''Editio Critica Maior'' (ECM) is a critical edition of the Greek New Testament being produced by the Institut für neutestamentliche Textforschung (Eng. "Institute for New Testament Textual Research")—which is famous, for example, for the Novum Testamentum Graece (or Nestle- Aland)—in collaboration with other international institutes. The ECM is the printed documentation of the expressions of Christian faith communities as they transmitted the New Testament in time through Greek manuscripts, translations, and ancient citations in the first 1,000 years of New Testament transmission. The difference between earlier and later readings is shown by the concept of 'direction' in the ECM, with the earliest expression of the Christian readings printed in the main text. The Coherence Based Genealogical Method (CBGM) is the method being used to construct the ECM. The CBGM has two components, pregenealogical coherence and genealogical coherence. Pregenealogical coherence is a text-critical method which uses computer tools to compare the places of variation New Testament Witnesses to determine if the readings are related. Then, critical principles are applied by a textual scholar to make a decision on the directionality of the reading itself. Places where the direction cannot be determined, or split readings, are indicated by a diamond in the text. The ECM is the first critical edition of the Greek New Testament to include a 1) systematic assessment of witnesses, 2) a mature consideration of those witnesses, 3) a reconstruction of the oldest form of the recoverable text, or initial text, 4) a complete and systematic apparatus, and 5) a full explanation and justification of its methodology and conclusions.

David C. Parker David Charles Parker OBE (b.1953) was the Edward Cadbury Professor of Theology (2005-2017) and the Director of the Institute for Textual Scholarship and Electronic Editing at the Department of Theology and Religion, University of Birmingham. Hi ...

, ''Textual Scholarship and the Making of the New Testament Text'', 112 The Editio Critica Maior project is supported by the

Union of German Academies of Sciences and Humanities The Union of German Academies of Sciences and Humanities (German: Union der deutschen Akademien der Wissenschaften) is an umbrella organisation for eight German academies of sciences and humanities. The member academies are: *Berlin-Brandenburg Ac ...

. It is to be completed by the year 2030.

The beginnings

Since the founding of the Institut für neutestamentliche Textforschung (INTF) in 1959 by Kurt Aland, manuscripts—some of which had previously been unknown or lost—were traced and photographed, and all known manuscripts were photographed and cataloged. The INTF thus acquired over 90% of the known material on microfilm or photo.

First evaluation

Initially, in the mid-1980s, a text program was developed. Uniform texts, which, as is well known, constituted the main part in the transmission of the High Middle Ages, were set aside. After the elimination of these texts, the relevant material for the textual history of primarily the first millennium was made available; in addition to the manuscripts of this period, there are numerous later manuscripts that reflect an older textual history. The still very high number of relevant manuscripts has gradually been transcribed and subjected to a complete text comparison (''Vollkollation''). The results are recorded in databases. For the first time, this allows a computer-assisted exploration of all the material. Above all, the acquisition of genealogical data is important, as it illuminates the textual history and especially its beginnings. The specific problems that exist in the transmission history are now evident.

The digitization

The institute uses digital methods at all levels of its philological work: handwriting is captured in the highest possible quality as digital photos. These photos are the basis for the transcriptions to be made on the computer. Additionally digitized material from other institutes is taken into consideration. The software Collate is then used to prepare the critical edition.

The result

In 1997 the first installment of this edition was published by Barbara Aland. The ''Gospel of Mark'', the ''Catholic Letters'' and ''The Acts of the Apostles'' are available printed and digitally (by using the

New Testament Virtual Manuscript Room The New Testament Virtual Manuscript Room (NT.VMR) is a virtual manuscript reading room, where all New Testament manuscripts are available online. It is aproject of the Institute for New Testament Textual Research in Münster / Westphalia. Informa ...

). In cooperation with the

International Greek New Testament Project The International Greek New Testament Project (IGNTP) began in 1926 as a cooperative enterprise between British and German scholars to establish a new critical edition of the New Testament. Early results of the work were critical apparatus of the Go ...

, the Gospel of John is in preparation. A digital platform — the New Testament Virtual Manuscript Room — has been developed to allow online access to all the data collected during the work on the ECM. This includes the diplomatic transcripts of all the manuscripts used in the ECM, and the databases on which the ECM is based. The recent editions of ''Nestle-Aland'' (the 28th edition), and the ''Greek New Testament'' of the ''United Bible Societies'' (the 5th edition), follow the text of the ECM for the Catholic Letters and Acts of the Apostles, and the newest editions of these text-critical editions will follow that of the Gospel of Mark as well.

References

Current editions

The ''Novum Testamentum Graecum Editio Critica Maior'' is published by

Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft The Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft ("German Bible Society") is a religious foundation regulated by public law. It is involved in publishing and in spreading the message of the Bible. The Society publishes the Bible in the original languages and in ...

(the German Bible Society). The Gospel of Mark *''Novum Testamentum Graecum Editio Critica Maior, I/2.1, The Gospel of Mark, Part 2.1, Text'', *''Novum Testamentum Graecum Editio Critica Maior, I/2.2, The Gospel of Mark, Part 2.2, Supplementary Material'', *''Novum Testamentum Graecum Editio Critica Maior, I/2.3, The Gospel of Mark, Part 2.3, Studies'', The Acts of the Apostles *''Novum Testamentum Graecum Editio Critica Maior, III/1.1, The Acts of the Apostels, Part 1.1, Text, Chapter 1-14'', *''Novum Testamentum Graecum Editio Critica Maior, III/1.2, The Acts of the Apostels, Part 1.2, Text, Chapter 15-28'', *''Novum Testamentum Graecum Editio Critica Maior, III/2, The Acts of the Apostels, Part 2, Supplementary Material'', *''Novum Testamentum Graecum Editio Critica Maior, III/3, The Acts of the Apostels, Part 3, Studies'', Catholic Letters *''Novum Testamentum Graecum Editio Critica Maior, IV/1, Catholic Letters, Part 1, Text'', *''Novum Testamentum Graecum Editio Critica Maior, IV/2, Catholic Letters, Part 2, Supplementary Material'', Parallel Pericopes *''Novum Testamentum Graecum Editio Critica Maior, Parallel Pericopes'',

External links

Website about the ECM from The German Bible Society

View the Editio Critica Maior for the Book of Acts

Information about the ECM on the website of INTF

More information about the ECM

The International Greek New Testament Project