Introduction to the Textual Criticism of the Greek New Testament

A scholarly handbook written in the early 20th century. It explains how the Greek New Testament text has been transmitted and assessed, surveying the history of printed editions alongside the evidence of manuscripts, ancient versions, and patristic quotations. The work aims to equip students and general readers with clear methods and an impartial, philological approach to evaluating readings. The opening of the work presents an editor’s preface outlining Nestle’s linguistic expertise, broad contributions to biblical scholarship, and deliberate avoidance of theological bias, and notes that the English version is a corrected and expanded translation of a later German edition. A contents list and addenda signal the scope: the history of the printed text, the materials used for criticism, and the theory and practice of evaluating variants. Chapter I then sketches the development from the first printed Greek New Testament and the great Polyglots, through Erasmus, the verse-division of Robert Estienne, Beza, and the Elzevir “Textus Receptus,” to the major critical milestones of Mill, Bengel, Wettstein, Griesbach, Lachmann, Tischendorf, Tregelles, and Westcott and Hort, with notices of later editors and practical editions (including comparative and Catholic efforts). At the start of Chapter II, Nestle lays out the evidential base—no autographs survive, so scholars rely on Greek manuscripts, early translations, and patristic citations—and introduces the scale of the evidence and the basic distinction between uncial and cursive manuscripts.