Revisiting the Corruption of the New Testament - 9780825433382

How much did the theological arguments of the churchaffect the copying of the New Testament text? Focusing on issues of textual criticism, this inaugural volume of the Text and canon of the New Testament series offers some answers to that question and responds to some of Bart Ehrman's views about the transmission of the New Testament text. The book begins with the full transcription of Wallace's presentation at the Fourth Annual Greer-Heard Forum, in which he and Bart Ehrman debated over the reliability of the New Testament manuscripts. Adam Messer looks at the patristic evidence of "nor the Son" in Matthew 24:36 in a quest to determine whether the excision of these words was influenced by orthodox Fathers. Philip Miller wrestles with whether the "least orthodox reading" should be a valid principle for determining the autographic text. Matthew Morgan focuses attention on the only two Greek manuscripts that have a potentially Sabellian reading in John 1:1c. Timothy Ricchuiti tackles the textual history ofthe Gospel of Thomas, examining the Coptic text and the three Greek fragments, using internal evidence in order to determine the earliest stratum of Thomas. Brian Wright thoroughly examines the textual reliability of the passages in which Jesus appears to be called God, concluding that "the textual proof of the designation [Theåos] as applied to Jesus in the NT merely confirms what other grounds have already established."