Theodore P. Letis
From Textus Receptus
Theodore P. Letis was a tutorial student of the late Dr. Edward F. Hills. He believed in the verbal and plenary inspiration of Scripture, and the Sovereign providential preservation of the Word of Truth.
Dean Burgon Society
He asked Edward Hills about the Dean Burgon Society. Letis explains:
- As a young undergraduate I recall how excited I was to receive an invitation in the mail to attend the founding of a new organization to be called: “The Dean Burgon Society.” Earlier I had borrowed a copy of Burgon’s Revision Revised all the way from the Evangelical Library in England, and was an immediate disciple. When I contacted Edward Hills with this exciting news, another Burgonian and author of the book that began the 20th century revival of interest in Burgon with his 1956 publication: The King James Version Defended (it was he who would also eventually became my mentor), his reply was rather deprecating: he said that he, too, had received this invitation but would not be going. When I asked why not he said the following to me in a personal letter:
- October 3, 1978
- Dear Ted,
- I heard about the proposed meeting of the Burgon Society in August. In fact, I received an invitation by way of the same form letter. I was thinking of going, but I have not decided it would be worth the expense involved…. This Burgon society seems to be started by Don Waite for his own glorification. He sent me a nervy questionnaire which everyone who attends the meeting is supposed to fill out. When were you saved and where. Your age, wife’s age, children, schools attended beginning with high school, positions held, church affiliation, why you want to join the Burgon society, etc., etc. Some people “have more crust than a pie factory.” You would think that Don Waite had some $75,000 job to offer me…. They ought to call the society the Wilkerson Society. Most of them are following Wilkinson’s 7th Day Adventist approach.[i.e.] The true text was corrupted by Constantine and the Roman Catholic Church. The true text was preserved by the Bogomiles, the Albigensians, and the Waldensians. But this 7th Day Adventist approach does not agree with the fact that the King James Version is a translation of the Textus Receptus which is the text preserved by the medieval Greek Church plus a few readings from the Latin Vulgate which is the text preserved by the medieval Roman Church. Hence, when Baptists try to defend the King James Version, they are up a tree, scholastically speaking…. In short, these Baptist defenders of the KJV are terribly confused. Sometimes they follow Wilkinson, sometimes Burgon, sometimes they follow [Zane] Hodges, who ignors the special providence of God altogether. If I went to the meeting, I would probably try to straighten these Baptists out and make enemies. So I will just keep quiet and try to uncurl their crooked thinking with my books…
- Edward F. Hills
Bibliography
- Martin Luther and charismatic ecumenism (1979)
- Majority Text: Essays and Reviews in the Continuing Debate (1987)
- Edward Freer Hills's contribution to the revival of the ecclesiastical text (1987)
- The Protestant dogmaticians and the late Princeton school on the status of the sacred apographa (1989)
- The revival of the ecclesiastical text and the claims of the Anabaptists (1992)
- A New Hearing for the Authorized Version (1997)
- The Ecclesiastical Text: Text Criticism, Biblical Authority & the Popular Mind (1997)
