This is an open access title available under the terms of a CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 licence. It is free to read at Oxford Scholarship Online and offered as a free PDF download from OUP and selected open access locations. Latin is the language in which the New Testament was copied, read, and studied for over a millennium. The remains of the initial 'Old Latin' version preserve important testimony for early forms of text and the way in which the Bible was understood by the first translators. Successive revisions resulted in a standard version subsequently known as the Vulgate which, along with the creation of influential commentaries by scholars such as Jerome and Augustine, shaped theology and exegesis for many centuries. Latin gospel books and other New Testament manuscripts illustrate the continuous tradition of Christian book culture, from the late antique codices of Roman North Africa and Italy to the glorious creations of Northumbrian scriptoria, the pandects of the Carolingian era, eleventh-century Giant Bibles, and the Paris Bibles associated with the rise of the university. In The Latin New Testament, H.A.G. Houghton provides a comprehensive introduction to the history and development of the Latin New Testament. Drawing on major editions and recent advances in scholarship, he offers a new synthesis which brings together evidence from Christian authors and biblical manuscripts from earliest times to the late Middle Ages. All manuscripts identified as containing Old Latin evidence for the New Testament are described in a catalogue, along with those featured in the two principal modern editions of the Vulgate. A user's guide is provided for these editions and the other key scholarly tools for studying the Latin New Testament.

Klaus Wachtel has pioneered the creation of major editions of the Greek New Testament through a blend of traditional philological approaches and innovative digital tools. In this volume, an international range of New Testament scholars and editors honour his achievements with thirty-one original studies. Many of the themes mirror Wachtel's own publications on the history of the Byzantine text, the identification of manuscript families and groups, detailed analysis of individual witnesses and the development of software and databases to support the editorial process. Other contributions draw on the production of the Editio Critica Maior, with reference to the Gospels of Mark and John, the Acts of the Apostles, the Pauline Epistles and the Apocalypse. Several chapters consider the application of the Coherence-Based Genealogical Method. A wide selection of material is considered, from papyri to printed editions. The Greek text is analysed from multiple perspectives, including exegesis, grammar and orthography, alongside evidence from versions in Latin, Syriac, Coptic and Gothic. This collection provides new insights into the history of the biblical text and the creation, development, analysis and application of modern editions.

Did scribes intentionally change the text of the New Testament? This book argues they did not and disputes the claims that variant readings are theologically motivated. Using evidence gathered from some of the earliest surviving biblical manuscripts these essays reconstruct the copying habits of scribes and explore the contexts in which they worked. Alongside these are studies of selected early Christian writings, which illustrate attitudes to and examples of textual change.

Indirect evidence, in the form of early translations ('versions') and biblical quotations in ancient writers ('patristic citations'), offers important testimony to the history and transmission of the New Testament. In addition to their value as early evidence for the Greek New Testament, versions have a textual tradition of their own which is often of considerable historical, theological and ecclesial significance. This volume brings together a series of original contributions on this topic, which was the focus of the Eleventh Birmingham Colloquium on the Textual Criticism of the New Testament. The research described here illustrates not just the ongoing importance and variety of this material, but also the way in which it may shape the theory and practice of text-critical scholarship and lead to new insights about this vast and rich tradition.

A collection of ten original papers on the New Testament text, first presented in 2013, which reflect the diversity of current research. Examples of ancient engagement with the Bible include Origen, Eusebius of Caesarea and Augustine along with early translations.

What sort of Bible did Augustine have? How did he quote from it -- and was he accurate? Do Augustine's biblical citations transmit readings not found in any surviving manuscripts? This book is part of a major project on the Old Latin versions of the Gospel according to John, and uses Augustine as a test-case to examine the importance of the evidence provided by the Church Fathers for the text of the Gospels. The early history of the Latin Bible is reconstructed from Augustine's comments in his treatise De doctrina christiana (On Christian teaching). Details are assembled from sermons, letters, and other writings to show how Augustine and his contemporaries used the Bible in the liturgy of the Church, public debates, and in composing their own works. Augustine's own methods of citing the Bible are analysed, and features are identified which are characteristic of citations produced from memory rather than read from a gospel codex. The second part of the book is a chronological survey of the biblical text in Augustine's works, showing how he switched from using the older versions of the Gospel to the revised text of Jerome, which later became known as the Vulgate. Finally, a verse-by-verse commentary is provided on all the significant readings in Augustine's text of John, assessing their significance for the history of the Latin Bible, and in some cases the Greek tradition as well. Details are also given of Augustine's exegesis of particular verses of the Gospel, making this an indispensable handbook for biblical scholars and church historians alike.

This is an open access title available under the terms of a CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 licence. It is free to read at Oxford Scholarship Online and offered as a free PDF download from OUP and selected open access locations. Latin is the language in which the New Testament was copied, read, and studied for over a millennium. The remains of the initial 'Old Latin' version preserve important testimony for early forms of text and the way in which the Bible was understood by the first translators. Successive revisions resulted in a standard version subsequently known as the Vulgate which, along with the creation of influential commentaries by scholars such as Jerome and Augustine, shaped theology and exegesis for many centuries. Latin gospel books and other New Testament manuscripts illustrate the continuous tradition of Christian book culture, from the late antique codices of Roman North Africa and Italy to the glorious creations of Northumbrian scriptoria, the pandects of the Carolingian era, eleventh-century Giant Bibles, and the Paris Bibles associated with the rise of the university. In The Latin New Testament, H. A. G. Houghton provides a comprehensive introduction to the history and development of the Latin New Testament. Drawing on major editions and recent advances in scholarship, he offers a new synthesis which brings together evidence from Christian authors and biblical manuscripts from earliest times to the late Middle Ages. All manuscripts identified as containing Old Latin evidence for the New Testament are described in a catalogue, along with those featured in the two principal modern editions of the Vulgate. A user's guide is provided for these editions and the other key scholarly tools for studying the Latin New Testament.

The Latin Bible stands at the heart of Western culture. For almost fifteen hundred years, it was the principal source for scholars, philosophers, and theologians to reflect on the ideas and narratives which shaped society in Europe and beyond. It continues to feature in Christian liturgy, music, and art, and has influenced both Latin and vernacular language and literature. Manuscripts of the Latin Bible showcase the artistic and technical achievements of Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, and it was the first book to be produced with Gutenberg's printing press. Biblical interpretation played a central role in education, from sermons in antiquity to medieval schools and the development of the university. The Oxford Handbook of the Latin Bible contains thirty-one chapters covering the history of the Latin Bible from its earliest translations (the Vetus Latina), the revisions by Jerome and others leading to the Vulgate, the achievements and innovations of the Carolingian period and Middle Ages, the development of modern scholarship, and the twentieth-century innovation of the Nova Vulgata. It includes discussions of key figures and interpreters, the most important manuscripts, and the significance of the Latin Bible in multiple fields. The international team of contributors includes many of the world's leading authorities, along with representatives of a new generation of researchers developing new approaches and insights into this rich and diverse material. Each chapter introduces the current state of scholarship, with extensive references to key literature and electronic resources. This volume provides a unique overview of one of the world's most important books.