The Text of the New Testament in Contemporary Research: Essays on the Status Quaestionis (Studies & Documents)
by Bart D. Ehrman (Editor), Michael W. Holmes (Editor)
Studies & Documents (46)
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The Text of the New Testament in Contemporary Research: Essays on the Status Quaestionis provides a thoroughly up-to-date assessment of every major aspect of New Testament textual criticism. The twenty-four essays in the volume, all written by internationally acknowledged experts in the field, cover every major aspect of the discipline, discussing the advances that have been made since the mid twentieth century. With full and informative bibliographies, these contributions will be essential show more reading for anyone interested in moving beyond the standard handbooks in order to see where the discipline now stands, a vade mecum for all students and text-critical scholars for a generation to come. show lessTags
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waltzmn The Studies and Documents series goes back many decades, but few volumes contained more methodological insights than E. C. Colwell's ground-breaking work. Ehrman and Holmes give a rounded update on progress in recent decades -- but Colwell's various essays still represent a program that textual critics would profit from studying.
Member Reviews
Textual criticism is like a phoenix: Something very old that periodically must be burnt up and reborn.
There are many reasons for the changes in the discipline. One of the most important is the discovery of new materials -- new manuscripts of the Bible, or of quotations from it. But the pace of discoveries has slowed. So why do things keep changing?
Some of the reasons are technological: Computers make comparisons of texts much easier. Others are methodological: People keep coming up with new ways to make comparisons between versions, or to classify and group manuscripts. Add it all up, and there is a constant need to update the discipline. This need is even greater due to the lack of a single comprehensive textbook of the discipline.
This show more volume represents a valiant attempt to examine the changes in the discipline as things stood in the early 1990s. It covers all the basic areas -- manuscripts (papyri, uncials, etc.), versions (Latin, Syriac, Coptic, plus the lesser-known versions), church fathers, methods of criticism. There is something here for every critic.
And yet, somehow, it all feels just a little incomplete. There flatly isn't enough coverage of statistical methods or computers for a document compiled in the 1990s. Signs of mathematical sense are utterly lacking. And there are no theoretical breakthroughs. It's all stuck in the rut of "reasoned eclecticism" -- the current standard method of criticism, which is good enough but which isn't going anywhere.
This isn't really the fault of the book. Some of the articles are a lot better than others -- it seemed to me that some of the writers on the versions really didn't have a plan for what they were trying to say. But most of this is because we are in what Eldon J. Epp has repeatedly called an "interlude" in textual criticism. It's time for a breakthrough. The breakthrough isn't here. But if you want to see a long list of places where breakthroughs might be sought, this is a good book to consult. show less
There are many reasons for the changes in the discipline. One of the most important is the discovery of new materials -- new manuscripts of the Bible, or of quotations from it. But the pace of discoveries has slowed. So why do things keep changing?
Some of the reasons are technological: Computers make comparisons of texts much easier. Others are methodological: People keep coming up with new ways to make comparisons between versions, or to classify and group manuscripts. Add it all up, and there is a constant need to update the discipline. This need is even greater due to the lack of a single comprehensive textbook of the discipline.
This show more volume represents a valiant attempt to examine the changes in the discipline as things stood in the early 1990s. It covers all the basic areas -- manuscripts (papyri, uncials, etc.), versions (Latin, Syriac, Coptic, plus the lesser-known versions), church fathers, methods of criticism. There is something here for every critic.
And yet, somehow, it all feels just a little incomplete. There flatly isn't enough coverage of statistical methods or computers for a document compiled in the 1990s. Signs of mathematical sense are utterly lacking. And there are no theoretical breakthroughs. It's all stuck in the rut of "reasoned eclecticism" -- the current standard method of criticism, which is good enough but which isn't going anywhere.
This isn't really the fault of the book. Some of the articles are a lot better than others -- it seemed to me that some of the writers on the versions really didn't have a plan for what they were trying to say. But most of this is because we are in what Eldon J. Epp has repeatedly called an "interlude" in textual criticism. It's time for a breakthrough. The breakthrough isn't here. But if you want to see a long list of places where breakthroughs might be sought, this is a good book to consult. show less
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Author Information
New Testament scholar Bart D. Ehrman grew up in Lawrence, Kansas and graduated from Wheaton College in 1978. He earned his Masters of Divinity and PhD from Princeton Theological Seminary and has taught at Rutgers University and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where he is the James A. Gray Distinguished Professor. He has published show more more than 20 scholarly and popular books, including three New York Times bestsellers, plus numerous articles and book reviews. (Bowker Author Biography) show less
Michael W. Holmes (Ph.D., Princeton Theological Seminary) is professor of biblical studies and early Christianity at Bethel College.
Series
Common Knowledge
- People/Characters
- Bruce M. Metzger; Barbara Aland; Kurt Aland; J. Neville Birdsall; Ernest C. Colwell; Eldon J. Epp (show all 15); Gordon D. Fee; Bonifatius Fischer; Fenton John Anthony Hort; Bruce M. Metzger; Brooke Foss Westcott; Ephrem, the Syrian; Origen, ca. 185-ca. 254; Tertullian, Quintus Septimius Florens, ca. 155-ca. 220; Tatian
- Dedication
- The Volume is Presented, with Gratitude and Affection,
to
Bruce M. Metzger
in Honor of His Eightieth Birthday
(9 February 1994)
by his Students and Colleagues - First words
- PREFACE
New Testament textual criticism involves a complicated set of disciplines, many of them in rapid transition. - Last words
- (Click to show. Warning: May contain spoilers.)Much more, however, is left to be done, both on these issues and other, as we move beyond a narrow concern for the autographs to an interest in their transmission, a history that can serve as a window into the social world of early Christianity.
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- Reviews
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- (3.83)
- Languages
- English, Hungarian
- Media
- Paper, Ebook
- ISBNs
- 7
