A Bounty of Text Critical Reviews in the Latest NovT

Roughly the number of books
J. K. Elliott reviews in a year.

Here is a list of what is reviewed in the latest issue of Novum Testamentum with some snippets that caught my eye. All but one of these are reviewed by J. K. Elliott with his characteristic flare for spotting misstatements and typos.

(In the spirit of the latter, I might mention that the ECM for the Catholic Epistles does not restrict itself to manuscripts from before A.D. 1000 as claimed on p. 420. Rather it gives evidence for the transmission history up to A.D. 1000 but it does so using many manuscripts from well after that cut off.)

Anyway, enjoy!

Marcus Sigismund, Martin Karrer and Ulrich Schmid (eds.) Studien zum Text der Apokalypse (Berlin and Boston: de Gruyter, 2015)

This rich array of well-documented facts and figures in the volume makes it a worthy research tool to sit along other long-lasting volumes in this prestige series. We congratulate Martin Karrer, his Mitarbeiter and other colleagues for their steadfast progress towards the goal of publishing the definitive 21st-century edition of Revelation.

J.K. Elliott, A Bibliography of Greek New Testament Manuscripts. Third Edition. Supplements to Novum Testamentum 160.

Information about manuscript families is missing from the third edition. There are no longer cross-references to 07 or 041 for manuscripts which are treated in studies of Family E or Family Π. Even though Family 1 and Family 13 have separate entries at the beginning of the section on Minuscules, the list of members is now absent: similarly, the indication has been dropped from the entries for manuscripts such as 118, 131, 205 and 209 that they also feature in publications on the whole family. No doubt this can quickly be put right in the electronic version, but those who prefer printed books will once again have to return to the second edition.

Opera Omnia Desiderii Erasmi (3 volumes)

Anthony J. Forte (ed.), Vetus Latina 11/2 Pars altera Fascicle 1: Sir. 25.1-28.24

Jean-Claude Haelewyck (ed), Vetus Latina: Evangelium secundum Marcum Fascicule 3 Mc 1.44sic—4.15 (Freiburg: Herder, 2014); Fascicule 4 Mc 4.15-6.16 (Freiburg: Herder, 2015); Fascicule 3 Mc 6,17sic-8,11 (Freiburg: Herder, 2015)

Dieter T. Roth, The Text of Marcion’s Gospel (Leiden: Brill, 2015)

Stephen C. Carlson, The Text of Galatians and its History (Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 2015)

It is sobering to see that there are only twelve differences from the eclectic text of Nestle (here the 27th. edition is used), half of which are declared insignificant (see for instance p. 251 αχρις/ μεχρις at Gal 4:19) and of the others only three are declared “significant” (pp. 250f.) i.e. at Gal 1: 10-11; 2:12, 20. Full and important discussions of the significant changes are found e.g. 2: 20 on pp. 96-101. And it is in those analyses where this book is readily comprehended as a textual commentary; most variants receive detailed and wise discussion. In that sense I shall use this book as an expanded Metzger, Commentary on Galatians...

Carla Falluomini, The Gothic Version of the Gospels and Pauline Epistles: Cultural Background, Transmission and Character (Berlin and Boston: de Gruyter, 2015)

Nicolas P. Lunn, The Original Ending of Mark: A New Case for the Authenticity of Mark 16: 9-20 (Cambridge: James Clarke, 2015)

But like a politician, Lunn skilfully evades many thorny problems. For instance he skates over or undervalues those versions, such as the Georgian, early Latin, Sahidic, Armenian etc., whose ending of Mark at 16:8 is not fully investigated. He fails to do justice to the cumulative effect of all the differing endings to Mark in various manuscripts and the obeli, asterisks, marginalia etc. in certain manuscripts that warn against the character of an addition.

David Alan Black and Jacob N. Cerone (eds.), The Pericope of the Adulteress in Contemporary Research (London: Bloomsbury T&T Clark, 2016)

The arguments relating to language, literary concerns and to theology and exegesis, as thrashed out in these essays, will make it an indispensable source book for the inevitable on-going interest in the PA.

Brice C. Jones, New Testament Texts on Greek Amulets from Late Antiquity (London: Bloomsbury T&T Clark, 2016)

In an expensive series where all-too-often we see an excess of bland and indiscriminate theses on obscure topics, it is splendid to be able to commend another volume that lifts it from the expected troughs. Jones’ work is familiar to many of us, thanks to his blog and other writings; his is a name we can expect to see regularly in the limelight.

Three volumes of Emanuel Tov’s Kleine Schriften.

With the third volume of his collected essays just published, it is time to commend the consistent clarity of his writing, the rigour of his scholarly research and the general interest he has generated through his articles.

Lincoln H. Blumell and Thomas A. Wayment (eds.), Christian Oxyrhynchus: Texts, Documents and Sources (Waco: Baylor Press, 2015)

The relatively cheap cost of the volume is remarkable, especially if the editors had to pay fees to the original publishers for permissions to reproduce the bulk of the original contents. Those earlier publications have, inevitably, been mined not only for the texts themselves but for much of the descriptive introductory matter.

Martin Wallraff, Silvana Seidel Menchi and Kaspar von Greyerz (eds.), Basel 1516: Erasmus’ Edition of the New Testament (Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 2016)

What we have here are major and authoritative essays on many aspects of Erasmus’ work, his background, influence and environment.

Marijke H. de Lang (ed.), “Fidelius, apertius, significantius”: The New Testament Translated and Edited by Erasmus of Rotterdam, 1516 in The Bible Translator 67 (April, 2016) (London: Sage Publications, 2016)

Topics cover the significance of Erasmus’ edition 500 years on, its aims and methodology, the disputed Johannine Comma (i.e. 1 John 5:7-8) and the influence of the edition on two significant countries, Spain and the Netherlands. The coherence of this little volume and its timely publication are to the credit of the editors of this valued journal.

The Greek-English New Testament: UBS Fifth Revised Edition and New International Version (Stuttgart: Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft and Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2015)

Those needing a crutch to help read the New Testament in Greek should find this translation, clunky and wooden though it sometimes be, adequate for most purposes. The UBS apparatus is retained but its rich contents are not explained on the English pages—the result is that the bottoms of many of its pages are left blank. 

Also, Brent Nongbri has an article on The Construction of P.Bodmer VIII and the Bodmer “Composite” or “Miscellaneous” Codex.