Scribal Habits in Greek New Testament Manuscripts

Singular readings (textual variants attested in only one Greek New Testament manuscript) are considered among the least reliable of all textual variants, far more likely to be scribal changes than the words of the authorial text. In this groundbreaking study, Andrew W. Wilson revisits long-held suppositions about textual variants and how they arose through a thorough analysis of more than ten thousand readings likely to be scribal errors. Wilson takes this evidence and reevaluates previous studies of scribal habits to assess the strengths and weaknesses of various methodologies for determining what those habits were and what impact they might have had on the wording of New Testament textual transmission. Biblical scholars and students interested in the formation of biblical texts will find new possibilities for how to approach disputed wording in the New Testament.