The Quest for the Original Text of the New Testament [Paperback]

Philip W. Comfort (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 1992

An examination of the accuracy of New Testament manuscripts that challenges the modern view that early copyists were careless and took editorial liberties. Comfort assures Christians that finding the very manuscripts signed by Paul's hand would not change modern understandings of what he said.

Product Details

• Paperback: 200 pages
• Publisher: Baker Pub Group (September 1992)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0801025664
• ISBN-13: 978-0801025662
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 5.4 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #4,509,971 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Jason Driesbach holds degrees from Cedarville University and Dallas Theological Seminary and is an independent editor and lifelong student of the ancient Near East with a special interest in Hebrew Bible and Septuagint studies. He has taught in numerous churches and is an editor for the Cornerstone Biblical Commentary series. He enjoys spending time with his wife and children, being outdoors, and playing the guitar.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

18 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars favors the theory of a 4th century recension, June 9, 2000

By 

"shofar" - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Quest for the Original Text of the New Testament (Paperback)

This is a scolarly presentation of the viewpoint that a recension took place in the fourth century produced by Lucian of Antioch which incorporated hundreds (if not thousands) of textual changes in the New Testament. It is the author's opinion that the Majority Text, or Textus Receptus, is made up basically of 5th through 14th century copies of this recension, and therefore the text does not represent the original wording of the Greek New Testament. The author argues that the concept that the church loses the original Word of God and then recovers it falls in line with the biblical concept of recovery.

This thesis is, of course, contrary to that of the proponents of the Majority Text, who believe that God has always preserved a true rendering of his Word throughout the entire church age. Majority Text proponents feel that there is either not enough evidence to support the idea of a fourth century recension, or they feel that thousands of manuscripts should not be summarily dismissed as evidence simply on the grounds that some (or many) believe there was a fourth century recension.

The author argues for the superiority of the Alexandrian text over the Lucian text and feels that those older (Alexandrian) manuscripts be given more weight than the erroneous, though more numerous, majority Text manuscripts.

The author's viewpoint is well argued and although a knowledge of Greek would be definitely advantageous to a study of this book, its main points can be easily understood even with no language background. Recommended reading.

3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Both extremes hate it, it must be good!, November 25, 2009

By 

Peter Chen "SimpleQuestions" (CA, USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Quest for the Original Text of the New Testament (Paperback)

Wow, you get extrema comments coming from the far left of the Bart Ehrman kind of side who can't recover ANY historical text at all; and the far right who has his KJV (maybe only the English) from the TR created from a late handful of MSS by a Roman Catholic trying to prove his Latin is better than Jerome's Vulgate, that says a lot to me.

Because both are in agreement to reject Philip Comfort's book, it must be a really good book! When it is hated by the extremes of both sides of error, I think that says a lot as to how good the book is.

In fact, though I don't have this one yet, I have many/most of his books, and have greatly enjoyed all of them. I am very sure I would like this one as well. Philip Comfort has had the respect and endorsement of many scholars in this area of study: Metzger, Allan, Bruce, Fee, Wallace, White, etc. I have read his books and thoroughly enjoy them.

5 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Not to be trusted, July 2, 2007

By 

Edward F. Morrow "Ed Morrow" (Carmel Valley, CA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Quest for the Original Text of the New Testament (Paperback)

The most incisive review of this book was written by William L. Petersen in the Autumn 1994 issue of the Journal of Biblical Literature (Vol. 113, No. 3.). Quoting the last paragraph of the review:

"In short, Comfort's acquaintance with both the literature of textual criticism and

its issues is utterly inadequate. Time and again he speaks of "believing" (pp. 9,20, 37).

One can see why. This book, with its Abfall Theorie of textual origins (a view as

discredited in textual matters as it is in issues of church history), serves as an example

of a particular genre of pseudo-scholarship, which finds its way into certain schools

and churches and then into students. This is unfortunate, for the unlearning of this

volume's half-truths and outright untruths will be a painful experience for the student

and an unwarranted waste of time for the professor. The publisher and external reviewers

are to be rebuked for allowing such nonsense into print."

Petersen was Professor of New Testament and Christian Origins in the Religious Studies Program at Penn State University. He was a widely respected scholar and authority in this area.

Reader beware!!