The Proto-Lucianic Problem in 1 Samuel

The Lucianic text of the Historical Books is demonstrably a late, recensional text, but it has numerous curious agreements with the earliest witnesses against B and the majority of the manuscripts. Tuukka Kauhanen aims at throwing light on this »proto-Lucianic problem« in 1 Samuel (1 Kingdoms) by taking a comprehensive view of all the relevant witnesses: Josephus, Hippolytus, Irenaeus, Tertullian, Cyprian, Old Latin, and the Qumran Samuel scrolls.Special attention is paid on the use of patristic writers as textual witnesses. Agreement in a reading between a patristic reference and a Biblical manuscript may be only apparent or coincidental, especially if the patristic text is in Latin. Kauhanen also demonstrates how the differences between the Greek and Latin languages affect the text-critical decisions.Kauhanen concludes that there are significantly less of actual proto-Lucianic readings than has often been supposed. The old theory of the “proto-Lucianic recension” – i.e., that the earliest layer of the Lucianic text was revised according to a Hebrew text akin of the Qumran Samuel scrolls – is refuted. Moreover, it is found that the Lucianic text – together with an early witness – has often preserved the original reading that has been lost in most or all of the other witnesses.The study has been carried out in connection with the Göttingen edition project for 1 Samuel and it uses all the available textual material. It aims at advancing the search of the oldest attainable form of the text of the Septuagint, thus advancing the textual criticism of the Hebrew Bible as well. It also provides much background information on the use of the Septuagint among early Christian writers.