Biblical Criticism in Early Modern Europe
Erasmus, the Johannine Comma and Trinitarian Debate

This book explores the explosive social and political implications of Erasmus' philological work on the Greek New Testament.

Grantley McDonald (Author)

9781107125360, Cambridge University Press

Hardback, published 27 July 2016

400 pages, 9 b/w illus.
23.5 x 15.8 x 2.5 cm, 0.69 kg

'… Biblical Criticism in Early Modern Europe remains a highly accomplished work of intellectual history. McDonald deftly unfolds a complex and fascinating controversy of great moment in the history of Christian ideas.' Hilmar M. Pabel, Journal of Ecclesiastical History

Medieval western theologians considered the Johannine comma (1 John 5:7-8) the clearest biblical evidence for the Trinity. When Erasmus failed to find the comma in the Greek manuscripts he used for his New Testament edition, he omitted it. Accused of promoting Antitrinitarian heresy, Erasmus included the comma in his third edition (1522) after seeing it in a Greek codex from England, even though he suspected the manuscript's authenticity. The resulting disputes, involving leading theologians, philologists and controversialists such as Luther, Calvin, Sozzini, Milton, Newton, Bentley, Gibbon and Porson, touched not simply on philological questions, but also on matters of doctrine, morality, social order, and toleration. While the spuriousness of the Johannine comma was established by 1900, it has again assumed iconic status in recent attempts to defend biblical inerrancy amongst the Christian Right. A social history of the Johannine comma thus provides significant insights into the recent culture wars.

Introduction: the birth of the Trinity
1. Erasmus
2. The Johannine comma in sixteenth-century bibles after Erasmus
3. Raising the ghost of Arius: the Johannine comma and Trinitarian debate
4. From Civil War to Enlightenment
5. The Johannine comma in the long nineteenth century.

Subject Areas: History of ideas [JFCX], Theology [HRLB], Christian theology [HRCM], Biblical studies & exegesis [HRCG], Christianity [HRC], Religion & beliefs [HR], Early modern history: c 1450/1500 to c 1700 [HBLH], History: earliest times to present day [HBL], History [HB]