Future

The scholarly work on the original text of the Greek New Testament and its history never comes to an end. Scholars are still actively and painstakingly developing future editions of the UBS Greek New Testament which will have an even firmer scholarly foundation.

Future editions will benefit from the groundbreaking progress on evaluating New Testament manuscripts being made in connection with the Editio Critica Maior. This is being edited by the Institute for New Testament Textual Research in cooperation with the scholars involved in the International Greek New Testament Project. It documents first millennium Greek textual history on the basis of Greek manuscripts of special relevance for the textual tradition, of older translations and of New Testament quotations in ancient Christian literature. Research into the origins of materials never previously processed so thoroughly is allowing the text to be newly reconstructed. The selection of manuscripts is determined by analysing the entire primary tradition. Every manuscript chosen is entered into a database with all its readings and registered in the critical apparatus. In this way, this edition provides information to answer key questions about continuity: How and why did the text change in the course of history? How was a text received in early Christian times?

Knowledge of the entire range of material, along with a new method of evaluation suitable for the scope and status of the material, is expected to lead to a new understanding of the textual history. This will improve on previous interpretations based on a more limited knowledge of the sources. It will then be necessary to reconstruct the ‘initial text’ of the tradition, since this is vital for exegesis. Even where this process does not lead to changes to the established text, the justification for the reconstructed text will be significantly different from conventional interpretations, being based above all on analysis of the entire textual tradition.

This has been demonstrated very clearly by recent research into the Catholic Letters. The 5th Edition of the UBS Greek New Testament, currently being prepared, will therefore differ significantly from the 4th Edition, especially in the Catholic Letters. Changes will be found in both the main text and the apparatus. Other improvements relating to all parts of the New Testament are also planned.