The 500th anniversary of Erasmus’s Novum Instrumentum commemorates the first printed and published Greek New Testament in 1516. This article emphasizes that Erasmus’s original motive for this publication was his new Latin version verifiable by his accompanying the translation by a Greek text. The latter was concocted from manuscripts he located in Basle; the article describes the manuscripts used. It also assesses the five editions of this bilingual text published in Erasmus’s lifetime. A discussion covers the nature of his Latin compared to that of the Vulgate then currently in use and the opposition which his version caused. Later editions of the Greek New Testament are also described. An examination of the Comma Johanneum (1 John 5.7-8) is included.
AlandKurtAlandBarbara. 1995. The Text of the New Testament: An Introduction to the Critical Editions and to the Theory and Practice of Modern Textual Criticism. 2nd edition.Grand Rapids: Eerdmans.
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AllenPercy S., et al, eds. 1906–1958. Opus epistolarum Desiderii Erasmi Roterodami, denuo recognitum et auctum. Oxford: Clarendon Press.
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BrandtPierre-Yves. 1998. “Manuscrits grecs utilisés par Erasme pour son édition du Nouveau Testament de 1516.” Theologische Zeitschrift44: 120–24.
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BrownAndrew J., ed. 2001. Novum Testamentum ab Erasmo recognitum. Vol. VI-2 of Opera Omnia Desiderii Erasmi Roterodami (ASD). Amsterdam: Elsevier.
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BrownAndrew J., ed. 2004. Novum Testamentum ab Erasmo recognitum. Vol. VI-3 of Opera Omnia Desiderii Erasmi Roterodami (ASD). Amsterdam: Elsevier.
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BrownAndrew J., ed. 2013. Novum Testamentum ab Erasmo recognitum. Vol. VI-4 of Opera Omnia Desiderii Erasmi Roterodami (ASD). Leiden: Brill.
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DaniellDavid. 2003. The Bible in English: Its History and Influence. New Haven: Yale University Press.
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ElliottJ. K.2009. “Manuscripts Cited by Stephanus.” New Testament Studies55: 390–95.
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HodgesZane C.FarstadArthur L.1985. The Greek New Testament according to the Majority Text with Apparatus. 2nd edition.Nashville: Thomas Nelson.
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JongeHenk Jan de. 1971. Daniel Heinsius and the Textus Receptus of the New Testament: A Study of His Contributions to the Editions of the Greek Testament Printed by the Elzeviers at Leiden in 1624 and 1633. Leiden: Brill.
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JongeHenk Jan de. 1978. “Jeremias Hoelzlin: Editor of the ‘Textus Receptus’ Printed by the Elzeviers, Leiden 1633.” Pages 105–28 in Miscellanea Neotestamentica. Edited by BaardaT.KlijnA. J. F.van UnnikW. C. Supplements to Novum Testamentum 47. Leiden: Brill.
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JongeHenk Jan de. 1980. “Erasmus and the Comma Johanneum.” Ephemerides Theologicae Lovanienses56: 381–89.
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JongeHenk Jan de, ed. 1983. Apologia respondens ad ea quae Iacobus Lopis Stunica taxaverat in prima duntaxat Novi Testamenti aeditione. Vol. IX-2 of Opera Omnia Desiderii Erasmi Roterodami (ASD). Amsterdam: North-Holland Publishing Company.
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JongeHenk Jan de. 1984a. “Testamentum a nobis versum: The Essence of Erasmus’ Edition of the New Testament.” Journal of Theological Studies N.S.35: 394–413.
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JongeHenk Jan de. 1984b. “The Character of Erasmus’ Translation of the New Testament as Reflected in His Translation of Hebrews 9.” Journal of Medieval and Renaissance Studies14: 81–86.
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JongeHenk Jan de. 1986. “Erasmus’ Method of Translation in His Version of the New Testament.” The Bible Translator37: 135–38.
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JongeHenk Jan de. 1987–1988. “The Relationship of Erasmus’ Translation of the New Testament to That of the Pauline Epistles by Lefèvre d’Étaples.” Erasmus in English: A Newsletter of Toronto University Press15: 2–7.
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JongeHenk Jan de. 1988a. “The Date and Purpose of Erasmus’s Castigatio Novi Testamenti: A Note on the Origins of the Novum Instrumentum.” Pages 97–110 in The Uses of Greek and Latin: Historical Essays. Edited by DionisottiA. C.GraftonA.KrayeJ.London: The Warburg Institute.
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JongeHenk Jan de. 1988b. “Wann ist Erasmus’ Übersetzung des Neuen Testaments entstanden?” Pages 151–57 in Erasmus of Rotterdam: The Man and the Scholar. Edited by FrijhoffW. J. M.WeilandJ. Sperna. Leiden: Brill.
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KransJan. 2006. Beyond What Is Written: Erasmus and Beza as Conjectural Critics of the New Testament. New Testament Tools and Studies 35. Leiden: Brill.
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Le ClercJean, ed. 1703–1706. Desiderii Erasmi Opera Omnia (LB). 10 vols.Leiden: Van der Aa.
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McDonaldGrantley. Forthcoming. Biblical Criticism in Early Modern Europe: Erasmus, the Johannine Comma and Trinitarian Debate. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
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MetzgerBruce M.1994. A Textual Commentary on the Greek New Testament. 2nd edition.Stuttgart: Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft.
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MetzgerBruce M.EhrmanBart D.2005. The Text of the New Testament: Its Transmission, Corruption, and Restoration. 4th edition.New York: Oxford University Press.
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MillJohn. 1723. Novum Testamentum Graecum. Leipzig: Gledytsch.
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Poll-van de LisdonkM. L. van, ed. 2014. Novum Testamentum ab Erasmo recognitum. Vol. VI-10 of Opera Omnia Desiderii Erasmi Roterodami (ASD). Leiden: Brill.
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ReickeBo. 1966. “Erasmus und die neutestamentliche Textgeschichte.” Theologische Zeitschrift22: 254–65.
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ReussEduardus. 1872. Bibliotheca Novi Testamenti Graeci. Brunswick: Schwetschke.
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RobinsonMaurice A.PierpontWilliam G.2005. The New Testament in the Original Greek. Southborough, MA: Chilton.
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RossJ. M.1976. “The Ending of the Apocalypse.” Pages 338–44 in Studies in New Testament Language and Text. Edited by ElliottJ. K. Supplements to Novum Testamentum 44. Leiden: Brill.
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ScrivenerFrederick H. A.1881. The New Testament in the Original Greek according to the Text Followed in the Authorized Version, Together with the Variations Adopted in the Revised Version. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
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ScrivenerFrederick H. A.1894. A Plain Introduction to the Criticism of the New Testament. 4th edition. Edited by MillerEdward. 2 vols. London: Bell.
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SpottornoVictoria. 2002. “The Textual Significance of Spanish Polyglot Bibles.” Sepharad82: 375–92.
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TarelliC. C.1943. “Erasmus’s Manuscripts of the Gospels.” Journal of Theological Studies44: 155–62.
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TarelliC. C.1947. “Erasmus’s Manuscripts of the Gospels.” Journal of Theological Studies48: 207–9.
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VallaLorenzo. 1505. In Latinam Novi Testamenti interpretationem ex collatione Graecorum exemplarium Adnotationes. Paris: Badius.
