A Comparison of the Greek and Coptic Texts

Abstract

A detailed saying-by-saying comparison of the Greek and Coptic texts is found in the commentary in this chapter. The general tenor of scholarship on Thomas recent times is that the Greek and Coptic are so different that they should be treated as different recensions. There are certainly differences between the Greek and Coptic versions which exceed the 'standard deviation' that one generally sees in the transmission and translation of the New Testament. Nevertheless, a case is made and in the course of the commentary that (a) the differences are often exaggerated and that there is a great deal of similarity between the Greek fragments and the Coptic manuscript, and (b) the normal procedures of textual criticism can be employed to determine which reading is more likely to be the earlier; in this respect, Thomas is not a special case.Keywords: Coptic Texts; Greek fragments; recensions; Thomas