Novum Testamentum Graece

Novum Testamentum Graece (also Nestle-Aland Greek New Testament) is the Latin name of a Greek language version of the New Testament.

The Novum Testamentum Graece is in its 27th edition. The abbreviation for this text is NA27. It is published by the German publishing company, Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft. The first edition was written by Eberhard Nestle, a German orientalist and biblical scholar from the late 19th and early 20th century. The Wurttemberg Bible Society originally published the book in 1898.

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^[1] and linguist Wilbur Pickering^[2]) 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^[3] and Bruce Metzger^[4] 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"^[5]

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 NA27 is used as the basis of most contemporary translations around the world, as well as being the standard for academic work in New Testament studies.

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 Testamenet (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)

Historic Editions

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 Eberhard 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.

References

1. ^ Robinson, Maurice A. and William G. Pierpont (2005). The New Testament in the Original Greek: Byzantine Textform . Southborough: Chilton.
2. ^ Pickering, Wilbur (1977). The Identity of the New Testament Text. Nashville: Nelson.
3. ^ Fee, Gordon (1979). "A Critique of W. N. Pickering's The Identity of the New Testament Text" Westminster Theological Journal, 41. 397-423.
4. ^ Metzger, Bruce (1992). The Text of the New Testament. 3rd ed. New York: Oxford UP. 290-293.
5. ^ Novum Testamentum Graece (1993). Barbara and Kurt Aland, eds. Stuttgart: Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft. 12*.

External links

• Home of the Nestle-Aland Novum Testamentum Graece Institute for New Testament Textual Research (INTF)
• Novum Testamentum Graece - Textum et Lexicon proprium seu 'concordances'

See also

• Critical Text
• Alexandrian text-type
• Caesarean text-type
• Western text-type

• Majority Text
• Textus Receptus

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