Customer Reviews

New Testament Textual Criticism: A Concise Guide

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

What is textual criticism? Why is it necessary? How should it be done? At eighty pages (of large type), Black's introduction to New Testament textual criticism can be read in a single sitting and provides answers to these questions.

Black introduces the reader (any reader) to the various manuscripts underlying the New Testament and presents the different perspectives on textual criticism. As stated in the preface, "this volume attempts to make the findings of scholarship accessible to a wide readership. Nothing in this book is taken for granted. Every term, every problem, is explained clearly, concisely, and 'from scratch'." I certainly found this to be true. The first two chapters discuss the need for textual criticism and the different approaches to the task. The final chapter provides a few examples to help the reader understand some of the issues faced by textual critics as they try to determine the original Greek text behind the New Testament. The bibliography gives you a number of additional reading suggestions to move beyond "A Concise Guide".

If you are simply a lay person as I am, reading this book will allow you to have a better understanding of why some Bibles occassionally offer footnotes containing alternate translations. Black's book will also give you a better understanding of the history behind the New Testament scriptures and how they have been preserved from the apostles' time to our own. If there is a drawback to the book, it would probably be that you may find the price to be a bit high for such a short book.

If you don't want to go any further than an introductory understanding of textual criticism, then this is probably a great book for you. (The author also suggests that it could be useful as a "refresher" for those already familiar with textual criticism.) If you are looking to get involved in a more thorough understanding of the debated approaches to textual criticism, there are likely other books out there that would better satisfy that desire - though they are probably not concise introductions.

New Testament Textual Criticism: A Concise Guide, written by David Alan Black, is indeed what the title details. Written compactly and with little frivolous information, David Black gives not only the experienced, but also the novice greek student a solid foundation upon which to base a practice of textual criticism. A unique feature in this remarkably short work, the material given is contained as much in appendixed form and bibliographical information as in traditional text. A wonderful guide for further scholarship, the author entices the reader to further explore the original text of the New Testament.

If you want to get a very basic idea of how the New Testament translators and scholars do their job, this is the perfect book. It is brief and very clear and gives you a great picture of what goes on behind the text of whatever translation you use. It explains how the original Greek text is put together, agreed (or disagreed upon) and what kind of discussions are still going on. It also gives some pointers if you want to start doing some textual criticism of your own. Instead of dumping information on you to make you feel stupid and never want to learn more again, it gets your feet wet just enough as to want to try it on your own. A great resource to start with. It also recommends some great resources for further reading which will be useful if you decide to do more.

Few Christians realize the extent to which they are dependent on the discipline of textual criticism (TC) when they are reading their English Bibles. The world of TC goes largely unnoticed by those in the Church, but it truly is a valuable field that should be studied, to one degree or another, by any serious student of the Word. Before discussing Black's book any further, allow me to put forth the definition of TC he gives in the beginning of his book since it will provide you immediately with the reason why this discipline is to be cherished so highly.

"The importance of New Testament textual criticism is best seen in its purpose: to recover the original text of the New Testament from the available evidence." (12)

Dave states at the outset that his goal in writing this book is not to produce a comprehensive treatment of this subject but rather "to make the findings of scholarship accessible to a wide readership." (8) (In essence, I believe that this is what Dave has tried to do in so many of his works, making them a valuable resource for any Christian just starting on their journey towards a better understanding of the Bible.) This being the case, the book, weighing in at only seventy pages, is short enough to read in a couple of sittings. Nevertheless, it is structured in such a way that it touches on all of the major points of TC necessary to inform and peak the interest of the reader to continue pursuing studies in this fascinating discipline.

Dave begins by discussing the sources for evidence that are used in TC: Greek manuscripts, ancient versions, and the Patristic witnesses. Since there are no original manuscripts of the NT in existence, it is necessary to examine these documents and draw wise and plausible conclusions as to what the autographs actually contained.

The Greek manuscripts include papyri, codices, and lectionaries. The papyri, mostly unearthed in the dry sands of Egypt, are relatively limited in their scope of witness but contain valuable information concerning what was possibly the earliest reading and contents of a book. The papyri date from approximately the end of the first century (the John Rylands fragment from John 18) to the seventh century. Every NT book is attested to by one or more papyrus fragments. Codices more closely resemble the form of a book that we are more familiar with, but they date slightly later than papyri. Our earliest Greek manuscript that contains all of the NT is Codex Sinaiticus from the fourth century. Lectionaries are early liturgical writings that contain portions of scripture that were used during services.

Black brings up the common assumption that no crucial doctrine of the faith is affected by textual criticism. While this may be true to a certain extent, there are passages that attest to certain doctrinal tenets that include significant variants. What Black does remind us of though, is not that no doctrine gets touched by variants, but rather no doctrine rests on a single passage of scripture that contains a significant variant. For example 1 John 5:6,7 contain a marvelous attestation to the Trinity, but only in the most dubious of manuscripts do we actually find this text. Are we truly at a loss without this passage? Does our entire doctrine of Trinity collapse under us when this passage is removed? Absolutely not! No central doctrine is ever built on a single passage. This is very important to keep in mind.

The book then briefly examines three historical eras of methodology, beginning with the early centuries, moving to the middle ages, and then lastly looking at how TC is done in the modern era. I found it particularly fascinating that there is good reason to believe that most of the major variants that are present with us today came into existence within the first three hundred years of the Christian faith before the NT was officially canonized. (28)

Black outlines the major methodological viewpoints that exist today amongst text critics breaking them into four groups that do have some grey edges, but are representative on the whole. They are as follows:

Radical Eclecticism: Only the internal evidence (exegetical evidence) is useful in determining the proper reading. All text-types are fair game.

Reasoned Eclecticism: All text-types are fair game (though emphasis is often given to the Alexandrian text-type) and both the external and internal evidence are valuable.

Reasoned Conservatism: All text-types are fair game (though emphasis is often given to the Byzantine text-type) and both the external and internal evidence are valuable.

Radical Conservatism: Only the Byzantine tradition is followed. This is the underlying tradition followed by the KJV and the NKJV.

Black concludes the book with an outline of how proper TC can be on one's own. He includes several fascinating examples of Scripture that include significant variants and takes the reader through them, carefully outlining how the proper methods of TC can be applied in each passage. I particularly valued the objectivity Dave brought to each passage. If I could say where I think he might fall in the spectrum given above, I would probably say somewhere in between Reasoned Eclecticism and Reasoned Conservatism. This chapter was certainly worth the price of the book.

I have nothing negative to say about this book at all and would recommend it to all serious students of the Biblical text.

This review was written and published at [...]

This first thing about this book is that it is really short! I read it in a day while riding the subway. The author gives a very concise overview of just about everything that goes into textual criticism of Biblical texts and does his best to give unbiased explanations.
I particularly like his emphasis on the important role of textual criticism in interpreting the Bible (that's the whole reason for me getting into it in the first place). Anyone who is teaching the Bible to others needs to know why the Bible translation they use says what it does should be aware of the variants in whatever passages they are teaching, in order to come to their own conclusions about which reading is the best.
What's also nice is that the 3rd (and last) chapter gives the reader the opportunity to see textual criticism at work with a few examples from the New Testament. I was overjoyed to see that the author didn't just blindly follow the UBS/Nestle-Aland decisions for which texts to use, but gave valid reasons to support different variants if suitable. This is particularly refreshing in a world where the church at large seems to take at face value anything from the Alands, Fee, Metzger, and the rest of that camp without questioning their decisions in selecting certain texts over others. The appendices are very helpful for future study and the bibliography provides the reader with the next steps for anyone who wants to go deeper.
My only complaint is that book was a bit pricey considering how small it is and the large font used. It's a very easy read for those who aren't scholarly inclined and can also serve as a "reality check" to bring back to basics those who have gotten themselves buried too deep in scholarly wonderland.