The text and canon of the New Testament

The main justification for the appearance of this work is that a series of comprehensive studies of theology would not be complete without some processing of the text and canon of the New Testament. There is another reason that the progress made in these subjects is such that every ten years or so, briefly reviewing them, trying to piece together the results of many books and articles, is a necessity, if any, outside a narrow circle of experts, new facts must be provided. The writer gained some knowledge of these facts in the eight years during which he had the privilege of teaching these subjects at Mansfield College, Oxford. In addition, the preparation of a modern critical apparatus for the New Testament, which was published by Clarendon Press in conjunction with the Revisers Text, gave him some familiarity with the material of the New Testament textual criticism. The first part of this book is intended not only to present as briefly as possible what students need to know, but also to encourage them to engage in some areas of textual criticism of the New Testament. Some critics may find some of the book on the Canon too short. Here the author has preferred the documents to speak for themselves, and has presented them in greater numbers and with more accurate text than an English reader can find anywhere else in this compass.