History of the Pauline Corpus in Texts, Transmissions and Trajectories

Chris S. Stevens, Ph.D. (2019) McMaster Divinity College, is a pastor and independent researcher. He has published on Greek linguistics, ancient manuscripts, and Paul.

"The book makes a novel contribution to the discussion by providing a new vantage point from which to compare texts and a new approach for delineating variants." – Garrick V. Allen, University of Glasgow, in: Journal for the Study of the New Testament Booklist 2022 44.5, August 2022

• AcknowledgementsList of Figures, Tables and ChartsAbbreviationsIntroduction1 New Testament Textual Criticism: History and Highlights1 History of Textual Criticism2 Textual Criticism during the Early Church3 Textual Criticism after the Printing Press4 ConclusionExcursus: Original Text Form and the Goal of Textual Criticism2 Contemporary Textual Criticism Methods for New Testament Studies1 Majority Text2 Single Text Theory3 Byzantine Text Form4 Eclecticism: Reasoned and Thoroughgoing5 Stemmatics6 Coherence-Based Genealogical Method7 Conclusion of History and Methods3 Method for Direct Evaluation of Textual Uniformity1 Comparative Methods2 Definition of a Unit of Variation3 New Method of Textual Comparison4 Procedure for the Comparison of Manuscripts: Counting and Numerical Majority4 Summarized Results of the Textual Examination1 Romans Summary2 1 Corinthians Summary3 2 Corinthians Summary4 Galatians Summary5 Ephesians Summary6 Philippians Summary7 Colossians Summary8 1 Thessalonians Summary9 2 Thessalonians Summary10 1 Timothy Summary11 2 Timothy Summary12 Titus Summary13 Philemon Summary14 Conclusion5 Textual Features Explored and Weighed1 Surprising Scribal Skill2 Spelling3 Scribal Choices and Inconsistencies4 Brevior Lectio vs. Verbose Additions5 General Patterns6 Summary of Highlighted Features7 Sensible Results out of Nonsense8 Weighted Conclusion9 Conclusion6 Application to Contemporary Research1 Text Types and Textual Assessment2 Textual Uniformity3 Textual Agreement Rates of Other Ancient Texts4 Textual Agreement Rates in Other Projects5 P46 and Textual Agreement6 Summary7 The Aland’s Figures of Textual Agreement8 Conclusion7 Narrative Textual Criticism: Textual Variation Used for Sociohistorical Narratives1 Background and Development of Narrative Textual Criticism2 Benefits and Weaknesses of NTC3 NTC Approach Popularized by Bart Ehrman4 Ehrman versus the Evidence5 Summary6 Conclusion8 Source and History of the Pauline Corpus1 Before AD 2002 Historical Consistency Rather Than Diversity Followed by Recension3 When Does the Pauline Corpus Originate? Theories of Publication4 ConclusionConclusionAppendix 1: Textual Analysis of the Pauline Corpus1 Pauline Corpus: Thirteen Letters2 Romans: Commentary and Results3 1 Corinthians: Textual Commentary and Results4 2 Corinthians: Textual Commentary and Results5 Galatians: Commentary and Results6 Ephesians: Commentary and Results7 Philippians: Commentary and Results8 Colossians: Commentary and Results9 1 Thessalonians: Commentary and Results10 2 Thessalonians: Commentary and Results11 1 Timothy: Commentary and Results12 2 Timothy: Commentary and Results13 Titus: Commentary and Results14 Philemon: Commentary and Results15 Statistical Conclusions of the Textual ComparisonAppendix 2: Examination of Textual Differences for Christological Tendencies1 Orthodox Base Position2 Method of Christological Evaluation3 Textual Differences Possibly Impacting Christology4 Citations and Comments by Ehrman5 Conclusion of Christology Data6 Key Findings7 ConclusionBibliographyModern Author IndexSubject Index