Kreinecker – Image: Codex Bezae, Matthew 14:15-26.

Parker OBE, retired Edward Cadbury Professor at the University of Birmingham as well as founder and director of the Institute for Textual Scholarship and Electronic Editing (ITSEE) until 2017, a “five star chef” of Textual Criticism who once said that “while you can eat without being a textual critic, the reverse is not possible” (Parker 2012: 31) – Christina M.

All text-critical “courses” are prepared and provided by David C. The following “banquet” of books has been compiled with the intention to offer the reader a gradual guide into the fascinating depths of studying manuscripts. Therefore, it is time to have a “text-critical banquet” of five “must-reads” to celebrate the thriving research of New Testament manuscripts and to have a closer look at the basics, specialties and implications of Textual Criticism. From studying the text and history of individual codices of varying languages to critically editing the New Testament to investigating the transmission and interpretation of the biblical text over centuries – the tasks of textual critics are manifold. At the same time the discipline is as broad as it ever has been. Yet the discipline has undergone dramatic changes over the last couple of decades: new digital technology, new methodologies, new findings, and a re-discovered awareness of manuscripts as artefacts have brought new possibilities and new challenges.

As such it has sometimes been discredited as dusty and inaccessible for newcomers to the field, as it requires philological skills and an eye for details. New Testament Textual Criticism, which is the study of manuscripts and their texts, is the oldest critical method for studying the Bible. Must-reads offers food for thought and recommends further reading in the guise of non-exhaustive lists with brief comments on books on a specific topic.

Textual criticism