Novum Testamentum Graece

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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 published in 1913 by Eberhard Nestle, a German orientalist and biblical scholar from the late 19th and early 20th century.

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 "consistantly 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.

[edit] Editions

Nestle-Aland Novum Testamentum Graece (2006) Hendrickson Publishers, ISBN 1598561723
Novum Testamentum Graece (1993) American Bible Society, ISBN 3438051001

[edit] References

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