In Critical History of the Text of the New Testament, 17th century Oratorian Richard Simon (1638-1712), ‘father’ of modern biblical criticism, surveys the genuineness, accuracy, authority, and reliability of all then known sources of the New Testament. He makes rigorous, objective, and expert use of a staggering quantity of material relating to the text—Greek and Latin manuscripts, early versions, quotations from the Old Testament in the New, from the Church Fathers and other commentators of all periods. Though in his day Simon was contradicted, opposed, persecuted, and silenced, it is precisely because, three centuries ago, he dared to be different, and because of his knowledge and his scrupulously “scientific” approach, that his work deserves to reach a wider audience.

In Critical History of the Text of the New Testament (1689), 17th century Oratorian Richard Simon (1638-1712), ‘father’ of modern biblical criticism, surveys the genuineness, authority, and reliability of all then known manuscript and printed sources of the New Testament.

This collection of essays by respected scholars represents the state of the art of textual criticism as applied to the New Testament. Addressing core topics such as the causes and forms of variation, contamination and coherence, and the goals and the canons of textual criticism, it presents a first-class overview of traditional and innovative methodologies as they are applied to reconstructing the initial wording of the New Testament writings. In this context, the new Coherence-Based Genealogical Method (CBGM) is introduced and discussed extensively. Integrating established approaches and procedures, the CBGM features a new category of external evidence: genealogical coherence of witnesses.

The Text of the New Testament is a brief introduction for the lay person into the process whereby the New Testament came to be. It describes the basics of ancient writing tools, manuscripts, the work of scribes, and how to think about differences in what the various manuscripts say. This is a revised and expanded edition with a completely new chapter on how contemporary English translations fit in with our understanding of the New Testament text. Geared to the lay person who is uninformed or confused about textual criticism, Greenlee begins this volume by explaining the production of ancient manuscripts. He then traces the history of the development of the New Testament text. Readers are next introduced to the basic principles of textual criticism, the concept of variant readings, and how to determine which variant has the greatest likelihood of being the original reading. To illustrate the basic principles, several sample New Testament texts are examined. The book concludes by putting textual criticism in perspective as involving only a minute portion of the entire New Testament text, the bulk of which is indisputably attested by the manuscripts.

Acts of the Apostles is a pivotal book in New Testament studies, giving us information about how the Church began and developed in those key years after the ascension and glorification of Jesus. This is a great resource for the study of Acts and has been adapted in many Bible colleges as a textbook. The Bible notes are excellent and clear, and the numerous special studies bring valuable information to the forefront that seldom makes it into a single volume.

A literary history of our most influential book of all time, by an Oxford scholar and Anglican priest In our culture, the Bible is monolithic: It is a collection of books that has been unchanged and unchallenged since the earliest days of the Christian church. The idea of the Bible as "Holy Scripture," a non-negotiable authority straight from God, has prevailed in Western society for some time. And while it provides a firm foundation for centuries of Christian teaching, it denies the depth, variety, and richness of this fascinating text. In A History of the Bible, John Barton argues that the Bible is not a prescription to a complete, fixed religious system, but rather a product of a long and intriguing process, which has inspired Judaism and Christianity, but still does not describe the whole of either religion. Barton shows how the Bible is indeed an important source of religious insight for Jews and Christians alike, yet argues that it must be read in its historical context--from its beginnings in myth and folklore to its many interpretations throughout the centuries. It is a book full of narratives, laws, proverbs, prophecies, poems, and letters, each with their own character and origin stories. Barton explains how and by whom these disparate pieces were written, how they were canonized (and which ones weren't), and how they were assembled, disseminated, and interpreted around the world--and, importantly, to what effect. Ultimately, A History of the Bible argues that a thorough understanding of the history and context of its writing encourages religious communities to move away from the Bible's literal wording--which is impossible to determine--and focus instead on the broader meanings of scripture.

This is an open access title available under the terms of a CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 licence. It is free to read at Oxford Scholarship Online and offered as a free PDF download from OUP and selected open access locations. Latin is the language in which the New Testament was copied, read, and studied for over a millennium. The remains of the initial 'Old Latin' version preserve important testimony for early forms of text and the way in which the Bible was understood by the first translators. Successive revisions resulted in a standard version subsequently known as the Vulgate which, along with the creation of influential commentaries by scholars such as Jerome and Augustine, shaped theology and exegesis for many centuries. Latin gospel books and other New Testament manuscripts illustrate the continuous tradition of Christian book culture, from the late antique codices of Roman North Africa and Italy to the glorious creations of Northumbrian scriptoria, the pandects of the Carolingian era, eleventh-century Giant Bibles, and the Paris Bibles associated with the rise of the university. In The Latin New Testament, H. A. G. Houghton provides a comprehensive introduction to the history and development of the Latin New Testament. Drawing on major editions and recent advances in scholarship, he offers a new synthesis which brings together evidence from Christian authors and biblical manuscripts from earliest times to the late Middle Ages. All manuscripts identified as containing Old Latin evidence for the New Testament are described in a catalogue, along with those featured in the two principal modern editions of the Vulgate. A user's guide is provided for these editions and the other key scholarly tools for studying the Latin New Testament.

"How to Read the New Testament" is not an introduction to linguistics and New Testament interpretation. As the subtitle indicates, it is more broadly conceived: an introduction to linguistic and historical critical methodologies. Its emphasis on linguistics, particularly in part 3 ("Reading Synchronically"), however, cannot be understated, and it will provide a fresh approach to the text for many New Testament interpreters. Traditional methods of historical criticism are discussed in parts 4 ("Reading Diachronically") and 5 ("Reading Historically"). But Egger is not as interested in the methods themselves as he is in how their application informs a reading of the New Testament texts. Part 6, "Reading Hermeneutically," explores how the New Testament can continue to be relevant in the life of the church. This important volume integrates the fruit of historical criticism with the rewards of linguistic analysis. Egger s book does a magnificent job in introducing new approaches to the New Testament, as well as the classic approaches, and showing how they can and must be integrated for optimal understanding of the text. It should be the first choice of a textbook for introductory courses in New Testament. " Adela Yarbro Collins, Professor of New Testament in the Divinity School and Chair, Department of New Testament and Early Christian Literature, University of Chicago