LXX or Septuagint: Paul E. Kahle

Since I mentioned him in a post on Tuesday, and will again in a post later today, I thought I would give this excerpt from Matthew Black on Paul E. Kahle and the LXX. He was a scholar of high reputation who held a minority view on the origin of the LXX. (I am not saying his view syncs with mine, but that his viewpoint represents a strong and important minority voice on the subject.)

“…according to Kahle’s theory the LXX had its origins in the synagogues of the Diaspora as a kind of Greek Targum. He was later to defend this theory in a number of publications and in controversy with many scholars.” p. 488

“Kahle’s contribution to our understanding of the origins and history of the ancient versions has been an equally significant one. The most widely controverted of his theories in this connexion is his account of the origin and development of the Greek Old Testament. He remained to the end a resolute defender of his original theory and an opponent of the Lagardian hypothesis of an original Urtext of the LXX, on which, for instance, the Rahlf’s edition is based. The Aristeas legend was, according to Kahle, a piece of first-century Jewish propaganda in favour of an authorized Alexandrian revision of existing Greek versions of the Torah. The history of the LXX did not differ fundamentally from that of the Aramaic Targums: Greek translations were made in different areas to accompany the reading of the Hebrew text, and the various geographical areas (Egypt, Syria, Asia Minor) had each their own officially authorized version. The standard LXX text, covering the entire Bible, was the outcome of the Church’s need for an official, uniform Greek text of the Old Testament. The New Testament quotations, many of which differ substantially from the LXX, reflected, in Kahle’s opinion, differences in Greek versions associated with different geographical areas.” p. 491

From “Paul Ernest Kahle 1875-1965,” by Matthew Black, Proceedings of the British Academy, Volume LI, London: Oxford University Press, 1966. Or see a PDF HERE.