Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of plates
- Links to URLs
- Acknowledgements
- List of abbreviations
- Introduction
- PART I THE DOCUMENTS
- 1 The study of the manuscripts
- 2 Practical skills in the study of manuscripts
- 3 Other types of witness
- PART II TEXTUAL CRITICISM AND EDITIONS
- PART III THE SECTIONS OF THE NEW TESTAMENT
- Glossary
- Index of manuscripts
- Index of biblical citations
- Index of names and subjects
2 - Practical skills in the study of manuscripts
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 June 2012
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of plates
- Links to URLs
- Acknowledgements
- List of abbreviations
- Introduction
- PART I THE DOCUMENTS
- 1 The study of the manuscripts
- 2 Practical skills in the study of manuscripts
- 3 Other types of witness
- PART II TEXTUAL CRITICISM AND EDITIONS
- PART III THE SECTIONS OF THE NEW TESTAMENT
- Glossary
- Index of manuscripts
- Index of biblical citations
- Index of names and subjects
Summary
INTRODUCTION
All the data in the Greek New Testament, and thus in the English Bible, have been collected by means of the collating or transcribing of manuscripts. Without this process, there would be no editions and and no informed translations. It is a task as fundamentally necessary to reading the text as the learning of the Greek language. It seems reasonable to suggest therefore that everyone who studies the New Testament, certainly as a student working with the Greek text, should have some basic knowledge of how collating and transcribing is done and should indeed gain a little experience. It used to be the case that many teachers of Greek or of the New Testament required a collation exercise of their students. One does not hear of it so often these days. But it is a valuable experience: the student has to learn to read a Greek hand and to get to grips with a manuscript, to come to terms with the simple yet rigorous demands of being accurate in an essential task. It is good for one's humility, too. Accuracy is everything – but if human beings were accurate transcribers of texts, there would be no need for the exercise!
There are people who would certainly make excellent collators who never find out – because none of their teachers has ever given them the opportunity to try.
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- Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2008