Issues in New Testament Textual Criticism: Moving from the Nineteenth Century to the Twenty-First Century1

Abstract

This chapter identifies issues facing New Testament (NT) textual criticism at the outset of the twenty-first century and compares them with the same or similar issues in the nineteenth century. It describes the status of each issue at the end or perhaps in the latter half of the nineteenth century, a period of significant progress in discovering and analyzing manuscripts, in addressing principles for approving or disapproving variant readings, and in creating widely-accepted critical editions of the Greek NT text. The chapter reviews five issues: choosing among variants and deciding on priority, choosing among manuscripts and deciding on groups, choosing among critical editions and deciding for compromise, choosing to address context and deciding on influence, and choosing to address goals and directions and deciding on meanings and approaches. The description of differing functions or dimensions of originality is what is covered by the phrase multivalence of the term original text.Keywords: critical editions; Greek NT text; New Testament (NT) textual criticism; nineteenth century; twenty-first century