The Text of the New Testament in Contemporary Research includes a collection of 28 essays on a number of subjects relating to the early text and transmission of the NT. The first edition of the volume was published in 1995 as a Festschrift in honor of the late American textual scholar Bruce Metzger and has proven to be a helpful resource for those interested in textual criticism of the NT. While the original edition is still less than 20 years old, there have been several notable developments in the field of NT textual criticism in recent years, impressing upon the editors of the second edition the need for an updated volume. Over the last few decades, our knowledge of ancient literary practices and the processes in which writings were produced and distributed in the ancient world has increased while a number of ancient papyri have been discovered, providing scholars with additional evidence with which to discern the state of the NT text in early Christianity. In addition, the perceived task of textual criticism has been debated, as several notable scholars have challenged the discipline’s traditional objective to establish the original text of the NT. In response to these recent developments, the editors have included in the second edition several new essays. Most of these essays are related to the perceived task of textual criticism or methodological issues, though new essays have been added on some of the often overlooked witnesses to the early text of the NT. In addition to these new essays, the volume also includes a number of revised essays which appeared in the first edition. In some cases these essays have been revised by the original authors, while in other cases new contributors provided a fresh study. The result is a valuable up-to-date and significantly expanded volume that provides a helpful assessment of the current state of NT textual criticism.

Biblical scholars as well as students with an interest in NT textual criticism will find this volume to be an excellent resource. However, those with only a limited knowledge of textual criticism may benefit from first reading an introduction to the discipline such as Paul Wegner’s A Student’s Guide to Textual Criticism of the Bible (IVP, 2006), Kurt and Barbara Aland’s The Text of the New Testament (Eerdmans, 1995), Bruce Metzger’s The Text of the New Testament (OUP, 2005), David Black’s New Testament Textual Criticism (Baker, 1994), or David Parker’s An Introduction to the New Testament Manuscripts and their Texts (CUP, 2008). The purpose of The Text of the New Testament in Contemporary Research is not to provide the reader with the type of overview of the discipline one might find in an introductory work, but to address the current state of the discipline while providing readers with helpful resources for further study. While the hardback edition retails for a rather prohibitive $314, the publisher has recently released a paperback version that retails for a more affordable $76. The release of the paperback version will undoubtedly increase the readership and influence of the volume.

Broadly speaking, the first 18 essays are related to the extant witnesses to the early text of the NT or the process of transmission. Topics include the Greek witnesses to the NT (chs. 1–4), the early versions of the NT (chs. 5–12), the relevance of the writings of patristic authors for the task of textual criticism (chs. 13–15), Greek witnesses to the NT outside of the extant manuscripts and testimony of the Greek fathers (ch. 16), and the role of scribes in the transmission of the NT (chs. 17–18). Each essay overviews the state of research of its given topic and concludes with an up-to-date bibliography of relevant sources for further study. Those wishing to become more familiar with the wide range of witnesses to the early state of the NT will find these chapters to be especially helpful.

The remaining essays of the volume (chapters 19–28) are concerned in one way or another with methodological issues or the objectives of the discipline of NT textual criticism. These essays also include helpful bibliographies and enable the reader to become conversant with the recent trends in the discipline. Perhaps two of the more provocative essays in the volume are those of the editors Michael Holmes and Bart Ehrman, both of whom offer a significant challenge to the once widely accepted persuasion that the task of textual criticism is to reconstruct the original text of the NT writings. Holmes writes that while he once understood the purpose of textual criticism to be the reconstruction of the original text of a document, he no longer holds to this persuasion. He explains that there are at least two major reasons for this. First, “the study of the history of the transmission of the text is no longer viewed only or primarily as a means to the recovery of the original, but rather as a legitimate goal in its own right” (p. 367). Rather than treating many of the textual variants of the NT as “detritus littering the path to the original text” (p. 637), Holmes suggests that scholars should recognize the value of textual variants for what they reveal about the world of the early church. The existence of textual variants, Holmes notes, provide “possible sources of insight into the history and cultural context of the individuals and communities that transmitted (and, occasionally, created) them” (p. 367–68). But why dismiss the task of reconstructing the original text? Might it be possible to work towards a reconstruction of the text of the original writings of the NT while also recognizing that textual variants may occasionally reveal further insight into the various theological controversies which took place in early Christianity?

Second, Holmes suggests that the task of reconstructing the text of the original autographs of the NT writings is fraught with difficulties. As he argues, the original autographs would have contained “not merely the text as a sequence of words, but also the precise layout, spelling, and form of the words” that “generally are not recoverable from the surviving manuscripts copies of the New Testament writings” (pp. 668–69). However, even if these relatively minor characteristics of the autographs are not the primary focus, Holmes insists that discerning an “original” text remains problematic because of the ambiguity of the term. Because the NT writings were often composed with the assistance of a secretary (see the example of Tertius in Rom 16:22), the term “original text” is often used in reference to different stages in the compositional process. For most scholars, however, the term “original text” is used to describe the text that was dispatched to a writer’s original audience. Rather than seeking to reconstruct the “original” text—in whatever form one envisions—Holmes argues that textual critics should seek to uncover, so much as the extant witnesses allow, what he has described as the initial text, that is, “the form(s) of text in which an early Christian writing first began to circulate and be copied” (p. 638). In other words, rather than seeking to reconstruct the text of the original autographs in the state in which they were originally dispatched, Holmes argues that textual critics must instead seek to establish “the textual form(s) (archetypes) from which the extant evidence derives” (p. 680).

Ehrman’s essay also discusses some of his objections to a primary focus on the reestablishment of the original text. He argues that while textual critics have “enjoyed reasonable success at establishing, to the best of their abilities, the original text of the New Testament” (p. 825), this narrow focus overlooks the significant insights that the various textual witnesses reveal about the social world in which the NT was written and transmitted. “An exclusive concentration on the autographs is myopic,” Ehrman concludes, because “it overlooks the value of variant forms of the text for historians interested in matters other than exegesis” (p. 803). Other notable textual critics have argued similarly in recent years, perhaps most notably Eldon Epp and David Parker.

Many textual critics, however, remain committed to the traditional understanding of textual criticism, namely, the reestablishment of the original text or what is sometimes referred to as the authorial text. Daniel Wallace, for example, has emphasized that the task of determining the original reading of the NT autographs is not simply a modern preoccupation, but one that has been a commitment of Christians throughout the centuries (“Challenges in New Testament Textual Criticism for the Twenty-first Century,” JETS 52 [2009]: 79–100). While scholars have at times failed to clarify what is meant by the term “original text,” it is for good reason that the task of reconstructing the text of the NT has remained an important objective of the church for two millennia. Because the Scriptures have long been recognized as useful for “teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness” (2 Tim 3:16 ESV), it is both natural and justifiable to recognize the work of discerning the original text of the NT as a profitable and necessary pursuit. The discovery of several biblical manuscripts and other early witnesses to the text of the NT over the last century has given scholars reason to be optimistic about our ability to reconstruct the original text. While the original reading of several passages remains uncertain, the NT is by far the best-attested writing of antiquity. Because of the impressive number of ancient witnesses to the NT that have survived, there is reason to be fairly confident in our ability to discern the most probable original text of the majority of the NT. Even when the available evidence is insufficient to determine the original reading of a particular passage, it should be recalled that no central doctrine of the Christian faith is dependent upon a single passage of Scripture in which there is dispute regarding its original reading. In other words, the merits of Christianity are not reliant upon our ability to accurately discern the original reading of the entirety of the NT.

Those wishing to expand their knowledge of the various ancient witnesses to the NT or to become more conversant with recent trends and developments in textual criticism will find this volume to be a helpful resource. While many readers will undoubtedly disagree with some of the conclusions made by the various contributors, the editors are to be commended for assembling such a fine collection of essays which students and scholars alike will find to be of great value.

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