The Text of the New Testament in Contemporary Research New Testament Tools, Studies and Documents New Testament Tools, Studies, and Documents (NTTSD) combines two series, New Testament Tools and Studies (NTTS) and Studies and Documents (SD). The former was founded by Bruce M. Metzger in 1965 and edited by him until 1993, when Bart D. Ehrman joined him as co-editor. The latter series was founded by Kirsopp and Silva Lake in 1935, edited by them until the death of Kirsopp Lake in 1946, then briey by Silva Lake and Carsten Høeg (1955), followed by Jacob Geerlings (until 1969), by Irving Alan Sparks (until 1993), and nally by Eldon Jay Epp (until 2007). The new series will promote the publication of primary sources, reference tools, and critical studies that advance the understanding of the New Testament and other early Christian writings and writers into the fourth century. Emphases of the two predecessor series will be retained, including the textual history and transmission of the New Testament and related literature, relevant manuscripts in various languages, methodologies for research in early Christianity. The series will also publish a broader range of studies pertinent to early Christianity and its writings. Editors Bart D. Ehrman, Ph.D., James A. Gray Distinguished Professor of Religious Studies University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Eldon J. Epp, Ph.D., Harkness Professor of Biblical Literature Emeritus and Dean of Humanities and Social Sciences Emeritus, Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, Ohio VOLUME 42 The titles published in this series are listed at brill.com/ntts The Text of the New Testament in Contemporary Research Essays on the Status Quaestionis Second Edition Edited by Bart D. Ehrman Michael W. Holmes LEIDEN • BOSTON 2013 The rst edition of this title was published as: The Text of the New Testament in Contemporary Research: Essays on the Status Quaestionis. SD, 46. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1995. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data The text of the New Testament in contemporary research : essays on the status quaestionis / edited by Bart D. Ehrman, Michael W. Holmes. – 2nd ed. p. cm. – (New Testament tools, studies, and documents, 0077-8842 ; v. 42) Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 978-90-04-23604-2 (alk. paper) – ISBN 978-90-04-23655-4 (e-book) 1. Bible. N.T.–Criticism, Textual. 2. Bible. N.T.–Criticism, Textual–History–20th century. 3. Bible. N.T.–Manuscripts, Greek. 4. Bible. N.T.–Versions. I. Ehrman, Bart D. II. Holmes, Michael W. (Michael William), 1950- BS2325.T48 2013 225.4'86–dc23 2012030790 This publication has been typeset in the multilingual “Brill” typeface. With over 5,100 characters covering Latin, IPA, Greek, and Cyrillic, this typeface is especially suitable for use in the humanities. For more information, please see www.brill.com/brill-typeface. ISSN 0077-8842 ISBN 978-90-04-23604-2 (hardback) ISBN 978-90-04-23655-4 (e-book) Copyright 2013 by Koninklijke Brill NV, Leiden, The Netherlands. Koninklijke Brill NV incorporates the imprints Brill, Global Oriental, Hotei Publishing, IDC Publishers and Martinus Nijhof Publishers. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, translated, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without prior written permission from the publisher. Authorization to photocopy items for internal or personal use is granted by Koninklijke Brill NV provided that the appropriate fees are paid directly to The Copyright Clearance Center, 222 Rosewood Drive, Suite 910, Danvers, MA 01923, USA. Fees are subject to change. This book is printed on acid-free paper. CONTENTS Preface.................................................................. ix List of Contributors . xi 1. The Papyrus Manuscripts of the New Testament . 1 Eldon Jay Epp 2. The Majuscule Manuscripts of the New Testament . 41 David C. Parker 3. The Greek Minuscules of the New Testament . 69 Barbara Aland and Klaus Wachtel 4. The Greek Lectionaries of the New Testament . 93 Carroll Osburn 5. The Diatessaron of Tatian . 115 Ulrich B. Schmid 6. The Syriac Versions of the New Testament . 143 Peter J. Williams 7. The Latin Version of the New Testament . 167 Philip Burton 8. The Coptic Versions of the New Testament . 201 Christian Askeland 9. The Ethiopic Version of the New Testament . 231 Rochus Zuurmond Revised by Curt Niccum 10. The Armenian Version of the New Testament. 253 S. Peter Cowe 11. The Georgian Version of the New Testament. 293 Jef W. Childers 12. The Gothic Version of the New Testament . 329 Carla Falluomini 13. The Use of the Greek Fathers for New Testament Textual Criticism. 351 Gordon D. Fee Revised by Roderic L. Mullen vi contents 14. The Use of the Latin Fathers for New Testament Textual Criticism. 375 H.A.G. Houghton 15. The Use of the Syriac Fathers for New Testament Textual Criticism. 407 Sebastian Brock 16. Additional Greek Witnesses to the New Testament (Ostraca, Amulets, Inscriptions, and Other Sources) . 429 Peter M. Head 17. Scribal Tendencies in the Transmission of the Text of the New Testament . 461 James R. Royse 18. The Social History of Early Christian Scribes . 479 Kim Haines-Eitzen 19. Analyzing and Categorizing New Testament Greek Manuscripts . 497 Thomas C. Geer Jr. Revised by Jean-François Racine 20. Textual Clusters: Their Past and Future in New Testament Textual Criticism . 519 Eldon Jay Epp 21. Criteria for Evaluating Readings in New Testament Textual Criticism. 579 Tommy Wasserman 22. Conjectural Emendation and the Text of the New Testament. 613 Jan Krans 23. From “Original Text” to “Initial Text”: The Traditional Goal of New Testament Textual Criticism in Contemporary Discussion . 637 Michael W. Holmes 24. Modern Critical Editions and Apparatuses of the Greek New Testament . 689 Juan Hernández Jr. 25. The Majority Text Theory: History, Methods, and Critique. 711 Daniel B. Wallace contents vii 26. Thoroughgoing Eclecticism in New Testament Textual Criticism . 745 J. Keith Elliott 27. Reasoned Eclecticism in New Testament Textual Criticism . 771 Michael W. Holmes 28. The Text as Window: New Testament Manuscripts and the Social History of Early Christianity . 803 Bart D. Ehrman Index of Bible Manuscripts, Modern Editions, and Apparatuses . 831 Index of Ancient Names . 843 Index of Modern Names . 846 Index of Subjects . 860 PREFACE When The Text of the New Testament in Contemporary Research: Essays on the Status Quaestionis was published in 1995, we hoped that it would meet the need for a book that would ofer an accessible and authoritative survey of the status quaestionis on the wide range of topics encompassed by the discipline of New Testament textual criticism. If the reviews and innumerable citations of it are any indication, the volume has done so rather successfully, for students and experts alike. With the passage of time and in view of the dynamism of the discipline, it is no surprise that essays that once represented the “state of the question” have a dated feel. So we ofer here a second edition, hoping once again to provide informed discussions of the current state of knowledge with respect to a wide range of important text-critical topics: Greek manuscripts (with separate articles on the papyri, the majuscules, the minuscules, and the lec- tionaries), the early versions (Diatessaron, Syriac, Latin, Coptic, Ethiopic, Armenian, and Georgian), patristic citations (Greek, Latin, and Syriac), studies of scribal habits, approaches to manuscript classi cation, critical editions and apparatuses, methods for evaluating variant readings (Major- ity Text theory, thoroughgoing eclecticism, and reasoned eclecticism), and the use of textual data as a source for early Christian social history.1 In some cases the original author has updated the essay, in some cases a new author has revised an existing essay,2 and in other cases a new author has con- tributed a replacement essay. In addition, seven new chapters have been incorporated. The coverage of early versions is expanded by the inclusion of a chapter on the Gothic version, while the range of textual witnesses is extended with a chapter on “other witnesses” (ostraca, inscriptions, etc.). The treatment of scribal 1 The chapter on the use of computers for textual criticism has been dropped from the second edition, in view of the impossibility of any print resource keeping up with the rapid pace of development and change in this eld, a task better suited to electronic resources. Good websites to consult on this aspect of textual criticism include those sponsored by the Institute for Textual Scholarship and Electronic Editing (http://www.itsee.bham.ac.uk/), the Virtual Manuscript Room (http://vmr.bham.ac.uk/), and the Institut für neutestamentliche Textforschung (http://egora.uni-muenster.de/intf/). 2 The contributions of the original authors of the revised chapters—Gordon D. Fee, Thomas C. Geer, Jr., and Rochus Zuurmond—are gratefully acknowledged. x preface tendencies is supplemented by a chapter on the social history of scribes, while other new chapters survey the discussion of text types, assess the various criteria for evaluating variant readings, explore the use and place of conjectures with regard to the New Testament text, and analyze the debate about whether the “original text” can or should be the (or a) goal of the discipline (a point on which not even the editors agree). Each chapter, new or old, includes an up-to-date bibliography of the relevant (sub-) eld. Dr. Metzger, whom the rst edition honored on the occasion of his eight- ieth birthday, passed away in 2007, and among the contributors we note the passing of J. Neville Birdsall and William Petersen. All are remembered here with gratitude and appreciation. Even as we bid farewell to some contributors, we welcome the opportu- nity to bring on board several new contributors, among whom (by editorial design) are many younger colleagues who represent the “next generation” of New Testament textual critics.