Dirk Jongkind on P52

Tyndale House textual guru (at least on Codex Sinaituc) Dirk Jongkind explains the papyrus fragment p52 on You.Tube. Gotta love that dutch accent!

New Edition of the Greek New Testament

Logos Bible Software and the Society of Biblical Literature have teamed up to create new critically edited Greek text called SBLGNT. The official website is here and you can find the news at the ETC Blog. Well done to Prof. Michael Holmes for doing this! It should be available for SBL Atlanta in print and electronic editions.

Goswell on Early Readers of the Gospels

Greg Goswell has an interesting article in JGRChJ 6 (2009) on, "Early Readers of the Gospels: The Kephalalia and Titloi of Codex Alexandrinus". It's good to see Greg (an OT guy) writing on NT mss! This affirms my suspicion that all OT folk are closet NT wannabees!! Anyways, Goswell's article shows the significance of chapter divisions (Kephalalia) in codex Alexandrinus and how they provide an indication of scribal evaluations about the shape of individual pericopes and provide a commentary on the perceived literary structures of the text.

Martin Hengel on the NT Text in the Second Century

Over at ETC, I've posted on Martin Hengel's comments about the NT text in the second century.

BBC and Codex Sinaiticus

Over at ETC, Dirk Jongkind has a good post on the BBC's news article about Codex Sinaiticus.

Pericope adulterae

Over at CT there is an article on the Pericope adulterae: Is 'Let Him Who Is Without Sin Cast the First Stone' Biblical? by Sarah Eekhoff Zylstra. It includes this quote:

"Such judgments [about the inauthenticity of the pericope] raise questions about what words like canonicity and inspiration mean for evangelicals. If we reserve the word inspired for the text in the earliest manuscripts, yet accept that other material (such as the pericope adulterae) should be included in our biblical canon, are we implying that select biblical passages may be canonical yet not inspired? If so, what should we do with this distinction?"

My questions are:

1. Would you preach this text? Me, personally, no! But it is a charming story about forgiveness and grace and I can refer to it on those terms.

2. How do you explain this to Christians without undermining their confidence in the Scripture? Some Christians have a view of Scripture that is totally ignorant of the area of textual criticism and they get squirmy with the questions it raises (this is why there are Textus Receptus-folk and KJV-only fruit cakes in the first place). In other words, they accept the authority of the text but have never wrestled with the phenomenon of the text. This is why pastors should run an adult Sunday school study on textual criticism.

I have to say that some time ago I read a comment at the Christianity Today news site where one unfortunate chappy claimed that "using an Alexandrian text will lead to an Alexandria spirituality, read your King James Bible!". In making an educated guess of this chappy's position I would love to ask, "Does using a text reconstructed by a Catholic humanist professor lead to a Catholic spirituality?" (immense apologies to my Catholic friends!).

Lost in Transmission, by Nick Perrin

Nick Perrin's new book is called Lost in Transmission? What we can know about the words of Jesus? The blurb reads: "Bart Ehrman, in his New York Times bestseller, Misquoting Jesus, claims that the New Testament cannot wholly be trusted. Cutting and probing with the tools of text criticism, Ehrman suggests that many of its episodes are nothing but legend, fabricated by those who copied or collated its pages in the intervening centuries. The result is confusion and doubt. Can we truly trust what the New Testament says? Now, Wheaton College scholar Nicholas Perrin takes on Ehrman and others who claim that the text of the New Testament has been corrupted beyond recognition. Perrin, in an approachable, compelling style, gives us a layman's guide to textual criticism so that readers can understand the subtleties of Ehrman's critiques, and provides firm evidence to suggest that the New Testament can, indeed, be trusted."

"Textual Criticism and Theology"

Over at Evangelical Textual Criticism, I've posted a summary of and interaction with David Parker's recent article on "Textual Criticism and Theology" from the Expository Times.

Teaching Textual Criticism

Over at ETC, I've added a post about Teaching Textual Criticism.

Review of Editio Critica Maior

What follows is a review of the Novum Testamentum Graecum Editio Critica Maior, Part IV - the Catholic Letters, Installments 1-4. See a web introduction here.

1. Editio Critica Maior

According to the Institute for New Testament Textual Research (INTF), the Editio Critica Maior documents the Greek textual history of the first millennium based on Greek manuscripts of special relevance for the textual tradition, on older translations, and on quotations of the New Testament in ancient Christian literature. It utilizes the coherence based genealogical method for collating the material prepared for the first time with such completeness. The selection of manuscripts rests on an analysis of the entire primary tradition. Every selected manuscript is entered into a database with all its readings and registered in the critical apparatus. The edition thus offers information to answer continuative questions: How does the text change in the course of history and why? How was a text received in early Christianity?

The ECM is scheduled to be published in five volumes:

I. Gospels
II. Acts
III. Pauline Letters
IV. Catholic Letters
V. Revelation

2. For discussion of the ECM see:

Bart D. Ehrman, "Novum Testamentum Graece Editio Critica Maior: An Evaluation"

D. C. Parker, "A Critique of the Novum Testamentum Graecum Editio Critica Maior"

Peter H. Davids, "Novum Testamentum Graecum Editio Critica Maior: A Non-Specialist's Perspective"

William L. Petersen, "Some Remarks on the First Volume (The Epistle of James) of the Novum Testamentum Graecum Editio Critica Maior"

Klaus Wachtel, Co-Editor of the ECM, "Response to Four Reviews of the James Volume of the Editio Critica Maior"

3. ECM, Part IV - The Catholic Letters

Each installment includes two parts: text and supplement. Part 1 (text) of all installments includes a foreword, notes on the reconstruction of the text, and the actual text itself. The text includes three parts: (1) the primary line of text, (2) the overview of variant readings, and (3) the critical apparatus. Part 2 (supplement) of the installment includes (1) abbreviations and symbols, (2) Greek manuscripts, (3) Patristic quotations, (4) versions, (5) additional apparatus, and (6) supplementary material and studies.

ECM IV/1 - The Epistle of James

The ECM differs from NA27 and UBS4 in two instances on James:

a. 1.22 - akroatai monon
b. 2.3 - ē kathou ekei

Included is also evidence from P100 (= POxy 4449) from the Oxyrynchus collection which contains Jas 3.13-4.4 and 4.9-5.1 (III/IV century).

ECM IV/2 - The Letters of Peter

There are differences with UBS4 and NA27 in sixteen places, e.g. 2 Pet. 3.10 - ouk eurethēsetai

The analysis showed the remarkable agreement of P72, P81, and 623 with the A text (= Ausgangstext or hypothetical initial text).

ECM IV/3 - The First Letter of John

The editors note that due to the simple style of 1 John, there are very few passages where difficulties lead to major variants, although the repetitive style encourages a range of variants for some expressions.

ECM differences with NA27/UBS4 include:
1.7 - omits de
5.10 - en autō
5.18 - heaton

ECM IV/4 - The Second and Third Letter of John, the Letter of Jude

What I found interesting here was the ECM preference for 'Jesus' over 'Lord' in Jude 5. Otherwise, one should consult on Jude, Tommy Wasserman: The epistle of Jude: its text and transmission

4. An Evaluation

- In terms of advancing a new methodology for textual criticism (i.e. the coherence-based-genealogical method or CBGM), the ECM is highly commendable. Alas, the days of "text types" is well and truly over. However, the CBGM does not always prove as useful for 1-3 John, Jude as it does for James and 1-2 Peter.
- There is a completeness and thoroughness to the presentation of the data that is otherwise unmatched by any apparatus, and for that reason alone the ECM is necessary for commentary writing, studies in wirkungsgeschichte, and for any serious textual study.
- If teaching a course on textual criticism or advanced Greek, a lecturer should strive to get the ECM into the hands of students and have sessions where they practice using it to discover variants and learn how to read the text.
- Another useful aspect is that the bilingual nature of the volumes (i.e. German and English) which allows one to practice reading Theological German.

These volumes are available in the UK from Alban Books.