Novum Testamentum Graece

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Novum Testamentum Graece is the Latin name of the Greek-language version of the New Testament. The first printed edition was the Complutensian Polyglot Bible by Cardinal Francisco Jiménez de Cisneros, printed in 1514, but not published until 1520. The first published Greek New Testament was produced by Erasmus in 1516.

Today the designation Novum Testamentum Graece normally refers to the Nestle-Aland editions, named after the scholars who led the critical editing work. The text, edited by the Institut für neutestamentliche Textforschung (Institute for New Testament Textual Research) is currently in its 27th edition, abbreviated NA27. NA27 is used as the basis of most contemporary New Testament translations, as well as being the standard for academic work in New Testament studies.

Methodology

The Greek text as presented is what biblical scholars refer to as the "critical text". The critical text is an eclectic text compiled by a committee that examines a large number of manuscripts in order to weigh which reading is thought closest to the original. They use a number of factors to help determine probable readings, such as the date of the witness (earlier is usually better), the geographical distribution of a reading, and accidental or intentional corruptions. In the book, a large number of textual variants, or differences between manuscripts, are noted in the critical apparatus—the extensive footnotes that distinguish the Novum Testamentum Graece from other Greek New Testaments.

Most scholars view uncial text as the most accurate; however, a few authors (such as New Testament scholar Maurice A. Robinson<ref>Robinson, Maurice A. and William G. Pierpont (2005). The New Testament in the Original Greek: Byzantine Textform. Southborough: Chilton.</ref> and linguist Wilbur Pickering<ref> Pickering, Wilbur (1977). The Identity of the New Testament Text. Nashville: Nelson.</ref>) claim that the minuscule texts (Byzantine text-type) more accurately reflect the "autographs" or original texts than an eclectic text like NA27 that relies heavily on manuscripts of the Alexandrian text-type. This view has been criticized by Gordon Fee<ref>Fee, Gordon (1979). "A Critique of W. N. Pickering's The Identity of the New Testament Text" Westminster Theological Journal, 41. 397-423.</ref> and Bruce Metzger<ref> Metzger, Bruce (1992). The Text of the New Testament. 3rd ed. New York: Oxford University Press. 290-293.</ref> among others. Since the majority of old manuscripts in existence are minuscules, they are often referred to as the Majority Text. It is worth noting, though, that the Majority Text as a whole is classified by the editors of the NA27 (of which Metzger is one) as a "consistently cited witness of the first order."<ref>Novum Testamentum Graece (1993) Barbara and Kurt Aland, eds. Stuttgart: Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft. 12*.</ref>

The Novum Testamentum Graece apparatus summarizes the evidence (from manuscripts and versions) for, and sometimes against, a selection of the most important variants for the study of the text of the New Testament. While eschewing completeness (in the range of variants and in the citation of witnesses), this edition does provide informed readers with a basis by which they can judge for themselves which readings more accurately reflect the originals. The Greek text of the 27th edition is the same as that of the 4th edition of the United Bible Societies Greek New Testament (abbreviated UBS4) although there are a few differences between them in paragraphing, capitalization, punctuation and spelling.<ref>Elliott, J. K. (1996). "A Comparison of Two Recent Greek New Testaments", The Expository Times, Volume 107, Number 4, pages 105-106.</ref> The critical apparatus is different in the two editions; the UBS4 edition is prepared for the use of translators, and includes fewer textual variants, but adds extra material helpful for translators.

Editions

History

The first edition published by Eberhard Nestle in 1898 combined the readings of the editions of Tischendorf, Westcott and Hort, and Weymouth, placing the majority reading of these in the text and the third reading in the apparatus. In 1901, he replaced Weymouth with Bernhard Weiss's text. In later edition, Nestle began noting the attestation of certain important manuscripts in his apparatus.

Eberhard's son Erwin Nestle took over after his father's death and issued the 13th edition in 1927. This edition introduced a separate critical apparatus and began to abandon the majority reading principle.

Kurt Aland became the associate editor of the 21st edition in 1952. At Erwin Nestle's request, he reviewed and expanded the critical apparatus, adding many more manuscripts. This eventually led to the 25th edition of 1963. The great manuscript discoveries of the 20th century had also made a revision of the text necessary and, with Nestle's permission, Aland set out to revise the text of Novum Testamentum Graece. Aland submitted his work on NA to the editorial committee of the United Bible Societies Greek New Testament (of which he was also a member) and it became the basic text of their third edition (UBS3) in 1975, four years before it was published as the 26th edition of Nestle-Aland.

The current edition of Nestle-Aland reproduces the text of NA26 (the same text used in UBS3 and UBS4). The 27th edition presents a thoroughly revised critical apparatus and a rewritten introduction and appendices.

A more complete set of variants is listed in the multiple volume Novum Testamentum Graecum - Editio Critica Maior. A small number of textual changes in the most current edition will be incorporated in the 28th edition of the Nestle-Aland<ref>University of Bremen list of textual updates for Nestle-Aland 28</ref>. According to Hendrickson Publishers, the North American distributors of the book, "The current estimate is that the NA28 will not be published until at least the fall of 2009, at the earliest."<ref name="Hendrickson">Email correspondence, March 2008.</ref>

Current editions

The NA27 text is published by Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft (the German Bible Society).

• Greek:
  • Novum Testamentum Graece, Standard Edition, ISBN 978-3-438-05100-4
  • Novum Testamentum Graece, Large Print Edition, ISBN 978-3-438-05103-5
  • Novum Testamentum Graece, Wide Margin Edition, ISBN 978-3-438-05135-6
  • Novum Testamentum Graece, with A Concise Greek-English Dictionary of the New Testament (by B. M. Newman), ISBN 978-3-438-05115-8
  • Novum Testamentum Graece, with Greek-German Dictionary, ISBN 978-3-438-05107-3
  • Biblia Sacra Utriusque Testamenti Editio Hebraica et Graeca (NA27 with the Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia), ISBN 978-3-438-05250-6
• Diglot:
  • Das Neue Testament Griechisch und Deutsch, ISBN 978-3-438-05406-7 (with revised Luther and Common Bible in parallel columns)
  • Nestle-Aland Greek-English New Testament, ISBN 978-3-438-05408-1 (with Revised Standard Version, 2nd edition)
  • New English Translation-Novum Testamentum Graece New Testament, ISBN 978-3-438-05420-3
  • Novum Testamentum Graece et Latine, ISBN 978-3-438-05401-2 (with Nova Vulgata)
  • Nuovo Testamento Greco-Italiano, ISBN 978-3-438-05409-8 (with the Versione Conferenza Episcopale Italiana)

Accuracy of the New Testament

In "The Text Of The New Testament", Kurt Aland and Barbara Aland compare the total number of variant-free verses, and the number of variants per page (excluding orthographic errors), among the seven major editions of the Greek NT (Tischendorf, Westcott-Hort, von Soden, Vogels, Merk, Bover and Nestle-Aland) concluding 62.9%, or 4999/7947, agreement.<ref name=Aland>K. Aland and B. Aland, "The Text of the New Testament: An Introduction to the Critical Editions & to the Theory & Practice of Modern Textual Criticism", 1995, op. cit., p. 29-30.</ref> They concluded, "Thus in nearly two-thirds of the New Testament text, the seven editions of the Greek New Testament which we have reviewed are in complete accord, with no differences other than in orthographical details (e.g., the spelling of names, etc.). Verses in which any one of the seven editions differs by a single word are not counted. This result is quite amazing, demonstrating a far greater agreement among the Greek texts of the New Testament during the past century than textual scholars would have suspected […]. In the Gospels, Acts, and Revelation the agreement is less, while in the letters it is much greater"<ref name=Aland />

Influence

Earlier translations of the Bible, including the Authorized King James Version, tended to rely on Byzantine type texts, such as the Textus Receptus. A number of translations began to use critical Greek editions, beginning with the translation of the Revised Version in England in 1881-1885 (using Westcott and Hort's Greek Text). English translations produced during the twentieth century increasingly reflected the work of textual criticism, although even new translations are often influenced by earlier translation efforts.

A comparison of the textual and stylistic choices of twenty translations against 15,000 variant readings shows the following rank of agreement with the Nestle-Aland 27th edition:<ref>The Comprehensive New Testament (preface, and graph on back cover).</ref>

See also

• Textual Criticism
• Alexandrian text-type
• Byzantine text-type
• Caesarean text-type
• Textus Receptus
• The New Testament in the Original Greek
• Western text-type

References

External links

• Institute for New Testament Textual Research (INTF), home of the Nestle-Aland Novum Testamentum Graece
• Comparison of the Novum Testamentum Graece (NA27/UBS4) text with other manuscript editions on the Manuscript Comparator
• Novum Testamentum Graece - Textum et Lexicon proprium seu 'concordances'
• Greek Interlinear Bible