Oxford Handbook of the Textual Criticism of the Bible provides an overview of the disciplines of textual criticism of the Hebrew Bible and the New Testament as practiced in the twenty-first century. This volume first explores overarching issues like the formation of the Jewish and Christian canons; philosophical presuppositions in the methods and goals of textual criticism; the complex relationship between literary criticism and textual criticism; and how related fields of Book History, New/Material Philology, and paratextual criticism pose challenges and enrich traditional biblical textual criticism. Subsequently addressed is the textual criticism of the books of the Hebrew Bible, a field which has undergone a paradigm shift since the discovery of the Judean Desert scrolls. Each chapter discusses this shift in various ways, representing different philosophies of and approaches to the ways in which textual criticism can be practiced in a ""post-Judean Desert texts"" world. Finally, the text discusses the textual criticism of the New Testament and provides chapters concerned with the Greek manuscripts and the indirect evidence of the text in early versions and citations, as well as past and current methods for evaluating this evidence including the Coherence-Based Genealogical Method (CBGM).
By:
Sidnie White Crawford (Visiting Professor Visiting Professor Princeton Theological Seminary),
Tommy Wasserman (Professor of Biblical Studies,
Professor of Biblical Studies,
Ansgar University College,
Kristiansand,
Norway)
Imprint: Oxford University Press Inc
Country of Publication: United States
Dimensions:
Height: 250mm,
Width: 184mm,
Spine: 50mm
Weight: 1.383kg
ISBN: 9780197581315
ISBN 10: 0197581315
Series: Oxford Handbooks
Pages: 732
Publication Date: 28 January 2026
Audience:
Professional and scholarly
,
College/higher education
,
Undergraduate
,
Further / Higher Education
Format: Hardback
Publisher's Status: Forthcoming
List of Contributors List of Abbreviations Acknowledgements Introduction to the Volume Sidnie White Crawford and Tommy Wasserman Part I Introductory Articles 1. The Formation of the Jewish Canon James C. VanderKam 2. The Formation of the Christian Canon John D. Meade 3. Philosophies of Textual Criticism for the Hebrew Bible Ronald Hendel 4. Beyond ""Textual"" and ""Literary"" Criticism: A New Paradigm for the Study of Textual History Molly M. Zahn 5. Philosophies of Textual Criticism for the New Testament Michael W. Holmes 6. Book History, New/Material Philology, and Paratextual Criticism David Davage and Liv Ingeborg Lied Part II The Hebrew Bible and the Deuterocanon 7. The History of Textual Criticism of the Hebrew Bible from Antiquity to the Twentieth Century Eugene Ulrich and Sidnie White Crawford 8. The Earliest Texts of the Hebrew Bible Emanuel Tov 9. The Masoretic Text and its Value for Textual Criticism of the Hebrew Bible Armin Lange 10. The Significance of the Septuagint in the Textual Study of the Hebrew Bible Anneli Aejmelaeus 11. The Samaritan Pentateuch and its Value for Textual Criticism of the Hebrew Bible Hila Dayfani 12. The Syriac Peshitta and its Value for Textual Criticism of the Hebrew Bible Bradley J. Marsh, Jr. 13. The Latin Versions and their Value for Textual Criticism of the Hebrew Bible Andrés Piquer Otero and Pablo A. Torijano 14. The Targumim and their Value for Textual Criticism of the Hebrew Bible Leeor Gottlieb 15. Editing the Hebrew Bible: Biblia Hebraica Quinta Innocent Himbaza 16. Editing the Hebrew Bible: The Hebrew University Bible Project Michael Segal 17. Editing the Hebrew Bible: The Hebrew Bible: A Critical Edition Ronald Hendel 18. Teaching Textual Criticism of the Hebrew Bible John Screnock 19. The Theory and Practice of Textual Criticism of the Septuagint Tuukka Kauhanen 20. The Practice of Hebrew Bible Textual Criticism in the Twenty-First Century Drew Longacre 21. Issues in the Textual Criticism of the Deuterocanon Benjamin G. Wright, III Part III The New Testament 22. The Practice of New Testament Textual Criticism in the Twenty-First Century H. A. G. Houghton 23. The History of New Testament Textual Criticism Jan Krans and An-Ting Yi 24. The Dating of Early Christian Manuscripts: Paleography and Material Culture Pasquale Orsini 25. Text-Types and the Coherence-Based Genealogical Method Peter J. Gurry 26. The Greek New Testament Manuscripts and Other Witnesses Elijah Hixson 27. The Syriac and Christian Palestinan Aramaic Versions of the New Testament Andreas Juckel 28. The Latin Versions of the New Testament Georg Gäbel 29. The Coptic Versions of the New Testament Christian Askeland 30. The Ethiopic Version of the New Testament Curt Niccum 31. The Gothic Version of the New Testament Carla Falluomini 32. Patristic Evidence in New Testament Textual Criticism Holger Strutwolf 33. Criteria for the Assessment of Readings in New Testament Textual Criticism Tommy Wasserman 34. The New Testament Text, Paratexts and Reception History Jennifer W. Knust 35. New Testament Textual Criticism and Exegesis Elisabeth E. Shively 36. New Testament Textual Criticism and Digital Humanities Claire Clivaz 37. Critical Editions of the Greek New Testament from the Twentieth to Twenty-First Century Annette Hüffmeier and Gregory S. Paulson 38. New Testament Textual Criticism in Teaching and Practice Amy S. Anderson
Sidnie White Crawford is Professor of Hebrew Bible emerita at the University of Nebraska and a Visiting Professor at Princeton Theological Seminary. An internationally recognized scholar in the Dead Sea Scrolls and textual criticism of the Hebrew Bible, she is the author of The Text of the Pentateuch: Textual Criticism and the Dead Sea Scrolls (2022) and Scribes and Scrolls at Qumran (2019). She is the Chair of the Old Testament Editorial Board for Hermeneia, and Editor-in-Chief for The Hebrew Bible: A Critical Edition. Crawford served as a general editor (Hebrew Bible, Deuterocanon) for the 30-year review of the New Revised Standard Version. Tommy Wasserman is Professor of Biblical Studies at Ansgar University College, Kristiansand. He has published numerous books and articles in New Testament textual criticism. He is the editor of TC: A Journal of Biblical Textual Criticism (SBL Press) and of New Testament Tools Studies and Documents (Brill). He is secretary of the International Greek New Testament Project that oversees the publication of critical editions of the Greek NT and serves on the board of the Center for the Study of New Testament Manuscripts.
