THE TEXT OF THE
NEW TESTAMENT
Its Transmission, Corruption, and
Restoration
BY
BRUCE M. METZGER
Professor of New Testament Language and Literature
Princeton Theological Seminary
SECOND EDITION
OXFORD
AT THE CLARENDON PRESSPreface to the Second Edition
publication of this book in 1964, a great amount of
textual research has continued to come from the presses
in both Europe and America. References to some of these
publications were included in the German translation of the
volume issued in 1966 under the title Der Text des Neuen Test-
aments; Einfiihrung in die neutestamentliche Textkritik (Kohlhammer
Verlag, Stuttgart). The second printing of the English edition
provides opportunity to introduce a variety of small alterations
throughout the volume as well as to include references to more
than one hundred and fifty books and articles dealing with
Greek manuscripts, early versions, and textual studies of recently
discovered witnesses to the text of the New Testament. In
order not to disturb the pagination, most of the new material
has been placed at the close of the book (pp. 261~73), to which
the reader’s attention is directed by appropriate cross references.
De the four years that have elapsed since the initial
BRUCE M. METZGER
February 1968"
Preface
the New Testament arises from two circumstances: (a) none
of the original documents is extant, and (6) the existing
copies differ from one another. The textual critic seeks to ascer-
tain from the divergent copies which form of the text should
be regarded as most nearly conforming to the original. In some
cases the evidence will be found to be so evenly divided that it
is extremely difficult to decide between two variant readings.
In other instances, however, the critic can arrive at a decision
based on more or less compelling reasons for preferring one
reading and rejecting another.
It is the purpose of this book to supply the student with
information concerning both the science and the art of textual
Te necessity of applying textual criticism to the books ofPreface
criticism as applied to the New Testament. The science of
textual criticism deals with (a) the making and transmission of
ancient manuscripts, (6) the description of the most important
witnesses to the New Testament text, and (c) the history of the
textual criticism of the New Testament as reflected in the succes-
sion of printed editions of the Greek Testament. The art of
textual criticism refers to the application of reasoned considera-
tions in choosing among variant readings. The results of the
practice of textual criticism have differed from one generation to
another, partly because the balance in the quantity and the
quality of witnesses available has gradually altered owing to
the acquisition of additional manuscripts, and partly because
theories and procedures of evaluating textual evidence have
varied over the years. In Part Three of the volume the author has
attempted to provide a succinct account of the several schools
of textual methodology, indicating at the same time what in his
view is the most satisfactory critical procedure for beginners
to follow.
The author gratefully acknowledges the courtesy of the
following for granting permission to reproduce specimen folios
and diagrams of manuscripts: Bibliothéque Bodmer, the Bod-
leian Library, the British Museum, the Cambridge University
Press, Dr. W. H. P. Hatch, Macmillan & Co., Ltd., and the
Speer Library of Princeton Theological Seminary.
Finally, I should like to express my gratitude to the Delegates
of the Oxford University Press for their acceptance of my book
for publication. I am also indebted to the readers of the Press
for their customary care and painstaking vigilance in the read-
ing of the proofs.
BRUCE M. METZGER
Princeton, New Fersey
August 1963
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