Why Are There Differences in Ancient New Testament Manuscripts?
In the ancient world,copies of the New Testament books were made in several major locations.The manuscriptsoriginatingintheselocationsaregroupedinwhatarecalledfamiliesoftexts.Manuscriptsfrom theselocationsgenerallyhavevariations common toother texts fromthe same location. Textual critics hold different opinions about how many families of texts there are of the NewTestament. Somewill saythere arethreemajor families;others might arguethereare four or five. The three major locations and families are theWestern (mostly Latin) texts from Italy and theWest,the textsfromaroundAsia Minorin theeast (Constantinople/Byzantiumin what isnowTurkey),and thosefrom Egypt,particularlyAlexandria. Some scholars say that Syriac, or texts from western Mesopotamia,constitute a fourth family.Others declarethatthe Caesareanversions,those originating around Palestine,might bea fifth family. Because of geographic isolation,through the centuries each of these families tended to “inbreed...