The Number of Variants in the Greek New Testament: A Proposed Estimate

Abstract

Since the publication of John Mill's Greek New Testament in 1707, scholars have shown repeated interest in the number of textual variants in our extant witnesses. Past estimates, however, have failed to tell who estimated, how the estimate was derived, or even what was being estimated. This study addresses all three problems and so offers an up-to-date estimate based on the most extensive collation data available. The result is a higher number than almost all previous estimates. Proper use shows that the number reflects the frequency with which scribes copied more than their infidelity in doing so.

Taking Inventory on the ‘Age of the Minuscules’: Later Manuscripts and the Byzantine Tradition within the Field of Textual Criticism

“…Indeed, this desire underlies 'text-type' theory itself and the various ways of sub-grouping them into families and tribes (Colwell 1969c;1969d) and recently 'clusters' (Epp 2017;. It is simpler for the textual critic to talk about the forest of 'Alexandrian' or 'Caesarean' or Family 13 than deal with the interminable trees of specific witnesses and the associated weeds of hundreds of thousands of variants they present (see Gurry 2016).…”

“…These three core issues intersect in the CBGM that is under the hood of the ECM effort. Space does not permit an introduction or critique of the method itself (for details, see Gurry 2017;2016;Gurry and Wasserman 2017;Gäbel et al 2015;Wachtel 2015;Hüffmeier 2015;Mink 2009); instead, we will focus on how these fundamental issues have impacted the CBGM and, through it, will continue shaping the direction of the field. Let us take them in reverse order.…”

Learning through the grapevine and the impact of the breadth and depth of social networks

“…Indeed, 121 of the 123 most viral memes each had more than 100,000 variants. [Other examples of mutating messages include mythology and the morphing of religious texts ( 3 ): estimates that there are around 500,000 textual variants of the Greek New Testament, not including spelling errors.] In particular, when relayed, a message can change—intentionally or inadvertently—in ways that alter its meaning (mutate) or render it unintelligible and/or irrelevant to the underlying state (drop), or simply not be forwarded (another way of being dropped).…”

Learning Through the Grapevine: The Impact of Message Mutation, Transmission Failure, and Deliberate Bias

“…Other examples of mutating messages include mythology and the morphing of religious texts. Gurry (2016) estimates that there are around 500,000 textual variants of the Greek New Testament, not including spelling errors.…”