This book is about the transmission of the New Testament text in the second and third centuries of early Christianity. It explores the world of manuscripts, scribes, and early Christian textual culture.

Introduction: In Search of the Earliest Text of the New Testament ; I. THE TEXTUAL AND SCRIBAL CULTURE OF EARLY CHRISTIANITY ; 1. The Book Trade in the Roman Empire ; 2. Indicators of Catholicity in Early Gospel Manuscripts ; 3. Towards a Sociology of Reading in Early Christianity ; 4. Early Christian Attitudes towards the Reproduction of Texts ; II. THE MANUSCRIPT TRADITION ; 5. The Early Text of Matthew ; 6. The Early Text of Mark ; 7. The Early Text of Luke ; 8. The Early Text of John ; 9. The Early Text of Acts ; 10. The Early Text of Paul (and Hebrews) ; 11. The Early Text of the Catholic Epistles ; 12. The Early Text of Revelation ; 13. Where Two or Three Are Gathered Together: Evaluating Agreements between Two or More Early Versions ; III. EARLY CITATION/USE OF NEW TESTAMENT WRITINGS ; 14. In These Very Words: Methods and Standards of Literary Borrowing in the Second Century ; 15. The Text of the New Testament in the Apostolic Fathers ; 16. Marcion and the Early Text of the New Testament ; 17. Justin's Text of the Gospels. Another Look at the Citations in 1 Apol. 15.1-8 ; 18. Tatian's Diatessaron and the Greek Text of the Gospels ; 19. Early Apocryphal Gospels and the New Testament Text ; 20. Irenaeus's Text of the Gospels in Adversus haereses ; 21. Clement of Alexandria's Gospel Citations

Seeks to determine the earliest forms of New Testament texts available, providing a clearer picture of how New Testament texts have changed or remained the same from their earliest forms Takes advantage of the most recent papyrus discoveries, providing fresh, up-to-date assessments of all the important manuscript materials Addresses important and debated historical questions about the transmission of New Testament texts Examines evidence from patristic texts in relation to the manuscripts Written by a team of international experts in the field

Michael J. Kruger (Ph.D. University of Edinburgh) is Professor of New Testament at Reformed Theological Seminary, Charlotte, NC and is the author of the Gospel of the Savior: An Analysis of P.Oxy. 840 and its Place in the Gospel Traditions of Early Christianity (Brill, 2005) and co-author of Gospel Fragments (Oxford, 2009). Charles E. Hill (Ph.D. Cambridge University) is Professor of New Testament at Reformed Theological Seminary in Orlando, Florida. His other books include Regnum Caelorum: Patterns of Future Hope in Early Christianity and The Johannine Corpus in the Early Church, both published by Oxford University Press, and From the Lost Teaching of Polycarp: Identifying Irenaeus' Apostolic Presbyter and the Author of ad Diognetum published by J. C. B. Mohr (Paul Siebeck).

Seeks to determine the earliest forms of New Testament texts available, providing a clearer picture of how New Testament texts have changed or remained the same from their earliest forms Takes advantage of the most recent papyrus discoveries, providing fresh, up-to-date assessments of all the important manuscript materials Addresses important and debated historical questions about the transmission of New Testament texts Examines evidence from patristic texts in relation to the manuscripts Written by a team of international experts in the field