J.W. Childers and D.C. Parker, eds. Transmission and Reception: New Testament Text-Critical and Exegetical Studies. Texts and Studies 3rd series, no. 4. Piscataway, NJ: Gorgias

Abstract

"Not by accident a proverb warns: ‘Do not judge a book by its cover.’ Taking this literally, it is of course self-evident that not the outer appearance is what counts but contents, although some modern publishers heavily rely on the attention they attract by employing eye-catching book covers. For the volume under review, however, the proverb refers to the summarizing text of the back cover, which is somewhat a programmatic promise of what readers have to expect from the present book: the sixteen studies the book consists of are praised as “ground-breaking studies”, “intriguing explorations”, and being “indispensable for those interested in textual criticism” to form “a welcome resource for New Testament scholars”. These phrases (together with the whole paragraph on the back of the book) will be my guiding lines for my evaluation of the individual contributions to this volume and of the volume as a whole. All in all, the scope and the quality of the studies vary considerably and the promises made are only partially fulfilled. Nonetheless, the collection is a valuable contribution to the relevant discussions in the field of New Testament textual criticism."(pg 1)