The Early Text of the New Testament

by Charles E. Hill (Editor), Michael J. Kruger (Editor)

Overview

The Early Text of the New Testament aims to examine and assess from our earliest extant sources the most primitive state of the New Testament text now known. What sort of changes did scribes make to the text? What is the quality of the text now at our disposal? What can we learn about the nature of textual transmission in the earliest centuries? In addition to exploring the textual and scribal culture of early Christianity, this volume explores the textual evidence for all the sections of the New Testament. It also examines the evidence from the earliest translations of New Testament writings and the citations or allusions to New Testament texts in other early Christian writers.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780198709695
Publisher:	Oxford University Press
Publication date:	08/12/2014
Pages:	498
Product dimensions:	9.10(w) x 6.10(h) x 1.10(d)

About the Author

Charles E. Hill (Ph.D. Cambridge University) is Professor of New Testament at Reformed Theological Seminary in Orlando, Florida. His other books include Regnum Caelorum: Patterns of Future Hope in Early Christianity and The Johannine Corpus in the Early Church, both published by Oxford University Press, and From the Lost Teaching of Polycarp: Identifying Irenaeus' Apostolic Presbyter and the Author of ad Diognetum published by J. C. B. Mohr (Paul Siebeck).

Michael J. Kruger (Ph.D. University of Edinburgh) is Professor of New Testament at Reformed Theological Seminary, Charlotte, NC and is the author of the Gospel of the Savior: An Analysis of P.Oxy. 840 and its Place in the Gospel Traditions of Early Christianity (Brill, 2005) and co-author of Gospel Fragments (Oxford, 2009).

Table of Contents

Introduction: In Search of the Earliest Text of the New Testament, Charles E. Hill and Michael J. Kruger
I. The Textual and Scribal Culture of Early Christianity
1. The Book Trade in the Roman Empire, Harry Y. Gamble
2. Indicators of Catholicity in Early Gospel Manuscripts, Scott Charlesworth
3. Towards a Sociology of Reading in Early Christianity, Larry Hurtado
4. Early Christian Attitudes towards the Reproduction of Texts, Michael J. Kruger
II. The Manuscript Tradition
5. The Early Text of Matthew, Tommy Wasserman
6. The Early Text of Mark, Peter Head
7. The Early Text of Luke, Juan Hernandez
8. The Early Text of John, Juan Chapa
9. The Early Text of Acts, Christopher Tuckett
10. The Early Text of Paul (and Hebrews), James R. Royse
11. The Early Text of the Catholic Epistles, J. K. Elliott
12. The Early Text of Revelation, Tobias Nicklas
13. Where Two or Three Are Gathered Together: Evaluating Agreements between Two or More Early Versions, Peter Williams
III. Early Citation/Use of New Testament Writings
14. In These Very Words: Methods and Standards of Literary Borrowing in the Second Century, Charles E. Hill
15. The Text of the New Testament in the Apostolic Fathers, Paul Foster
16. Marcion and the Early Text of the New Testament, Dieter T. Roth
17. Justin's Text of the Gospels. Another Look at the Citations in 1 Apol. 15.1-8, Joseph Verheyden
18. Tatian's Diatessaron and the Greek Text of the Gospels, Tjitze Baarda
19. Early Apocryphal Gospels and the New Testament Text, Stanley Porter
20. Irenaeus's Text of the Gospels in Adversus haereses, Jeffrey Bingham and Billy R. Todd, Jr.
21. Clement of Alexandria's Gospel Citations, Carl Cosaert

Editorial Reviews

"[A]n invaluable resource for documenting the state of research about the text of the NT before the major fourth-century codices... The volume should be mandatory reading for anyone doing postgraduate study on the Greek NT." —Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society

A great addition to the Christian apologist s library and will be monumental to anyone who is seeking to understand textual criticism." —Deeper Waters

"With the ever-growing corpus of scholarship on the text of the New Testament, every so often it is necessary to step back and take an account of what's out there. The Early Text of the New Testament does just that. Editors Charles Hill and Michael Kruger have assembled a fine team of scholars to produce an excellent snapshot of the 'state of the New Testament union.'...a very concise summary of the constantly growing body of New Testament scholarship and points the interested reader toward current conclusions in an enlightening, albeit quite scholarly, manner." —Association for Mormon Letters

"This volume is undoubtedly going to be a key reference work on the text of the NT in early Christianity for some time." —Diglotting

"The Early Text of the New Testament is an important and unique contribution to these current debates. The individual NT books are examined separately to prevent homogenizing and blurring textual issues in unfortunate and misleading kinds of ways. The second century sources are also examined individually to see the evidence they are able to present collectively. While some of the material in the essays has been discussed elsewhere by these and other scholars, still much of the analysis has been approached in a new and fresh manner. Crucial data regarding textual reliability in the second century is especially to be noted in both essays by the two editors (Hill and Kruger). The twenty-one essays in The Early Text are not the final word about the NT text in the first three centuries, but nonetheless it is an important word that must be considered. Those wishing to engage in this debate must examine closely the detailed data provided in this volume." —FIDES et HUMILITAS

"The Early Text of the New Testament is a must-read for students and scholars of the NT and particularly for those with interest in the early manuscripts and early citation of the NT texts." —Jennifer Guo, graduate fellow of Henry Center for Theological Understanding at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School

The Early Text of the New Testament is an important and unique contribution to these current debates.— Jeff Cate, The Journal of the Center for Ancient Christian Studies

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