Table Of ContentThe Text of the New Testament
in Contemporary Research
New Testament Tools,
Studies and Documents
NewTestamentTools,Studies,andDocuments(NTTSD)combinestwoseries,New
TestamentToolsandStudies(NTTS)andStudiesandDocuments(SD).Theformerwas
foundedbyBruceM.Metzgerin1965andeditedbyhimuntil1993,whenBartD.Ehrman
joinedhimasco-editor.ThelatterserieswasfoundedbyKirsoppandSilvaLakein1935,
editedbythemuntilthedeathofKirsoppLakein1946,thenbrieflybySilvaLakeand
CarstenHøeg(1955),followedbyJacobGeerlings(until1969),byIrvingAlanSparks
(until1993),andfinallybyEldonJayEpp(until2007).
Thenewserieswillpromotethepublicationofprimarysources,referencetools,and
criticalstudiesthatadvancetheunderstandingoftheNewTestamentandotherearly
Christianwritingsandwritersintothefourthcentury.Emphasesofthetwopredecessor
serieswillberetained,includingthetextualhistoryandtransmissionoftheNew
Testamentandrelatedliterature,relevantmanuscriptsinvariouslanguages,
methodologiesforresearchinearlyChristianity.Theserieswillalsopublishabroader
rangeofstudiespertinenttoearlyChristianityanditswritings.
Editors
BartD.Ehrman,Ph.D.,
JamesA.GrayDistinguishedProfessorofReligiousStudies
UniversityofNorthCarolinaatChapelHill
EldonJ.Epp,Ph.D.,
HarknessProfessorofBiblicalLiteratureEmeritusand
DeanofHumanitiesandSocialSciencesEmeritus,
CaseWesternReserveUniversity,Cleveland,Ohio
VOLUME42
Thetitlespublishedinthisseriesarelistedatbrill.com/ntts
The Text of the
New Testament in
Contemporary Research
StatusQuaestionis
Essays on the
Second Edition
Editedby
BartD.Ehrman
MichaelW.Holmes
LEIDEN•BOSTON
2013
Thefirsteditionofthistitlewaspublishedas:TheTextoftheNewTestamentinContemporary
Research:EssaysontheStatusQuaestionis.SD,46.GrandRapids:Eerdmans,1995.
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ThetextoftheNewTestamentincontemporaryresearch:essaysonthestatusquaestionis/edited
byBartD.Ehrman,MichaelW.Holmes.–2nded.
p.cm.–(NewTestamenttools,studies,anddocuments,0077-8842;v.42)
Includesbibliographicalreferencesandindex.
ISBN978-90-04-23604-2(alk.paper)–ISBN978-90-04-23655-4(e-book)
1.Bible.N.T.–Criticism,Textual.2.Bible.N.T.–Criticism,Textual–History–20thcentury.3.Bible.
N.T.–Manuscripts,Greek.4.Bible.N.T.–Versions.I.Ehrman,BartD.II.Holmes,MichaelW.
(MichaelWilliam),1950-
BS2325.T482013
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CONTENTS
Preface.................................................................. ix
ListofContributors..................................................... xi
1. ThePapyrusManuscriptsoftheNewTestament................... 1
EldonJayEpp
2. TheMajusculeManuscriptsoftheNewTestament ................ 41
DavidC.Parker
3. TheGreekMinusculesoftheNewTestament...................... 69
BarbaraAlandandKlausWachtel
4. TheGreekLectionariesoftheNewTestament..................... 93
CarrollOsburn
5. TheDiatessaronofTatian .......................................... 115
UlrichB.Schmid
6. TheSyriacVersionsoftheNewTestament......................... 143
PeterJ.Williams
7. TheLatinVersionoftheNewTestament........................... 167
PhilipBurton
8. TheCopticVersionsoftheNewTestament ........................ 201
ChristianAskeland
9. TheEthiopicVersionoftheNewTestament ....................... 231
RochusZuurmondRevisedbyCurtNiccum
10. TheArmenianVersionoftheNewTestament...................... 253
S.PeterCowe
11. TheGeorgianVersionoftheNewTestament....................... 293
JeffW.Childers
12. TheGothicVersionoftheNewTestament ......................... 329
CarlaFalluomini
13. TheUseoftheGreekFathersforNewTestamentTextual
Criticism............................................................ 351
GordonD.FeeRevisedbyRodericL.Mullen
vi contents
14. TheUseoftheLatinFathersforNewTestamentTextual
Criticism............................................................ 375
H.A.G.Houghton
15. TheUseoftheSyriacFathersforNewTestamentTextual
Criticism............................................................ 407
SebastianBrock
16. AdditionalGreekWitnessestotheNewTestament
(Ostraca,Amulets,Inscriptions,andOtherSources)............... 429
PeterM.Head
17. ScribalTendenciesintheTransmissionoftheTextoftheNew
Testament.......................................................... 461
JamesR.Royse
18. TheSocialHistoryofEarlyChristianScribes ....................... 479
KimHaines-Eitzen
19. AnalyzingandCategorizingNewTestamentGreekManuscripts .. 497
ThomasC.GeerJr.RevisedbyJean-FrançoisRacine
20. TextualClusters:TheirPastandFutureinNewTestament
TextualCriticism................................................... 519
EldonJayEpp
21. CriteriaforEvaluatingReadingsinNewTestamentTextual
Criticism............................................................ 579
TommyWasserman
22. ConjecturalEmendationandtheTextoftheNewTestament...... 613
JanKrans
23. From“OriginalText”to“InitialText”:TheTraditionalGoalof
NewTestamentTextualCriticisminContemporaryDiscussion ... 637
MichaelW.Holmes
24. ModernCriticalEditionsandApparatusesoftheGreekNew
Testament.......................................................... 689
JuanHernándezJr.
25. TheMajorityTextTheory:History,Methods,andCritique......... 711
DanielB.Wallace
contents vii
26. ThoroughgoingEclecticisminNewTestamentTextualCriticism.. 745
J.KeithElliott
27. ReasonedEclecticisminNewTestamentTextualCriticism........ 771
MichaelW.Holmes
28. TheTextasWindow:NewTestamentManuscriptsandtheSocial
HistoryofEarlyChristianity........................................ 803
BartD.Ehrman
IndexofBibleManuscripts,ModernEditions,andApparatuses ....... 831
IndexofAncientNames ................................................ 843
IndexofModernNames................................................ 846
IndexofSubjects ....................................................... 860
PREFACE
When The Text of the New Testament in Contemporary Research: Essays
on the Status Quaestionis was published in 1995, we hoped that it would
meettheneedforabookthatwouldofferanaccessibleandauthoritative
surveyofthestatusquaestionisonthewiderangeoftopicsencompassed
by the discipline of New Testament textual criticism. If the reviews and
innumerablecitationsofitareanyindication,thevolumehasdonesorather
successfully,forstudentsandexpertsalike.
Withthepassageoftimeandinviewofthedynamismofthediscipline,
itisnosurprisethatessaysthatoncerepresentedthe“stateofthequestion”
haveadatedfeel.Soweofferhereasecondedition,hopingonceagainto
provideinformeddiscussionsofthecurrentstateofknowledgewithrespect
toawiderangeofimportanttext-criticaltopics:Greekmanuscripts(with
separatearticlesonthepapyri,themajuscules,theminuscules,andthelec-
tionaries), the early versions (Diatessaron, Syriac, Latin, Coptic, Ethiopic,
Armenian, and Georgian), patristic citations (Greek, Latin, and Syriac),
studies of scribal habits, approaches to manuscript classification, critical
editionsandapparatuses,methodsforevaluatingvariantreadings(Major-
ityTexttheory,thoroughgoingeclecticism,andreasonedeclecticism),and
theuseoftextualdataasasourceforearlyChristiansocialhistory.1Insome
casestheoriginalauthorhasupdatedtheessay,insomecasesanewauthor
has revised an existing essay,2 and in other cases a new author has con-
tributedareplacementessay.
Inaddition,sevennewchaptershavebeenincorporated.Thecoverage
of early versions is expanded by the inclusion of a chapter on the Gothic
version, while the range of textual witnesses is extended with a chapter
on “other witnesses” (ostraca, inscriptions, etc.). The treatment of scribal
1 Thechapterontheuseofcomputersfortextualcriticismhasbeendroppedfromthe
secondedition,inviewoftheimpossibilityofanyprintresourcekeepingupwiththerapid
paceofdevelopmentandchangeinthisfield,ataskbettersuitedtoelectronicresources.
Goodwebsitestoconsultonthisaspectoftextualcriticismincludethosesponsoredbythe
InstituteforTextualScholarshipandElectronicEditing(http://www.itsee.bham.ac.uk/),the
VirtualManuscriptRoom(http://vmr.bham.ac.uk/),andtheInstitutfürneutestamentliche
Textforschung(http://egora.uni-muenster.de/intf/).
2 The contributions of the original authors of the revised chapters—Gordon D. Fee,
ThomasC.Geer,Jr.,andRochusZuurmond—aregratefullyacknowledged.
