Thursday, November 10, 2022

Forthcoming Book on Textual Criticism

This morning I had breakfast with Abidan Shah of Clearview Church in Henderson. We have now received the chapters from everyone who participated in the 2022 Clearview Apologetics Conference a couple of months ago and we intend to publish them in a book we are calling Can We Recover the "Original Text" of the New Testament? We have a well-known publisher in mind who we think will be interested in the book. Abidan will write the introduction to the volume, followed by three chapters dealing with three major approaches to New Testament textual criticism:

  • Reasoned Eclecticism
  • Byzantine Priority
  • Sturzian Method

Here are the authors and their chapter titles:

  • Peter J. Gurry, "Reasoned Eclecticism and the Original Text"
  • Maurice A. Robinson, "A Byzantine-Priority Perspective Regarding the Recognition of Autograph Originality"
  • David Alan Black, "A Sturzian Solution to the Problem of 'Original Text' as Illustrated by Eph. 1:1, Matt. 5:22, and John 3:13"

It has been an honor for all of us to work together on this project and in so many other ways both in and beyond our normal teaching duties. The present state of New Testament textual criticism does not suggest that a satisfactory synthesis of approaches will soon be attained, but it does show that students of the New Testament must be prepared to deep deeper than ever before. 

Stay tuned for more details as they become available.