Rethinking New Testament Textual Criticism

New Testament textual criticism is an important but often overlooked field of study. Results drawn from textual studies bear important consequences for interpreting the New Testament and cannot be ignored by serious students of Scripture. This book introduces current issues in New Testament textual criticism and surveys the various methods used to determine the original text among variant readings. These essays from Eldon Jay Epp, Michael Holmes, J. K. Elliott, Maurice Robinson, and Moisés Silva provide readers with an excellent introduction to the field of New Testament textual criticism.

For many years, Professor Joel Delobel has served as a member of the Department of Biblical Studies of the Faculty of Theology, K.U. Leuven (1969-2001). His research has tended to focus on Luke-Acts, Pauline Literature and especially Textual Criticism (he is a member of Das Institut fur Neutestamentliche Textforschung, Munster). His friends and colleagues in the Department of Biblical Studies of the Faculty of Theology and elsewhere have honoured him with a Festschrift on the occasion of his retirement. The congratulatory volume deals with an issue that is dear to him: the mutual link between textual criticism and exegesis, which he himself once referred to as the 'Siamese twins'. A number of international scholars in the field of textual criticism have treated different aspects of this relationship. Some contributions are of a more general nature: B. Aland deals with the criteria used to judge the value of smaller New Testament Papyrus fragments, J. Lust compares the textual critical investigation of the Old Testament to that of the New, W.L. Petersen studies the earliest form of the text of the Gospel. Other contributions are related to a specific text: Mt 21,28-32 (J.K. Elliott); Mk 16,8 (C. Focant); Lk 7,42b (T. Baarda); Lk 22, 43-44 (C.M. Tuckett); Lk 24,12 (F. Neirynck); Jn 4,1 (G. Van Belle); Jn 12,31 (M.-E. Boismard); Jn 16,13 (R. Bieringer); Acts 15,20.29; 21,25 (C.-B. Amphoux); Rom 16,7 (E.J. Epp); Rom 16,25-27 (R.F. Collins); 1 Cor 2,1 (V. Koperski); The Epistle of James (D.C. Parker); Rev 13,9-10 (J. Lambrecht) and Rev 13,18 (J.N. Birdsall); J. Verheyden deals with the New Testament text in the 2nd Century, more specifically in the writings of Justin.

This paradigm-shifting study is the first book-length investigation into the compositional dates of the New Testament to be published in over forty years. It argues that, with the notable exception of the undisputed Pauline Epistles, most New Testament texts were composed twenty to thirty years earlier than is typically supposed by contemporary biblical scholars. What emerges is a revised view of how quickly early Christians produced what became the seminal texts for their new movement.

In plain language and with ample illustration, Paul D. Wegner presents an overview of the history and methods, aims and results of textual criticism of the whole Bible--the Hebrew Old Testament and the Greek New Testament. You will gain an appreciation for the vast work that has been accomplished in preserving the text of Scripture and find a renewed confidence in its reliability.

How much did the theological arguments of the church affect the copying of the New Testament text? Focusing on issues of textual criticism, this inaugural volume of the Text and Canon of the New Testament series offers some answers to that question and responds to some of Bart Ehrman's views about the transmission of the New Testament text. Revisiting the Corruption of the New Testament will be a valuable resource for those working in textual criticism, patristics, and New Testament apocryphal literature.

A concise companion to Ellis Brotzman's Old Testament Textual Criticism. Introduces students to the process of comparing Greek texts and seeking the original wording.

This collection of frequently cited articles and chapters, published from 1962 to 2004, provides perspective, with critique, on the history, development, and methodologies of New Testament textual criticism, with emphasis on the role of papyri in antiquity and in current theory.

Perspectives on New Testament Textual Criticism, Volume 2, with articles published during 2006-2017, treats many aspects of New Testament textual criticism, emphasizing the criteria for constructing the earliest attainable text, and extracting stories told by “rejected” variants that illuminate issues in the early Christian churches.