Critical Examination of the Coherence-Based Genealogical Method in New Testament Textual Criticism

Peter J. Gurry, Ph.D. (2017), University of Cambridge, is Assistant Professor of New Testament at Phoenix Seminary. He has published several articles on textual criticism and is the author with Tommy Wasserman of A New Approach to Textual Criticism: An Introduction to the Coherence-Based Genealogical Method (SBL). He is currently editing a collection of letters between B.F. Westcott and F.J.A. Hort on their monumental edition of the Greek New Testament.

• AcknowledgementsList of FiguresAbbreviationsIntroduction1 Rationale2 Scope3 A Note on Terms and Percentages4 Preview of the Argument1 The History and Reception of the CBGM1 History of the CBGM2 Reception of the CBGM3 Conclusion2 The CBGM in Theory and Practice1 Understanding the CBGM2 Applying the CBGM to the Catholic Epistles3 Conclusion3 Recovering the Initial Text1 Defining the Initial Text2 The CBGM as a Meta-Method3 Using Coherence to Detect Coincidental Agreement4 Conclusion4 Scribal Tendencies in James1 Method2 Results3 Methodological Reflections4 Conclusion5 A Historical Test: The Harklean Group in the CBGM1 The CBGM and Historical Reconstruction2 The Harklean Group and the Byzantine Text3 Implications4 Conclusion6 The Selection of Variants in the CBGM1 Previous Study2 The CBGM’s Basic Principle3 Specific Cases4 Conclusion7 Limitations and Improvements1 Limitations2 Suggested Improvements3 ConclusionSummary and ConclusionAppendix A: Changes in NA/UBS/ECMAppendix B: Harklean Readings in 1 JohnAppendix C: Orthographica in JamesBibliographyIndex

Few could have analysed the Coherence Based Genealogical Method (CBGM) with as much clarity, precision and with as Peter Gurry. (...) Gurry's book contributes a number of important critical perspectives ... [it] is important because it reminds us that the results of the CBGM are determined by editorial choice and that textual criticism is not a formula to be solved, but a craft to be plied.Garrick Allen, Journal for the Study of the New Testament, 2019A landmark study of the CBGM, no NT scholar can afford to be without this clear, concise, critical, and courteous book.Peter R. Rodgers, The Catholic Biblical Review, 2019