The Text of Hebrews and the Catholic Epistles

Abstract

This essay surveys the major text-critical issues in the study of Hebrews and the Catholic Epistles. The relevant manuscript traditions and testimonies are presented, the method of textual criticism is briefly described, and a selection of the most important textual variants found in manuscripts of these writings are listed and discussed. It provides an overview of the attestation of the texts under discussion and a discussion of specific readings supplied by their manuscripts. The survey is not beholden to a particular method of textual criticism; however, the Coherence-Based Genealogical Method will be dealt with in some detail as it has already had a noticeable impact on the discipline. The discussion illustrates many of the results, the methodological challenges, and the refinement of results that will influence later editions of Nestle-Aland and volumes of the Editio Critica Maior of the Catholic Epistles published by the Institut für neutestamentliche Textforschung.