Frederick Field (1801–1885) was an English theologian and biblical scholar.

Life

He was born in London, the son of Henry Field, and educated at

Christ's Hospital Christ's Hospital is a public school (English independent boarding school for pupils aged 11–18) with a royal charter located to the south of Horsham in West Sussex. The school was founded in 1552 and received its first royal charter in 1553 ...

and

Trinity College, Cambridge Trinity College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. Founded in 1546 by Henry VIII, King Henry VIII, Trinity is one of the largest Cambridge colleges, with the largest financial endowment of any college at either Cambridge ...

, where he obtained a fellowship in 1824. He was ordained in 1828, and began a close study of

patristic Patristics or patrology is the study of the early Christian writers who are designated Church Fathers. The names derive from the combined forms of Latin ''pater'' and Greek ''patḗr'' (father). The period is generally considered to run from ...

theology. Eventually he published an emended and annotated text of

Chrysostom John Chrysostom (; gr, Ἰωάννης ὁ Χρυσόστομος; 14 September 407) was an important Early Church Father who served as archbishop of Constantinople. He is known for his preaching and public speaking, his denunciation of ab ...

's ''Homiliae in Matthaeum'' (Cambridge, 1839), and some years later he contributed to

Edward Pusey Edward Bouverie Pusey (; 22 August 180016 September 1882) was an English Anglican cleric, for more than fifty years Regius Professor of Hebrew at the University of Oxford. He was one of the leading figures in the Oxford Movement. Early years H ...

's ''Bibliotheca Patrum'' (Oxford, 1838–1870), a similarly treated text of Chrysostom's

homilies A homily (from Greek ὁμιλία, ''homilía'') is a commentary that follows a reading of scripture, giving the "public explanation of a sacred doctrine" or text. The works of Origen and John Chrysostom (known as Paschal Homily) are considered ex ...

Paul's epistles The Pauline epistles, also known as Epistles of Paul or Letters of Paul, are the thirteen books of the New Testament attributed to Paul the Apostle, although the authorship of some is in dispute. Among these epistles are some of the earliest ext ...

. In 1839 he had accepted the living of Great Saxham, in

Suffolk Suffolk () is a ceremonial county of England in East Anglia. It borders Norfolk to the north, Cambridgeshire to the west and Essex to the south; the North Sea lies to the east. The county town is Ipswich; other important towns include Lowes ...

, and in 1842 he was presented by his college to the rectory of Reepham in

Norfolk Norfolk () is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in East Anglia in England. It borders Lincolnshire to the north-west, Cambridgeshire to the west and south-west, and Suffolk to the south. Its northern and eastern boundaries are the No ...

. He resigned in 1863, and settled at

Norwich Norwich () is a cathedral city and district of Norfolk, England, of which it is the county town. Norwich is by the River Wensum, about north-east of London, north of Ipswich and east of Peterborough. As the seat of the See of Norwich, with ...

, in order to devote his whole time to study. Twelve years later he completed the ''Origenis Hexaplorum quae supersunt'' (Oxford, 1867–1875), now well known as ''Field's

Hexapla ''Hexapla'' ( grc, Ἑξαπλᾶ, "sixfold") is the term for a critical edition of the Hebrew Bible in six versions, four of them translated into Greek, preserved only in fragments. It was an immense and complex word-for-word comparison of the ...

'', a text reconstructed from the extant fragments of

Origen Origen of Alexandria, ''Ōrigénēs''; Origen's Greek name ''Ōrigénēs'' () probably means "child of Horus" (from , "Horus", and , "born"). ( 185 – 253), also known as Origen Adamantius, was an Early Christianity, early Christian scholar, ...

's work of that name, together with materials drawn from the '' Syro-hexaplar version'' and the ''

Septuagint The Greek Old Testament, or Septuagint (, ; from the la, septuaginta, lit=seventy; often abbreviated ''70''; in Roman numerals, LXX), is the earliest extant Greek translation of books from the Hebrew Bible. It includes several books beyond th ...

'' of Robert Holmes and James Parsons (Oxford, 1798–1827). Field was appointed a member of the Old Testament revision company in 1870. In 1881, when the Revision of the New Testament was printed, Field published ''Notes on select passages of the Greek Testament : chiefly with reference to recent English versions'', in which he criticized many of the changes in the New Testament revision (the Old Testament was not published till 1885). Many he saw as incorrect grammatically, stylistically or textually and Field referred to "needless and finical changes" This book was reprinted posthumously in 1899 with additions by the author, under the title ''Notes on the translation of the New Testament''. Included in the expanded edition was an 1882 defense of the Received Text reading of 1 Timothy 3:16.

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 ...

referred to the 1881 edition as a "masterly contribution to Sacred Criticism".''Quarterly Review''
New Testament Revision, The New English Version, 1882, p.37.

References

Attribution: * *

External links

Notes on the translation of the New Testament
* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Field, Frederick 1801 births 1885 deaths British biblical scholars People educated at Christ's Hospital Alumni of Trinity College, Cambridge Fellows of Trinity College, Cambridge People from Reepham, Norfolk