Unforgiven: The Textual Problem and Interpretation of Luke 23:34a and Anti-Judaism in the Early Church
Jesus' prayer of forgiveness in Luke 23:34a, one of the "seven words from the cross," remains disputed among textual critics. Although some scholars argue that external evidence supports the short reading, others see the external evidence as inconclusive. This thesis analyzes the arguments for and against the prayer's originality, and renders a judgment for the long reading based on a combination of external, internal, and transcriptional evidence. In addition, it suggests a possible explanation for the excision of the prayer, namely, that an attitude of anti-Judaism among some second century scribes, combined with the logion's interpretation as a prayer for Jews, led some scribes to remove the prayer from a text which originally included it.
Networked Digital Library of Theses and Dissertations