Novum Testamentum Graece Totally Explained

Everything about Novum Testamentum Graece totally explained

Novum Testamentum Graece is the Latin name of a Greek language version of the New Testament, also known as the Nestle-Aland Greek New Testament after the scholars who led the critical editing work. The text, edited by the Institut für Neutestamentliche Textforschung 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. The Greek text as presented is based on what biblical textual critics 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 lost 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 possibly 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.
A few authors (such as New Testament scholar Maurice A. Robinson and linguist Wilbur Pickering) claim that the minuscule texts 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 and Bruce Metzger among others. Since the majority of old manuscripts in existence are minuscules, they're 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."
Since the Novum Testamentum Graece apparatus notes all but a few minor variants, scholars 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. 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 the translation team.

Editions

Current editions

Greek:
- Nestle-Aland Novum Testamentum Graece (2006) Hendrickson Publishers, ISBN 1-59856-172-3
- Novum Testamentum Graece (1993) American Bible Society, ISBN 3-438-05100-1

Diglot:

Nestle-Aland Greek-English New Testament (1994) American Bible Society, ISBN 9783438054081; (NA27 in parallel with Revised Standard Version, 2nd edition)
New English Translation-Novum Testamentum Graece New Testament, Deutsche Bibelgesellchaft ISBN 3-438-05420-5
Novum Testamentum Graece et Latine (1993) Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft, ISBN 3-438-05401-9; (NA27 in parallel with Nova Vulgata)

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 heavily revised critical apparatus and a rewritten introduction.
   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. According to Hendrickson Publishers, "The current estimate is that the NA28 won't be published until at least the fall of 2009, at the earliest."

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. They concluded, "Thus in nearly two-thirds of the New Testament text, the seven editions of the Greek New Testament which we've reviewed are in complete accord, with no differences other than in orthographical details (for example, 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 schoars would have suspected... In the Gospels, Acts, and Revelation the agreement is less, while in the letters it's much greater"

Book	Total Number Of Verses	Variant-Free Verses-Total	Percentage	Variants per page
Matthew	1071	642	59.9 %	6.8
Mark	678	306	45.1 %	10.3
Luke	1151	658	57.2 %	6.9
John	869	450	51.8 %	8.5
Acts	1006	677	67.3 %	4.2
Romans	433	327	75.5 %	2.9
1 Corinthians	437	331	75.7 %	3.5
2 Corinthians	206	200	78.1 %	2.8
Galatians	149	114	76.5 %	3.3
Ephesians	155	118	76.1 %	2.9
Philippians	104	73	70.2 %	2.5
Colossians	95	69	72.6 %	3.4
1 Thessalonians	89	61	68.5 %	4.1
2 Thessalonians	47	34	72.3 %	3.1
1 Timothy	113	92	81.4 %	2.9
2 Timothy	83	66	79.5 %	2.8
Titus	46	33	71.7 %	2.3
Philemon	20	19	76.0 %	5.1
Hebrews	303	234	77.2 %	2.9
James	108	66	61.6 %	5.6
1 Peter	105	70	66.6 %	5.7
2 Peter	61	32	52.5 %	6.5
1 John	105	76	72.4 %	2.8
2 John	13	8	61.5 %	4.5
3 John	15	11	73.3 %	3.2
Jude	20	18	72.0 %	4.2
Revelation	405	214	52.8 %	5.1
Total	7947	4999	62.9 %

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