What are the most essential works you should read if you want to get acquainted with the field of New Testament textual criticism? I have compiled a general bibliography and marked the top ten with asterisks. What are your proposals?
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Introductions and surveys
- *Aland, Kurt, and Barbara Aland. The Text of the New Testament. 2nd ed. Transl. by Errol F. Rhodes. Grand Rapids, Mich./Leiden: Eerdmans/Brill, 1989.
- Black, David Alan ed. Rethinking New Testament Textual Criticism. Grand Rapids, Mich.: Baker, 2002.
- Crawford, Sidney White, and Tommy Wasserman, eds. The Oxford Handbook on Textual Criticism of the Bible. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2025.
- *Ehrman, Bart D., Michael W. Holmes, and Bruce M. Metzger, eds. The Text of the New Testament in Contemporary Research. Essays on the Status Quaestionis. SD 46. Grand Rapids, Mich.: Eerdmans, 1995. [An excellent overview of the field; a second edition came out in 2012, which is a must read.]
- Ehrman, Bart D. The Orthodox Corruption of Scripture: The Effect of Early Christological Controversies on the Text of the New Testament. 2d ed. New York: Oxford University Press, 2011. [Important and controversial.]
- *Epp, Eldon J., and Gordon D. Fee. Studies in the Theory and Method of New Testament Textual Criticism. SD 45. Grand Rapids, Mich.: Eerdmans, 1993.
- Hull, Robert F. The Story of the New Testament Text: Movers, Materials, Motives, Methods, and Models. Atlanta: Society of Biblical Literature, 2010.
- Metzger, Bruce M. and Ehrman, Bart D. The Text of the New Testament. Its Transmission, Corruption, and Restoration. 4rd ed. New York/Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2005. [The third edition is better in many respects; see review by D. C. Parker in JTS.]
- Parker, D. C. An Introduction to the New Testament Manuscripts and Their Texts. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2008. [This is a rather technical book, part of which could fit in the two categories below; it is very useful for more advanced readers, e.g., PhD students who want to know the resources for manuscript work; note that it is primarily focused on New Testament manuscripts, as the title says, and less on the practice of New Testament textual criticism]
- Parker, D. C. The Living Text of the Gospels. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1997.
- *Quarles, Charles, New Testament Textual Criticism for the 21st Century: A Practical Guide. Peabody: Hendrickson, 2025.
- Westcott, B. F., and F. J. A. Hort. Introduction to the New Testament in the Original Greek. Reprinted from the edition by Harper & Brothers, New York, 1882. Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson, 1988. [A classic groundbreaking work laying the foundation for textual criticism in the following century and beyond.]