HOW WE GOT THE NEW TESTAMENT: Text, Transmission, Translation

About the Author

Stanley E. Porter (PhD, University of Sheffield) is president, dean, and professor of New Testament at McMaster Divinity College in Hamilton, Ontario. He has authored or edited dozens of books, including Fundamentals of New Testament Greek. He is also editor of the Library of Pauline Studies series.

 

Overview

Stanley Porter surveys the origin of the New Testament by looking at its text, transmission, and translation. The first section covers some of the history and theory of textual criticism including the history of printed Greek texts as well as the controversial views of Bart Ehrman. He also makes a unique case for using a manuscript rather than an eclectic text of the New Testament. In discussing transmission, Porter focuses on the history of the ancient Greek documents themselves and how they were gathered together. He then brings together text and transmission in the unifying theme of the translation of the New Testament, particularly by looking at translation theory.

 

Table of Contents

Introduction
1 The Text of the New Testament
     Is There a Text of the Greek New Testament? Or, What Is the Goal of Textual
     Criticism?
     The History of the Printed Greek Text of the New Testament
     Bart Ehrman and Misquoting Jesus
     Eclectic or Single Manuscript?
     Conclusion
2 The Transmission of the New Testament
     Introduction
     The Manuscripts of the Greek New Testament
     A Reconstructed History of the Transmission of the Greek
          New Testament before the Major Codexes
     The Major Codexes
     Minuscules and Lectionaries
     A Proposal regarding Textual Transmission of the Greek New Testament
     Conclusion
3 The Translation of the New Testament
     Introduction
     The History of Translation of the New Testament
     Major Issues in Translation of the New Testament
     Conclusion
Conclusion

Summary

Chapter 1. The Text of the New Testament

Is There a Text of the Greek New Testament? Or, What Is the Goal of Textual Criticism?

Porter begins his study by stressing the centrality of the Greek NT for everything people do with the NT. One has to start there. But then, of course, one must ask which Greek NT as we have so many copies with various differences. It is the task of textual criticism to answer this question and, so far as is possible, establish the original text “as it came from the hand of the author,” via a comparison of all extant manuscripts and ancient translations…

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