Pioneers of the Trade: Famous Text-Critical Scholars

Dr. Larry Hurtado, Emeritus Professor of New Testament Language, Literature, and Theology at the University of Edinburgh, describes the early Christian use of codices, nomina sacra, and the staurogram.

Dr. Bill Warren, Director of The Center for New Testament Textual Studies, elaborated on the current state of textual criticism, especially related to the discovery of new manuscripts. He also shared how his Center for New Testament Textual Studies (CNTTS) is making contributions through their critical apparatus and other projects.

Dr. Tommy Wasserman, Academic Dean and Lecturer in New Testament Örebro School of Theology, describes how textual critics have used the Internet to accomplish their work, his work with the International Greek New Testament Project (IGNTP), and the Editio Critica Maior (ECM).

Peter J. Gurry, a PhD candidate in New Testament at the University of Cambridge, describes how the Coherence Based Genealogical Method (CBGM) is used to relate texts of the New Testament and determine their starting point.

Dr. Ekaterini Tsalampouni, Lecturer in New Testament at the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, describes her research on New Testament inscriptions, the Byzantine text, and how the digitization of New Testament manuscripts is revolutionizing the field of New Testament textual criticism.

Dr. Peter J. Williams, Warden of Tyndale House in Cambridge, describes the role his research institution plays in the work of textual criticism and how the Center for the Study of New Testament Manuscripts (CSNTM) is contributing to the field.

Westcott and Hort revolutionized the way textual criticism is done. The most recognized Greek New Testaments today, the UBS 5th edition and the Nestle-Aland 28th edition, are largely derived from their text-critical methodology. One of their major contributions was the dethronement of the Textus Receptus from its place of primacy as the authoritative Greek New Testament. Westcott and Hort showed that the Byzantine manuscripts, which served as its primary texts, were secondary, late, and inferior in nature to other available manuscripts available. Dr. Daniel B. Wallace of the Center for the Study of New Testament Manuscripts (CSNTM) gives a biographical account of these two famous text critics, Brooke Foss Westcott and Fenton John Anthony Hort.

The Textus Receptus (TR) is the Greek New Testament text edited by Erasmus of Rotterdam. This edition was the basis for the King James Bible, the Luther Bible, and other Reformation-era translations of the New Testament. In this video, Dr. Daniel B. Wallace from the Center for the Study of New Testament Manuscripts (CSNTM) walks the viewer through the history of the TR.

In 1929, Herman C. Hoskier published his complete collation of the book of Revelation. Dr. Daniel B. Wallace introduces the discipline of New Testament manuscript collation by telling this biographical account. New Testament manuscript collation is the notation of every variation between a given text and a standard base text. These noted differences allow scholars to build genealogical reconstructions of the transmission of manuscripts, leading, hopefully, to the original.

Bruce Metzger was one of the finest minds in New Testament studies in the twentieth century. Dr. Daniel B. Wallace celebrates his passing with a short tribute to Dr. Metzger that includes highlights from Dr. Metzger's career as well as two personal anecdotes from Dr. Wallace's experiences with this scholar's scholar.

A biographical piece about the life and times of one of the greatest New Testament scholars of the 20th century, Bruce Metzger. Rory Crowley discusses Dr. Metzger's tremendous academic pursuits, his unsurpassed character, and his positive impact upon those around him.