New Release: Reprint Edition of The Byzantine Text-Type & New Testament Textual Criticism

Energion Publications announces the planned March 11, 2022 release of a reprint edition of The Byzantine Text-Type & New Testament Textual Criticism by Dr. Harry Sturz. The book will be released in a replica edition with an added introduction by Dr. David Alan Black. Watch here for more news on the release of this title.

Because of the history of the preservation of the text, the Byzantine text-type became the dominant text of the Greek New Testament, with the largest number of surviving manuscripts. It is the text-type on which the King James Version was based. It dominated Bible translation efforts for centuries.

With new discoveries of older manuscripts, other text-types were identified and these other text-types, especially the Alexandrian text, became dominant in textual criticism. Many scholars concluded that the Byzantine text-type had been edited in the 4th to 5th centuries and that all later Byzantine manuscripts descend from the results of this process of editing. Because of this view, the Byzantine text and its variants have been seen as of limited value.

But is this dominant view correct? Is it safe to largely ignore the Byzantine text type?

Dr. Sturz argues against this view. Readers should lay aside a few prejudices as they read. This is not a book arguing for the preeminence of the KJV and the Textus Receptus. Neither is it an argument that the Byzantine text-type should have priority. Dr. Sturz argues that the Byzantine text-type should be taken seriously as one that can reflect the earliest text.

Energion Publications is pleased to release this reprint, as this argument is one that still needs to be discussed and considered. Challenging traditions in scholarship is a necessary and constructive idea. We hope this book will stimulate serious discussion of the history of the New Testament text, and help us turn more seriously to Scripture in our lives.