Majority Text. Eldon J. Epp declared in 1979 that there was such a revival under way. The Introduction to this collection offers an assessment of the Majority Text school.