The Oxford Handbook of Textual Criticism of the Bible, eds. Sidnie White Crawford and Tommy Wasserman (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2025)

The goal of this volume is to give an overview of textual criticism of the Bible, both in the Hebrew, Old Testament and Greek, New Testament. In the process, the editors, Sidnie White Crawford and Tommy Wasserman, have divided this work into three parts. The first (“Part I Overarching Issues”) contains six chapters devoted to aspects of overarching issues related to the Jewish and Christian canons, various presuppositions, methods, and goals of textual criticism, the relationship between textual criticism and literary criticism, and advances in textual criticism from newer fields of study. The second part (“Part II The Hebrew Bible and the Deuterocanon”) consists of fifteen contributions that explore textual criticism of the Hebrew Bible, Old Testament, especially in light of the discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls. The third (“Part III The New Testament) contains seventeen essays that investigate the field of New Testament textual criticism. 

Part I consists of chapters 1–6, the first two of which (“The Formation of the Jewish Canon,” 19–32 by James C. VanderKam and “The Formation of the Christian Canon,” 33–54 by John D. Meade) examine the canonization of the books of the Hebrew Bible, Old Testament, and the New Testament. In the third contribution (“Philosophies of Textual Criticism of the Hebrew Bible,” 55–69), Ronald Hendel explores the philosophical presuppositions of textual critics of the Hebrew Bible. The fourth essay (“Beyond ‘Textual’ and ‘Literary’ Criticism: A New Paradigm for the Study of Textual History,” 70–87 by Molly M. Zahn) argues against the past categorization of textual criticism as a “lower” form of criticism against literary criticism, which was deemed the “higher” form of it, concluding that one should consider all textual variants as part of a text’s composition history. In chapter 5 (“Philosophies of Textual Criticisms for the New Testament,” 88–107), Michael W. Holmes discusses the various approaches to the editing of ancient works with an eye to the New Testament. Part I’s sixth and final contribution (“Book History, New/Material Philology, and Paratextual Criticism,” 108–27 by David Davage and Liv Ingeborg Lied) focuses on why scholars must engage with manuscripts and early printed books.  

Part II is made up of chapters 7–21, which focus on the Hebrew Bible, the Christian Old Testament. In chapter 7 (“The History of Textual Criticism of the Hebrew Bible from Antiquity to the Twentieth Century,” 131–46), Eugene Ulrich and Sidnie White Crawford provide a history of Hebrew Bible/Old Testament textual criticism. Chapter 8 (“The Earliest Texts of the Hebrew Bible,” 147–68 by Emanuel Tov) explores whether one can recover the earliest texts of the Hebrew Bible, Old Testament books. In the ninth essay (“The Masoretic Text and Its Value for Textual Criticism of the Hebrew Bible,” 169–90), Armin Lange investigates the Masoretic Text’s history from antiquity to today. Chapter 10 (“The Significance of the Septuagint in the Textual Study of the Hebrew Bible,” 191–212 by Anneli Aejmelaeus) discusses the oldest extant witness to the text of the Hebrew Bible, the Greek Septuagint. In the eleventh essay (“The Samaritan Pentateuch and Its Value for Textual Criticism of the Hebrew Bible,” 213–23), Hila Dayfani introduces the Samaritan Pentateuch. Chapter 12 (“The Syriac Peshitta and Its Value for Textual Criticism of the Hebrew Bible,” 224–35 by Bradley J. Marsh Jr.) explores the Syriac Peshitta, which dates to the second to early third centuries AD. In the thirteenth contribution (“The Latin Versions and Their Value for Textual Criticism of the Hebrew Bible,” 236–49), Andrés Piquer Otero and Pablo A. Torijano introduce the Latin versions of the Hebrew Bible, Old Testament, the Vetus Latina and St. Jerome’s Vulgate. Chapter 14 (“The Targumim and Their Value for Textual Criticism of the Hebrew Bible,” 250–73 by Leeor Gottlieb) presents the Targumim or the Jewish Aramaic translations of the Hebrew Bible, Old Testament. 

Chapters 15–17 (“Editing the Hebrew Bible: Biblica Hebraica Quinta,” 274–84 by Innocent Himbaza, “Editing the Hebrew Bible: The Hebrew University Bible Project,” 285–300 by Michael Segal, and “Editing the Hebrew Bible: The Hebrew Bible: A Critical Edition,” 301–8 by Ronald Hendel) introduce three text-critical projects related to the Hebrew Bible, Old Testament: Biblica Hebraica Quinta, The Hebrew University Bible Project, and The Hebrew Bible: A Critical Edition. In the eighteenth essay (“Teaching Textual Criticism of the Hebrew Bible,” 309–23), John Screnock lays out an approach to teaching textual criticism in the classroom. Chapter 19 (“The Theory and Practice of Textual Criticism of the Septuagint,” 324–39 by Tuukka Kauhanen) demonstrates how to conduct textual criticism of the Septuagint. In the twentieth contribution (“The Practice of Hebrew Bible Textual Criticism in the Twenty-First Century,” 340–54) Drew Longacre discusses modern technological resources for textual criticism. Part II’s final essay (“Issues in the Textual Criticism of the Deuterocanon,” 355–70 by Benjamin G. Wright III) explores textual criticism of the so-called Deuterocanonical works, which are part of the Roman Catholic, Greek Orthodox, and Slavonic Bibles. 

Part III consists of chapters 22–38, which are devoted to textual criticism of the New Testament. In chapter 22 (“The Practice of New Testament Textual Criticism in the Twenty-First Century,” 373–94) H. A. G. Houghton discusses the current state of the field of New Testament textual criticism. Chapter 23 (“The History of New Testament Textual Criticism,” 395–418 by Jan Krans and An-Ting Yi) outlines the history of the discipline from the production of the New Testament manuscripts to the nineteenth century. In the twenty-fourth contribution (“The Dating of Early Christian Manuscripts: Paleography and Material Culture,” 419–45) Pasquale Orsini analyzes and dates important early Christian manuscripts. Chapter 25 (“Text-Types and the Coherence-Based Genealogical Method,” 446–62 by Peter J. Gurry) surveys text-types, the problem with those types that Bruce Metzger developed and popularized, and advocates a new method for categorizing texts, the Coherence-Based Genealogical Method. In the twenty-sixth essay (“The Greek New Testament Manuscripts and Other Witnesses,” 463–86 by Elijah Hixon) surveys early important Greek manuscripts. Chapter 27–31 (“The Syriac and Christian Palestinian Aramaic Versions of the New Testament,” 487–502 by Andreas Juckel, “The Latin Versions of the New Testament,” 503–16 by Georg Gäbel, “The Coptic Versions of the New Testament,” 517–32 by Christian Askeland, “The Ethiopic Version of the New Testament,” 533–41 by Curt Niccum, and “The Gothic Version of the New Testament,” 542–50 by Carla Falluomini) explore the ancient Syrian, Aramaic, Latin, Coptic, Ethiopic, and Gothic versions of the New Testament. 

In chapter 32 (“Patristic Evidence in New Testament Textual Criticism,” 551–70) Holger Strutwolf discusses the use of patristic quotations of the New Testament books in textual criticism. Chapter 33 (“Criteria for the Assessment of Readings in New Testament Textual Criticism,” 571–99 by Tommy Wasserman) examines criteria for the selection of readings in textual criticism of the New Testament works. In the thirty-fourth contribution (“The New Testament Text, Paratexts, and Reception History,” 600–23), Jennifer Wright Knust demonstrates that the text of the New Testament has been supplemented by extra-textual features such as the breaking up of the text into chapters, verses, etc. throughout its history. Chapter 35 (“New Testament Textual Criticism and Exegesis,” 624–36 by Elizabeth E. Shively) observes that textual criticism has long been the precursor of exegesis for the purpose of finding the original text. She argues that this should not be the case, and that one must intertwine textual criticism and exegesis. In the thirty-sixth contribution (“New Testament Textual Criticism and Digital Humanities,” 637–56), Claire Clivaz analyzes the relationship between textual criticism and the digital humanities. Chapter 37 (“Critical Editions of the Greek New Testament from the Twentieth to Twenty-First Century,” 657–87 by Annette Hüffmeier and Gregory S. Paulson) explores the various critical editions of the Greek New Testament. And in Part III’s final chapter (“New Testament Textual Criticism in Teaching and Practice,” 688–706), Amy S. Anderson reflects on the best methods and practices for teaching New Testament textual criticism and paleography in the classroom. 

This work is thorough, exhaustive, and a great overview of presuppositions, methods, and practices of textual criticism of the Jewish Bible, Christian Old Testament, and the Christian New Testament. Crawford and Wasserman, as well as the long list of contributors, have done an exceptional job and should be commended! I encourage you to pick up your copy today from Oxford University Press today! 

I am grateful to Oxford University Press for the gratis copy of this work, which in no way influenced my review of it.