Some forthcoming works

I list below some new/forthcoming books on/possibly relevant to NT textual criticism I noticed recently. The summaries are copied from the linked pages. Not listed here is the ECM of Mark, which is allegedly going to be published in "late 2020 or early 2021". Also not listed here is anything I didn't come across in my not-remotely-exhaustive search.

Castelli, Silvia. Johann Jakob Wettstein’s Principles for New Testament Textual Criticism: A Fight for Scholarly Freedom. NTTSD. Leiden: Brill, 22 October 2020.

In Johann Jakob Wettstein's Principles for New Testament Textual Criticism Silvia Castelli investigates the genesis, development, and legacy of Wettstein’s criteria for evaluating New Testament variant readings. Wettstein’s guidelines, the Animadversiones et cautiones, are the first well-organized essay on New Testament text-critical methodology, first published in the Prolegomena to his New Testament in 1730 and republished with some changes in 1752. In his essay, Wettstein presents a new text-critical method based on the manuscripts’ evidence and on the critic’s judgment. Moving away from the authority invested in established printed editions, Wettstein’s methodology thus effectively promotes and enhances intellectual freedom. The second part of this volume offers a critical text and an annotated English translation of Wettstein’s text-critical principles.

Epp, Eldon Jay. Perspectives on New Testament Textual Criticism, Volume 2: Collected Essays, 2006–2017. NovTSupp. Leiden: Brill, 23 December 2020.

Eldon Jay Epp’s second volume of collected essays consists of articles previously published during 2006-2017. All treat aspects of the New Testament textual criticism, but focus on historical and methodological issues relevant to constructing the earliest attainable text of the New Testament writings.

More specific emphasis falls upon the nature of textual transmission and the text-critical process, and heavily on the criteria employed in establishing that earliest available text. Moreover, textual grouping is examined at length, and prominent is the current approach to textual variants not approved for the constructed text, for they have stories tell regarding theological, ethical, and real-life issues as the early Christian churches sought to work out their own status, practices, and destiny.

Erasmus, Desiderius. The Correspondence of Erasmus: Letters 2803 to 2939. Edited by James M. Estes. Translated by Clarence Miller. Collected Works of Erasmus. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 23 June 2020 (but apparently not yet available at least through institutional e-access).

The thirteen months covered in this volume reveal the decline of Erasmus' health and the creation of his most famous work, On Preparing for Death.

Fee, Gordon. Bodmer Papyri, Scribal Culture, and Textual Transmission: Collected Works on New Testament Textual Criticism. Edited by Eldon Jay Epp. NTTSD. Leiden: Brill, 23 December 2020.

Bodmer Papyri, Scribal Culture, and Textual Transmission presents a collection of Gordon Fee’s seminal works on New Testament textual criticism. His meticulous and thorough examination of New Testament papyrus Bodmer P66 (1968) insightfully describes its textual character and significant relationship to P75 and other early manuscripts. P66 and P75, among our most important and earliest papyri, were published only a half-dozen years before Fee’s volume, which has been heavily used and influential ever since. Prominent is his discovery of scribal activity in P66 that tended to correct its text toward the Byzantine. Fee’s ten successive, often quoted articles contribute substantially to our understanding of textual transmission and text-critical methodology, with an emphasis also on patristic citations. Completed with ample bibliographical resources, this volume is an indispensable resource for future research.

Distinguished book reviewers wrote about Fee (1968): “full scale study” (Kilpatrick); “definitive analysis” (Metzger); “a most valuable work, ... which greatly advances the discipline of textual criticism in knowledge and method” (Birdsall).

Karrer, Martin, ed. Der Codex Reuchlins zur Apokalypse: Byzanz – Basler Konzil – Erasmus. Manuscripta Biblica. Berlin: De Gruyter, 30 September 2020.

Seldom does a manuscript provide such insight to the apocalypse as the Reuchlin Codex. It was written in the 12th century, prior to the fall of Byzantium, it was adorned with very detailed marginalia. Around 1435, the manuscript was purchased for the Council of Basel. Since that time, Latin annotators, including Reuchlin, have added their comments. A team led by Erasmus used it as the basis for the Greek text of the Apocalypse in the modern era.

Also, just published:

Stevens, Chris S. History of the Pauline Corpus in Texts, Transmissions and Trajectories: A Textual Analysis of Manuscripts from the Second to the Fifth Century. TENTS. Leiden: Brill, 2020.

In History of the Pauline Corpus in Texts, Transmissions, and Trajectories, Chris S. Stevens examines the Greek manuscripts of the Pauline texts from P46 to Claromontanus. Previous research is often hindered by the lack of a systematic analysis and an indelicate linguistic methodology. This book offers an entirely new analysis of the early life of the Pauline corpus. Departing from traditional approaches, this text-critical work is the first to use Systemic Functional Linguistics, which enables both the comparison and ranking of textual differences across multiple manuscripts. Furthermore, the analysis is synchronically oriented, so it is non-evaluative. The results indicate a highly uniform textual transmission during the early centuries. The systematic analysis challenges previous research regarding text types, Christological scribal alterations, and textual trajectories.