Friday, October 8, 2021

Introducing New Testament Textual Criticism

Can't wait to teach on textual criticism in our beginning Greek class this Monday night. We'll begin with a quiz over our textbook.


Then we'll look at the purpose, goals, history, materials, etc. of the art and science of textual criticism.


We also have to deal with the debate over methodology.


Finally, I am eager to walk my students through an example or two. I think I'll choose one from Matthew and one from John. 

For instance, did Jesus condemn all anger or only "causeless" anger? Big question! 

I so wish you could join us. Call me crazy, but I don't think the subject is that hard. And yes, I still believe that the goal of textual criticism is the recovery of the original text. A good friend of mine agrees. 

You can check out Abidan's book here. I'm not going to blog in-depth about this right now. But I feel it's our duty as Bible readers to be at least familiar with this subject. I love that we have an embarrassment of riches when it comes to New Testament textual criticism. This is a provision from the Lord. In that light, how can we afford to be apathetic about the topic?