Edward Freer Hills (1912–1981) was an American

Presbyterian Presbyterianism is a part of the Reformed tradition within Protestantism that broke from the Roman Catholic Church in Scotland by John Knox, who was a priest at St. Giles Cathedral (Church of Scotland). Presbyterian churches derive their nam ...

scholar, perhaps the most prominent 20th-century advocate of the

Byzantine text-type In the textual criticism of the New Testament, the Byzantine text-type (also called Majority Text, Traditional Text, Ecclesiastical Text, Constantinopolitan Text, Antiocheian Text, or Syrian Text) is one of the main text types. It is the form fou ...

and ''

Textus Receptus ''Textus Receptus'' (Latin: "received text") refers to all printed editions of the Greek New Testament from Erasmus's ''Novum Instrumentum omne'' (1516) to the 1633 Elzevir edition. It was the most commonly used text type for Protestant denomi ...

''.

Contribution

Hills integrates his theological perspective alongside New Testament criticism. "Hills studied with

Cornelius Van Til Cornelius Van Til (May 3, 1895 – April 17, 1987) was a Dutch-American reformed philosopher and theologian, who is credited as being the originator of modern presuppositional apologetics. A graduate of Calvin College, Van Til later received ...

at Westminster, who was a Nestle-Aland text supporter." When Hills began to apply the implications of the presuppositional view of the Bible taught by Van Til, this led him to favor the Traditional Text. Reading

John William Burgon John William Burgon (21 August 18134 August 1888) was an English Anglican divine who became the Dean of Chichester Cathedral in 1876. He was known during his lifetime for his poetry and his defence of the historicity and Mosaic authorship of Gen ...

inspired Hills to approach textual criticism from a "logic of faith" (1952 is the year that Hills made a definite commitment to this view). As to the relationship of the

King James Bible The King James Version (KJV), also the King James Bible (KJB) and the Authorized Version, is an Bible translations into English, English translation of the Christian Bible for the Church of England, which was commissioned in 1604 and publis ...

to the ''Textus Receptus'' (Received Text), Hills wrote: "The translators that produced the King James Version relied mainly, it seems, on the later editions of Beza's Greek New Testament, especially his 4th edition (1588-9). But also they frequently consulted the editions of Erasmus and Stephanus and the Complutensian Polyglot. According to Scrivener (1884), (51) out of the 252 passages in which these sources differ sufficiently to affect the English rendering, the King James Version agrees with Beza against Stephanus 113 times, with Stephanus against Beza 59 times, and 80 times with Erasmus, or the Complutensian, or the Latin Vulgate against Beza and Stephanus. Hence the King James Version ought to be regarded not merely as a translation of the ''Textus Receptus'' but also as an independent variety of the ''Textus Receptus''."

Education

*Graduated summa cum laude at

Yale University Yale University is a private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. Established in 1701 as the Collegiate School, it is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and among the most prestigious in the wo ...

(1930–33) *Th.D. from

Westminster Theological Seminary Westminster Theological Seminary is a Protestant theological seminary in the Reformed theological tradition in Glenside, Pennsylvania. It was founded by members of the faculty of Princeton Theological Seminary in 1929 after Princeton chose to t ...

(ca. 1938) *Th.M. from

Columbia Theological Seminary Columbia Theological Seminary is a Presbyterian seminary in Decatur, Georgia. It is one of ten theological institutions affiliated with the Presbyterian Church (USA). History Columbia Theological Seminary was founded in 1828 in Lexington, Geo ...

*Th.D. in New Testament textual criticism from

Harvard Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher le ...

under the supervision of

Henry J. Cadbury Henry Joel Cadbury (December 1, 1883 – October 7, 1974) was an American biblical scholar, Quaker historian, writer, and non-profit administrator. Life A graduate of Haverford College, Cadbury was a Quaker throughout his life, as well as ...

Kirsopp Lake Kirsopp Lake (7 April 187210 November 1946) was an English New Testament scholar, Church historian, Greek Palaeographer, and Winn Professor of Ecclesiastical History at Harvard Divinity School. He had an uncommon breadth of interests. His mai ...

as one of the readers (1946).

Books

* . * .

Journal articles

Journal of Biblical Literature The ''Journal of Biblical Literature'' (''JBL'') is one of three academic journals published by the Society of Biblical Literature (SBL). First published in 1881, ''JBL'' is the flagship journal of the field. ''JBL'' is published quarterly and inc ...

'': * 'Harmonizations in the Caesarean Text of Mark,' Vol. 66, No. 2 (Jun., 1947), pp. 135-152 * 'The Inter-Relationship of the Caesarean Manuscripts,' Vol. 68, No. 2 (Jun., 1949), pp. 141-159 * 'A New Approach to the Old Egyptian Text,' Vol. 69, No. 4 (Dec., 1950), pp. 345-362

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hills, Edward F. King James Only movement American biblical scholars 1912 births 1981 deaths 20th-century poets Westminster Theological Seminary alumni Yale University alumni Harvard Divinity School alumni Columbia Theological Seminary alumni