Sun Mar 24 01:00:57 1996

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From: Maurice Robinson 
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Subject: Re: Novice Questions
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On Sat, 23 Mar 1996, Mark E. Burrill wrote:

> Can someone recommend a book that is a good introduction to the discipline. 
> Preferably one that is offered by CBD or another popular mail order company 
> (I'm not near a decent library that carries such things). I've already read 
> THE TEXT OF THE NT by the Alands.

For a beginner, I would suggest you read Metzger's Text of the NT and 
Greenlee's Introduction to NT Textual Criticism.  Aland is probably too 
overwhelming at this stage.

> How about a source that offers transcripts of the more important early mss?

Try Jack Finegan's Encountering NT MSS.  It does not have full 
transcripts, but does reproduce various pages and gives transcripts of those.

> Finally, I've enjoyed the discussion concerning the James 2:18 XWRIS/EK 
> issue. But what I don't understand is this: If this is a topic worthy of such 
> scholarly attention, why then does the UBS-4 not mention it as a variant while 
> it does list multiple variants of vs. 19, EIS ESTIN O QEOS, none of which 
> (as best as I can tell) result in any interpretive difference? 

Basically, the editors of the Nestle or UBS editions determine which 
readings in their judgment are more or less "significant."  The UBS 
edition in particular severely limits their selection of variant readings 
to those which are most significant for translators, thus only around 
1450 variant units are mentioned for the entire NT.  

The Nestle editions have a much broader scope, and include somewhere
around 8000 or so variants, perhaps more.  For most people, the Nestle
edition would be preferable (especially with the horrid typeface selected
for UBS-4);  however, even more variants can be found by consulting
Tischendorf's 1869 edition or Von Soden's 1911 edition, or (more recently)
Swanson's 1995 edition of the four gospels with all variants of all cited
MSS provided. 

> (I'm only in my first year of Greek, so be gentle!)

I would worry more about getting your first year completed and then your 
second year advanced grammar and syntax before making a major study of 
textual criticism.  Remember, about 90% of the text is identical in all 
Greek editions and MSS.


_________________________________________________________________________
Maurice A. Robinson, Ph.D.            Assoc.Prof./Greek and New Testament
Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary     Wake Forest, North Carolina
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