To meet the growing need for an edition of the Greek New Testament specially adapted to the requirements of Bible translators throughout the world, the American Bible Society, the National Bible Society of Scotland, and the Württemberg Bible Society appointed in 1955 an international and interdenominational committee of textual scholars to prepare such an edition. The three societies were later joined by the Netherlands Bible Society and the British and Foreign Bible Society.
The Committee carried out its work in four principal stages:
(1) on the basis of Westcott and Hort's edition of the Greek New Testament, a comparison was made of the text and apparatus of several other editions, including those of Nestle, Bover, Merk, and Vogels, and to some extent those of Tischendorf and von Soden, in order to determine which of the variant readings warranted further study;
(2) data on several thousand sets of variants were gathered, not only from printed editions, commentaries and technical studies, but also from hitherto unused papyri, uncials, minuscules and lectionaries;
(3) about six hundred variations in punctuation, which appeared to merit consideration, were selected and compared in editions of the Greek text and in the principal English, German and French translations: and finally,
(4) the Greek text was established, the degree of certainty for the reading adopted in the text was estimated, and decisions were made whether or not to include a set of variants in the apparatus.
This edition has certain calculated limitations:
(1) The sets of variants have generally been restricted to readings meaningful for translators; consequently there is an appreciable reduction in the number of variants in the apparatus (but there is fuller attestation for the variants selected).
(2) Citations of evidence from the major lettered uncials (see p. i) and the Church Fathers have been derived from critical editions of the Greek New Testament, primarily those of Tischendorf and von Soden, but the uncials have been checked where the printed evidence was contradictory or incomplete.
(3) As a rule, no attempt has been made to represent the wide range of
orthographic variation in the manuscripts; the orthography of Bauer's Lexicon
(5th edition; see bibliography) has been followed.
[Exceptions chiefly involve proper
names and citations of individual manuscripts within variants. In a few cases
the Committee has adopted the spelling proposed for the 6th edition of Bauer
(e. g. Μαθθαῖος and Μαθθίας for Ματθαῖος and Ματθίας; τετρααρχέω for τετραρχέω and τετρααρχῆς for τετραρχῆς. Aramaic words are printed without accents and
breathing marks.]
(4) The cross-reference system has been limited to tlie citation of direct quotations (see p. xxxix), definite allusions, and literary and other parallels.
The Editorial Committee which was responsible for preparing this edition consisted of Kurt Aland, Matthew Black, Bruce M. Metzger and Alien Wikgren, with the participation of Arthur Voobus during the first part of the work. The project was initiated, organized and administered by Eugene A. Nida, who also took part in Committee discussions, especially those relating to major decisions of policy and method. J. Harold Greenlee and Robert P. Markham, as secretaries of the Committee, handled a mass of detail with skill and competence. They were assisted by Karen Munson and the staff of the Institut für neutestamentliche Textforschung at Münster/ Westf., in particular Klaus Junack, Peter Weigandt, Paolo Ferreira and Barbara Trill.
The Committee also obtained advice by correspondence with a group of consultants, representative of scholars and churches in many areas, on questions arising during the course of the project.
In the collation and evaluation of versional evidence, special help was provided by Harold K. Moulton and Brynmor F. Price (Itala and Vulgate), N. Joseph Kikuchi (Syriac), Robert McL. Wilson (Coptic), J. A. Huisman (Gothic), A. F. J. Klijn (Armenian), Rochus Zuurmond (Ethiopic, for the Gospel of Matthew), and T. Amse-de Jong (Georgian). In the assembling of lectionary evidence, assistance was provided at Chicago by David Backus. The punctuation apparatus was prepared by J. Harold Greenlee, Robert P. Markham and Harold K. Moulton.
Of the members of the Committee, Kurt Aland was responsible for the Greek papyri, numbered uncials, and minuscules;
Allen Wikgren for the lectionary readings. Matthew Black supervised collations of Syriac data, and Bruce M. Metzger is preparing the supplementary volume.
Since this edition is intended primarily for translators it is not to be regarded as in competition with other modern editions, e. g. the continuing Nestle-Aland editions, which provide a more restricted selection of data from witnesses on a much wider range of variant readings. It is the intention of the Committee from time to time to revise its work in order to take into account new discoveries and fresh evidence.