Franz Anton Knittel (April 3, 1721 – December 10, 1792) was a

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) **Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ge ...

, Lutheran orthodox

theologian Theology is the systematic study of the nature of the divine and, more broadly, of religious belief. It is taught as an academic discipline, typically in universities and seminaries. It occupies itself with the unique content of analyzing the ...

, priest, and

palaeographer Palaeography ( UK) or paleography ( US; ultimately from grc-gre, , ''palaiós'', "old", and , ''gráphein'', "to write") is the study of historic writing systems and the deciphering and dating of historical manuscripts, including the analysi ...

. He examined palimpsests' text of the ''Codex Guelferbytanus 64 Weissenburgensis'' and deciphered text of

Codex Carolinus Codex Carolinus is an uncial manuscript of the New Testament on parchment, dated to the 6th or 7th century. It is a palimpsest containing a Latin text written over a Gothic one. The Gothic text is designated by siglum ''Car'', the Latin text is ...

. He was the author of many works.

Life

In 1751 he became a priest, in 1753 Archdeacon of the main church in Wolfenbüttel. In 1766 he became general superintendent and the first preacher in Wolfenbüttel and in 1776 general superintendent in Brunswick. After receiving work in the main church of Wolfenbüttel Knittel started to examine manuscripts housed in the Ducal Library of Wolfenbüttel. In 1756 he studied the ''Codex Guelferbytanus 64 Weissenburgensis''. The manuscript and its palimpsest text had earlier been examined by Heusinger, who described it in 1752, but Knittel was the first who recognized that the palimpsest Greek text belonged to two different manuscripts of the New Testament. Knittel designated these two texts by sigla A and B. He recognized also lists of the (''chapters'') as another, the third Greek manuscript. Knittel also deciphered and reconstructed the

Gothic Gothic or Gothics may refer to: People and languages *Goths or Gothic people, the ethnonym of a group of East Germanic tribes **Gothic language, an extinct East Germanic language spoken by the Goths **Crimean Gothic, the Gothic language spoken b ...

-Latin text of the palimpsest and published it in 1762 at Brunswick. It is known as ''

''. The upper text of palimpsest contains text of

Isidore of Seville Isidore of Seville ( la, Isidorus Hispalensis; c. 560 – 4 April 636) was a Spanish scholar, theologian, and archbishop of Seville. He is widely regarded, in the words of 19th-century historian Montalembert, as "the last scholar of ...

's '' Origines'' and his six letters. Knittel designated it by siglum E and dated it to the 11th century. Knittel made many errors in deciphering the palimpsest's text, especially in the Latin text of ''Codex Carolinus'' (e.g. ''enarrabilia'' for ''scrutabilia''). Tischendorf made a new and more accurate collation for the Latin text (edited in 1855). A new collation of the Gothic text was published by Carla Falluomini in 1999. Knittel examined also other manuscripts (e.g.

Minuscule 126 Minuscule 126 (in the Gregory-Aland numbering), ε 185 ( Von Soden numbering). It is a Greek minuscule manuscript of the New Testament, written on parchment. Palaeographically it has been assigned to the 12th century.K. Aland, M. Welte, B. Kö ...

429 Year 429 ( CDXXIX) was a common year starting on Tuesday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Florentius and Dionysius (or, less frequently, year 1182 ''Ab urbe ...

). Knittel defended a traditional point of view in theology and was against the modern

textual criticism Textual criticism is a branch of textual scholarship, philology, and of literary criticism that is concerned with the identification of textual variants, or different versions, of either manuscripts or of printed books. Such texts may range in da ...

. He defended an authenticity of the Pericopa Adulterae (John 7:53-8:11),

Comma Johanneum The Johannine Comma ( la, Comma Johanneum) is an interpolated phrase (comma) in verses of the First Epistle of John. The text (with the comma in italics and enclosed by square brackets) in the King James Bible reads: It became a touchpoint f ...

(1 John 5:7), and Testimonium Flavianum. According to him

Erasmus Desiderius Erasmus Roterodamus (; ; English: Erasmus of Rotterdam or Erasmus;''Erasmus'' was his baptismal name, given after St. Erasmus of Formiae. ''Desiderius'' was an adopted additional name, which he used from 1496. The ''Roterodamus'' w ...

in his

Novum Instrumentum omne ''Novum Instrumentum omne'' was the first published New Testament in Greek (1516). It was prepared by Desiderius Erasmus (1466–1536) and printed by Johann Froben (1460–1527) of Basel. Although the first printed Greek New Testament was the ...

did not incorporate the ''Comma'' from

Codex Montfortianus Codex Montfortianus designated by 61 (on the list Gregory-Aland; Soden's δ 603), and known as ''Minuscule 61'' is a Greek minuscule manuscript of the New Testament on paper. Erasmus named it Codex Britannicus. Its completion is dated on the bas ...

, because of grammar differences, but used Complutensian Polyglotta. According to him the ''Comma'' was known for

Tertullian Tertullian (; la, Quintus Septimius Florens Tertullianus; 155 AD – 220 AD) was a prolific early Christian author from Carthage in the Roman province of Africa. He was the first Christian author to produce an extensive corpus of L ...

.Knittel, ''Neue Kritiken über den berühmten Sprych: Drey sind, die da zeugen im Himmel, der Vater, das Wort, und der heilige Geist, und diese drei sind eins'' Braunschweig 1785

Works

* ''Gedanken von einem Lehrgebaude einer gemessenen Geistlerlehre und ihrem Bussen in der Gottesgelahrtheit'' 1746 * ''Epistola, in qua de eo, quod in Georgicis Hesiodes, quae εργα και ημεραι inscribuntur, supposititium est, disseruit de salis vallibus et a viro celebrrimo in arte critica M. horum, quae accusantus, vindice atquae assertore, dissentit'', Brunsvick 1754 * ''Neue Gedanken von den allgemeinen Christsehlern in den Handschriften des Neuen Testamtns u. s. w., mebst einem Versuche einer hermeneutischen Muthmassunge - Sitten - Lehre der ersten Kirche'', Braunschweig 1755 * ''Praecopium Ulphilanum primum'', Brunovici 1758; alterum 1760 * ''Ulphilae versionem Gothicam nonnullorum capitum epistolae Pauli ad Romanos e litura MS. rescript Bibliothecae Guelferbytanae, cum variis monumentis ineditis eruit, commentatus est, detitque foras'', Brunovici 1762 * ''Friedenspredigt'', Braunschweig 1763 * ''Prisca ruris ecclesia'', Brunovici 1767
''Beyträge zur Kritik über Johannes Offenbarung''
Schröder, Braunschweig und Hildensheim 1773. * ''Neue Kritiken über das weltberühmte Zeugnis dea alten Juden Flav. Josephus von Jesu Christo'' Braunschweig 1779 * ''Neue Kritiken über den berühmten Sprych: Drey sind, die da zeugen im Himmel, der Vater, das Wort, und der heilige Geist, und diese drei sind eins'' Braunschweig 1785 * ''Ueber die Aufklärung des Lachmannes'', Frankfurt und Leipzig 1787

References

External links

Fragmenta versionis Ulphilanae: continentia particulas aliquot epistolae Pauli ad Romanos
(Upsaliae 1763) * Franz Anton Knittel & William Alleyn Evanson,
New criticisms on the celebrated text: 1 John V. 7. "For there are three that bear record in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost; and these three are one." A synodical lecture
', 1829. {{DEFAULTSORT:Knittel, Franz Anton 1721 births 1792 deaths German scholars German Lutheran theologians 18th-century German Lutheran clergy 18th-century German Protestant theologians German male non-fiction writers 18th-century German male writers

Life

Works

References

Further reading

External links