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Archive for the ‘Textual Criticism’ Category


Luke in His Own Words

In Bloomsbury, Jenny Read-Heimerdinger, Kendall A. Davis, Luke-Acts, Manuscript Studies, Manuscripts, Textual Criticism on October 31, 2022 at 12:00 pm
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2022.10.08 | Jenny Read-Heimerdinger. Luke in His Own Words: A Study of the Language of Luke-Acts in Greek. LNTS 672. London: T&T Clark, 2022.

Review by Kendall A. Davis, University of Edinburgh.

As anyone who looks at a critical apparatus for the New Testament knows, a significant number of textual variants involve subtle differences like the presence of an article, the order of words, and so on. Many readers will gloss over such variants as being merely “stylistic,” by which they mean to say, “relatively unimportant and meaningless.” Jenny Read-Heimerdinger’s new collection of previous published essays, Luke in His Own Words, challenges this assumption through a thorough analysis of Luke’s Greek as it is preserved in the Alexandrian text (as represented by Codex Sinaiticus [א01] and Codex Vaticanus [B03]) and Codex Bezae (D05). Read-Heimerdinger combines text-criticism, discourse analysis, and New Testament interpretation to argue that many variants between D05 and the Alexandrian text that are often perceived to be merely stylistic are in fact intentional and meaningful. Read-Heimerdinger further argues that the Bezan text of Acts is not necessarily a later expansion of Acts, as frequently assumed, but may preserve a form of Acts that is earlier than the version preserved in the Alexandrian tradition.

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Studies on the Intersection of Text, Paratext, and Reception

In Brill, Charles E. HILL, Gregory R. Lanier, J. Nicholas Reid, Manuscript Studies, Manuscripts, Matthew Burks, Textual Criticism on April 8, 2022 at 7:35 pm

2022.04.05 | Gregory R. Lanier and J. Nicholas Reid. Studies on the Intersection of Text, Paratext, and Reception: A Festschrift in Honor of Charles E. Hill. Texts and Editions for New Testament Study 15. Leiden: Brill, 2021. pp. xxvii + 414.

Review by Matthew Burks, New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary.

This book is a festschrift dedicated to Charles Hill on his 65th birthday. Dr. Hill currently holds the title of Professor Emeritus at the Reformed Theological Seminary in Orlando, Florida. The broad range and purpose of the book is to update each of the fields of Hill’s interest and earlier research to “bring together the latest research on each of these subfields and explore how they can and should inform each other” (p. xi).

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Scribal Habits in Sixth-Century Greek Purple Codices

In Brill, Codicology, Elijah Hixson, Manuscript Studies, Manuscripts, Matthew Burks, Scribal culture, Scribal habits, Textual Criticism on March 5, 2021 at 3:30 pm

2021.3.7 | Elijah Hixson. Scribal Habits in Sixth-Century Greek Purple Codices. NTTSD 61. Leiden: Brill, 2019. ISBN: 978-90-04-39990-7. 

Review by Matthew Burks, New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary.

Currently, Dr. Elijah Hixson works as a Research Associate at the Center for the Study of New Testament Manuscripts. Previously, Hixson was a Research Associate for Dirk Jongkind at Tyndale House at Cambridge University in the UK. Dr. Hixson earned his doctorate at the University of Edinburgh under the supervision of Drs. Paul Foster and Larry Hurtado. Hixson’s two-volume thesis was turned into this monograph for Brill. He has also co-edited with Dr. Peter Gurry, Myths and Mistakes in New Testament Textual Criticism which was published in 2019. Hixson has authored several articles in the field of textual criticism. 

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Texts and Artefacts

In Bloomsbury, Dustin Rigsby, Larry HURTADO, Manuscript Studies, Manuscripts, Textual Criticism on June 19, 2020 at 3:00 pm

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2020.06.10 | Larry W. Hurtado. Texts and Artefacts: Selected Essays on Textual Criticism and Early Christian Manuscripts. LNTS 584. London: T&T Clark, 2019. XX + 231 pp. ISBN 978-0-567-68882-8.

Review by Dustin Rigsby, New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary.

Larry Hurtado was an exceptional biblical scholar and a well-known advocate of studying early Christian manuscripts as artefacts that are relevant for historical studies of early Christianity. In other words, Hurtado believed that the physical features of manuscripts contained often neglected evidence necessary for understanding early Christianity better. This book advances Hurtado’s significant research in this area, consisting particularly of a collection of essays originally published over a period of about twenty years and categorized under two general parts. Read the rest of this entry »


Simply Come Copying

In Alan Taylor Farnes, Early Christianity, Manuscript Studies, Manuscripts, Matthew Burks, Mohr Siebeck, New Testament, Scribal habits, Textual Criticism on November 13, 2019 at 4:00 pm

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2019.11.15 | Alan Taylor Farnes. Simply Come Copying: Direct Copies as Test Cases in the Quest for Scribal Habits. WUNT II 481. Tubingen: Mohr Siebeck, 2019. XV + 253 pp. ISBN 978-3-16-156981-4.

Review by Matthew Burks, New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary.

Alan Taylor Farnes currently teaches adjunctly at Brigham Young University. He completed his doctoral degree at the University of Birmingham in 2017. Also, Dr. Farnes holds a master’s degree from Duke University and a bachelor’s degree from Brigham Young University. This work is the published form of his dissertation titled “Scribal Habits in Selected New Testament Manuscripts, Including Those with Surviving Exemplars.”

A major method of study in the field of textual criticism is the singular reading method. Read the rest of this entry »

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To Cast the First Stone

In Garrick V. Allen, Jennifer Knust, John, Manuscript Studies, Pericope adulterae, Princeton University Press, Textual Criticism, Tommy WASSERMAN on September 6, 2019 at 8:12 pm

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2019.9.9 | Jennifer Knust and Tommy Wasserman. To Cast the First Stone: The Transmission of a Gospel Story. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2019.

Review by Garrick V. Allen, Dublin City University.

This meticulously researched and deeply engaging volume on the pericopeadulterae(PA) is a prime example of the value of collaborative research in the humanities, encompassing an impossibly broad range of data and illustrating the influence and use of this gospel story in many contexts. To Cast the First Stoneis a triumph of textual and historical scholarship that injects nuance and breadth of detail into the many critical discussion surrounding the PA. The way the Knust and Wasserman are able to present complex technical information and in-depth analyses of scholarship into a narrative form make this book a model for scholarship in the humanities writ large. Read the rest of this entry »

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NTG Editio Critica Maior: Acts

In Annette HÜFFMEIER, Book of Acts, Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft, Editio Critica Maior, Garrick V. Allen, Georg GÄBEL, Gerd MINK, Holger STRUTWOLF, Luke-Acts, Manuscript Studies, Manuscripts, Textual Criticism on July 31, 2019 at 6:30 pm

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2019.7.8 | Holger Strutwolf, Georg Gäbel, Annette Hüffmeier, Gerd Mink, and Klaus Wachtel (eds). Novum Testamentum Graecum Editio Critica Maior. III Die Apostelgeschichte/Acts of the Apostles. 3 parts, 4 volumes. Stuttgart: Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft, 2017.

Review by Garrick V. Allen, Dublin City University. 

The Editio Critica Maior (ECM) of Acts – the most comprehensive and intricate edition of Acts to date – is the second volume to appear in the ECM series after the Catholic Epistles (2013, 2nd ed). The ECM represents a generational, international, and collaborative project, the results of which are worthy of the gargantuan effort involved in producing the edition. Read the rest of this entry »

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Studien zum Text der Apokalypse II

In Darius MÜLLER, De Gruyter, Juan Hernández Jr., Manuscript Studies, Manuscripts, Marcus SIGISMUND, Revelation, Textual Criticism on July 18, 2019 at 10:13 pm

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2019.7.7 | Marcus Sigismund and Darius Müller, eds. Studien zum Text der Apokalypse II. Arbeiten zur Neutestamentlichen Textforschung 50. Berlin and Boston, De Gruyter: 2017.

Review by Juan Hernández Jr., Bethel University.

For the student of the Apocalypse’s textual history, there is no current peer to Studien zum Text der Apokalypse II. An extraordinary achievement, the collection of studies emerges as a paragon of dogged industry, perseverance, and unforgiving tenacity. The individual studies were years in the making and will require as many to grasp their full weight. A juggernaut of captivating data, the volume discloses the procedures and investigative forays behind the reconstruction of the Apocalypse’s Greek Ausgangstext for the Editio Critica Maior Project. Read the rest of this entry »

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Snapshots of Evolving Traditions

In De Gruyter, Garrick V. Allen, Hugo LUNDHAUG, Liv Ingeborg LIED, Manuscript Studies, Manuscripts, Philology, Textual Criticism on May 2, 2018 at 8:04 pm

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2018.05.06 | Liv Ingeborg Lied and Hugo Lundhaug, eds. Snapshots of Evolving Traditions: Jewish and Christian Manuscript Culture, Textual Fluidity, and New Philology. TU 175. Berlin: De Gruyter, 2017. xviii + 366 pages.

Reviewed by Garrick V. Allen, Dublin City University.

This collection of thirteen articles, many of which were originally presented in a workshop at the University of Oslo in 2012, is designed to stimulate new methodological approaches to ancient manuscript cultures and their products. It is “New Philology” in action.

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The Text of Marcion’s Gospel

In Brill, Dieter T. ROTH, Early Christianity, Jordan Almanzar, Marcion, New Testament, review, Textual Criticism on September 3, 2017 at 10:40 am

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2017.09.18 | Dieter T. Roth. The Text of Marcion’s Gospel. New Testament Tools, Studies and Documents 49. Leiden/Boston: Brill, 2015. ISBN: 9789004245204.

Reviewed by Jordan Almanzar, Georg-August-Universität, Göttingen.

Dieter T. Roth has taken up the ambitious task of reconstructing the Gospel portion of Marcion’s “bible”. His objective is not a new one, as the first attempts to reassemble Marcion’s text are generally traced to the 18th century (Roth, 8). [Roth credits J.S. Semler as the first scholar to attempt a resemblance of Marcion’s text, however, he also mentions Richard Simon’s work from nearly a century earlier.] Even so, scholars have long awaited a book such as the one Dieter T. Roth has produced.Its value lies chiefly in the intentionally convenient layout, which is the result of Roth’s patient classification and arrangement of material. Therefore, the book can be immediately used and appreciated by anyone interested in Marcion’s Gospel. Most of the work is an explanation of the difficulties of the task along with details on the methods employed to do so; however, readers can begin using it as a reference tool at the outset.

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