Epp and Fee on the Textus Receptus

Eldon Epp and Gordon Fee use “military imagery” to describe the assault leveled against the Greek Textus Receptus over a course of about 100 hundred year, from Griesbach to Westcott & Hott. (Epp, Eldon Jay; Fee, Gordon D. Studies in the Theory and Method of New Testament Textual Criticism. Studies and Documents, Vol. 45. Grand Rapids, MI: William B. Eerdmans, 1993.)

“…J. J. Griesbach’s Greek NT of 1775-77, which – along with its subsequent editions and his influential canons of criticism – constituted the first daring though measured departure at numerous points from the TR. Thus, it was with Griesbach that a decisive break with the TR had arrived in theory – but only in theory…” page 20

“The decisive departure from the TR in actual accomplishment and practice arrived with the next fifty-year landmark, now 150 years ago: Karl Lachmann’s Greek NT of 1831.” page 21

“…one of the leading ‘generals,’ soon on the scene, was Constantin Tischendorf, whose eight editions of the Greek NT between 1841 and 1872 and whose nearly two dozen volumes publishing new MSS were major factors in the occupation of the newly won territory.” page 21

“Tregelles’s aim was ‘to form a text on the authority of the ancient copies without allowing the ‘received text’ any prescriptive rights.’” page 22

“…V-Day – fifty years later at our next landmark – belonged to the undisputed ‘general of the army,’ F. J. A. Hort, and his ‘first officer,’ B. F. Westcott. The Westcott-Hort text (WH) of 1881 – just about one hundred years ago – resulted from a skillful plan of attack and a sophisticated strategy for undermining the validity of the TR.” page 22

“The vast majority of the errors in the NT MSS occurred during the period that is also the most difficult to reconstruct – the first four Christian centuries.” page 9

And from F. J. A. Hort, against the TR: 

“I had no idea till the last few weeks of the importance of texts, having read so little Greek Testament, and dragged on with the villainous Textus Receptus…Think of that vile Textus Receptus leaning entirely on late MSS.; it is a blessing there are such early ones.” (“To the Rev. John Ellerton, December 29-30, 1851,” Life and Letters of Fenton John Anthony Hort, Vol. I, Arthur Fenton Hort, editor. London: MacMillan and Co., Ltd, 1896, p. 211)

“Our object is to supply clergymen generally, schools, etc., with a portable Gk. Test., which shall not be disfigured with Byzantine corruptions.” (“To the Rev. John Ellerton, April 19th, 1853,” Life and Letters of Fenton John Anthony Hort, Vol. I, Arthur Fenton Hort, editor. London: MacMillan and Co., Ltd, 1896, p. 250)