The Living Text of the Gospels

by D. C. Parker

Overview

This book represents an important new departure in New Testament textual criticism. David Parker offers, for the first time, a different way of reading the Gospels that treats seriously the fact that they first existed as manuscripts. Through an analysis of different forms of a number of key passages, he demonstrates that the Gospels cannot be properly understood as texts without taking into consideration their physical existence as manuscripts, printed books and electronic text. In conclusion, he argues that the search for an original text of the Gospels is a misunderstanding of the way in which the early church passed down its traditions.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780521599511
Publisher:	Cambridge University Press
Publication date:	08/07/1997
Edition description:	New Edition
Pages:	244
Product dimensions:	5.47(w) x 8.50(h) x 0.55(d)

Table of Contents

Abbreviations; Preface; 1. The theory; 2. The materials; 3. The practice; 4. As our Saviour taught us ... the Lord's Prayer; 5. The sayings on marriage and divorce; 6. The story of the woman taken in adultery; 7. Secrets and hypotheses; 8. The endings of Mark's Gospel; 9. The last chapters of Luke; 10. The development and transmission of the Fourth Gospel; 11. From codex to disk; 12. The living text; Indexes.

Editorial Reviews

"[Parker's] discussions are clear, entertaining, even at times amusing forays into a complicated field." Richard A. Vinson, Journal of Biblical Literature

"...the book is an important and fascinating contribution to the interpretation of the Gospels." Dwight . Peterson, Pro Ecclesia

From the Publisher

...[A]n introduction to the methods of NT textual criticism...for a broad audience, including novices....His discussions are clear, entertaining, even at times amusing forays into a complicated field....It remains to be seen how the electronic text will affect our concept of the canon. All that is certain is that it will demonstrate how little canonicity is a ‘given'...
— Society of Biblical Literature

Richard B. Vinson