Modern History of Textual Criticism of the Greek New Testament

One of the things I liked about "Misquoting Jesus" is chapter 4, entitled "The Quest for Origins, Methods and Discoveries", which introduces the history of modern New Testament textual criticism. In this post, I will mention some of the names from chapter 4.


One thing to keep in mind is that these scholars often had agendas. Catholic scholars might try to make the case that the written word cannot be relied upon, but that the interpretation of the books required the apostolic tradition handed down by the Catholic church. Protestants made the opposing case, that of sola scriptura, i.e. the book speaks for itself and does not require any traditions to interpret it.

John Mill (1645-1707, England)
Greek New Testament, 1707
published with indications of 30,000 variants


Richard Simon (1638-1712, France)

"A Critical History of the Text of the New Testament", 1689




Richard Bentley (1662-1742, England)



Johann Albrecht Bengel (1687-1752, Germany)



Johann Jakob Wettstein (1693-1754)



Karl Lachmann (1793-1851, German)



Lobegott Friedrich Constantine von Tischendorf (1815-1874)



Brooke Foss Westcott (1825-1901, England)


Fenton John Anthony Hort (1828-1892)

"The New Testament in the Original Greek" (1881)