Ebook: The New Testament in the Original Greek: Byzantine Textform

Although the Byzantine Textform of the Greek New Testament is available electronically, I was pleased to obtain a copy of The New Testament in the original Greek Byzantine Textform 2005 compiled and arranged by Maurice A Robinson and William G Pierpont (Southborough Mass: Hilton Book Publishing, 2005). This printed edition offers an accurate Byzantine Textform, easy-to-read presentation, fully accented and punctuated text, marginal entries identifying significant Byzantine variants and footnotes identifying NA27/UBS4 variants. The preface sets out the compilers' methodology, "reasoned transmissionalism", to arrive at the Greek text they have carefully prepared for this edition. Maurice Robinson's essay, "The case for Byzantine priority", is informative and a well-argued advocacy of the Byzantine Textform. Robinson sets out "presuppositions, principles and praxis demonstrating itself to be a legitimate theory under the broad banner of NT textual criticism, and a viable alternative to modern eclecticism".

Whichever text type one favours, the Byzantine tradition represents an important part "in the quest toward the goal of establishing the original text of the canonical Greek New Testament". The portability of the Robinson and Pierpont's edition enables it to be used effectively with the increasing number of electronic NT texts and resources available to the reader. For me, this published edition lives up to its aims and is a valuable addition to my library.