Brooke Foss Westcott (1825-1901) and Fenton John Anthony Hort (1828-1892), as I am sure most readers of The Preacher’s Library know, are the editors of a critical edition of the Greek New Testament (1881) that is the basis of the NA/UBS Greek text today and two of the translators of the New Testament (1881) of the Revised Version (1885). Together with Joseph Barber Lightfoot (1828-1889), they formed what was known as the Cambridge Triumvirate. Lightfoot was the most orthodox, Hort the least. Since most of what has been written about Westcott and Hort for the past 50 years has focused on the negative, I want to mention two books in my library
about their life and work, written by British Methodist minister Graham A. Patrick, that are written from a neutral perspective: The Miner’s Bishop: Brooke Foss Westcott (OSL Publications, 2002; 2nd ed., Epworth Press, 2004) and F. J. A. Hort: Eminent Victorian (Almond Press, 1988). The first book is 282 pages, and focuses more on Westcott’s work. I must say that I had no idea that Westcott had fathered ten children, seven sons and three daughters. The work on Hort is more of a biography, but is only a brief 127 pages. While I don’t discount much of the negative press they have received, it is interesting to read a perspective not fueled by an agenda.