Both of the authors of this book have taught Greek language and exegesis for a number of years — one of them over the course of a career of twenty-five years at undergraduate, seminary, and graduate levels. One consistent challenge to us as we have selected textbooks for these classes is the lack of a book that addresses the fundamentals of New Testament textual criticism and important related issues that is neither too advanced nor too elementary. In other words, we have written this distinctly midlevel textbook on New Testament textual criticism for interested and serious students and with recent scholarly discussion in pertinent areas in mind. Books like Bruce Metzger’s classic, The Text of the New Testament (4th ed., rev. Bart D. Ehrman; Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2005 [1964]), and Kurt and Barbara Aland’s Text of the New Testament (2nd ed.; Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1989), or more recently David Parker’s Introduction to the New Testament Manuscripts and Their Texts (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2008), while all very helpful, are far too detailed for the first-year or second-year Greek student. At the same time, books like David Alan Black’s New Testament Textual Criticism: A Concise Guide (Grand Rapids: Baker, 1994) or J. Harold Greenlee’s Introduction to New Testament Textual Criticism (rev. ed., 1993; repr. Peabody: Hendrickson, 1995) seem too abbreviated to us, not providing enough detailed information or exposure to major issues for the student. Paul Wegner’s Textual Criticism of the Bible (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 2006) in some ways improves upon these but, probably due to its focus upon both Testaments, leaves many areas in New Testament textual criticism untouched. Not only were the textbooks with which we were familiar either too detailed or too abbreviated, but we observed no midlevel textbooks that introduced students to the main debates within textual criticism and addressed issues such as canon and translation theory, discussions that we like to include in our first- and second-year Greek courses (especially for first-year students in a seminary context).
Out of a desire to use a book that captures these many elements for our first- and second-year Greek students, this book was born. It is intended for students who are in the process of studying or have had at least one year of New Testament Greek or its equivalent (e.g., Classical Greek) and desire to begin learning the principles of Greek exegesis, and specifically textual criticism. This book has been written to function as an excellent companion for Stanley Porter, Jeffrey Reed, and Matthew Brook O’Donnell’s Fundamentals of New Testament Greek (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2010) and, when it appears, an intermediate grammar of New Testament Greek by Stanley Porter, Christopher Land, and Andrew Pitts, all in the same series from Eerdmans. This is all designed to be part of a coordinated Greek study curriculum, with attention to learning the language and learning about the text of that language. We are also in the process of developing a book on exegesis and interpretation to help round out the curriculum. We hope that this book on the fundamentals of textual criticism might also stand on its own for someone who desires to learn New Testament textual criticism apart from a classroom context (and has ideally had at least some prior instruction in New Testament Greek or its equivalent, or is ambitious!).
Teachers should especially note a few features of this book. First, at the end of each chapter a list of key vocabulary is included with definitions directly following the emboldened text within the chapter itself. These key words can serve as quiz material since they are intended to incorporate the central concepts and technical terminology found within each lesson. Second, each chapter also includes a select bibliography of our sources. These bibliographies are also intended to provide students with a starting point for research papers or text-critical exercises related to any of the given chapters. Third, and finally, an appendix introduces students to the tools of textual criticism and could provide a great opportunity to discuss how these tools could be used by the students in a future classroom or ministry setting.