Rules of Textual Criticism

Metzger Criteria from http://www.EARlham.edu/~seidti/iam/text_crit.html#principles Accessed 8-29-01

I. EXTERNAL EVIDENCE, involving considerations bearing upon:

1.The date of the witness or, rather, of the type of text.

2.The geographical distribution of the witnesses that agree in supporting a variant.

3.The genealogical relationship of texts and families of witnesses: Witnesses are weighed

rather than counted.

II. INTERNAL EVIDENCE, involving two kinds of probabilities:

i. Transcriptional Probabilities depend upon considerations of palaeographical [Note from Anderson: handwriting, style of letters, ink, etc.] details and the habits of scribes. Thus:

1.In general the more difficult reading is to be preferred.

2.In general the shorter reading is to be preferred.

3.That reading is to be preferred which stands in verbal dissidence with the other.

ii. Intrinsic Probabilities depend upon considerations of what the author was more likely to

have written, taking into account:

1.the style and vocabulary of the author throughout the book,

2.the immediate context,

3.harmony with the usage of the author elsewhere, and, in the Gospels,

4.the Aramaic background of the teaching of Jesus,

5.the priority of the Gospel according to Mark, and

6.the influence of the Christian community upon the formulation and transmission of

the passage in question.

Metzger, The Text of the New Testament, pp. 209-210.

Ehrman Criteria from Bart D. Ehrman, The New Testament: A Historical Introduction to the Early Christian Writings Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-508481-0 pp. 418-20

1. "The Number of Witnesses That Support a Reading"

2. "The Age of the Witnesses"

3. "The Quality of the Manuscripts."

4. "The Geographical Spread of the Manuscripts"

5. "The Difficulty of the Reading"

6. "Conformity with the Author’s Own Language, Style, and Theology"