This past year, Charles Hill and I edited a volume for Oxford University Press entitled, The Early Text of the New Testament. This is a compilation of essays from scholars around the world exploring the state of the NT text at its earliest (accessible) stages. Although the book was released in the UK in June, it was not available in the US until around Sept 1st. So, there has been no time for any reviews to be published.
However, my friend Tommy Wasserman has pointed out that there has been an online review over at Rick Brannon’s website, ricoblog. Thanks to Rick for this very positive review! Here is an excerpt:
I can’t say it enough: This book really is awesome; I only hope the publisher is able to release a more affordable paperback copy so more folks can use the book. It is that useful if you’re working through the text of a passage and want to take significant variants from early manuscripts (pre 5th century) into account…
For this task, Part II, “The Manuscript Tradition” is really the gem within the book… While each article approaches the task differently, what you end up with is basically a focused discussion of the variations found in early manuscripts (mostly papyri) for a given NT book. If you are working with the text of the NT, this really is essential material to consult. If there are significant issues with the early witnesses for a section of text you’re working with, it will likely be discussed in this book…
Given the technical nature of this book (not to mention the $150 price tag!), I expect reviews to be few and far between. So, I appreciate Rick taking the time to read it through carefully.