M

MacGregor, 1968. Geddes MacGregor, A Literary History of the Bible from the Middle Ages to the Present Day. Abingdon Press: Nashville, 1968.

An excellent concise history of the English versions up to 1961.

Mace, 1729. [Daniel Mace], The New Testament in Greek and English, Containing the Original Text Corrected from the Authority of the most Authentic Manuscripts: And a New Version Form'd agreeably to the Illustrations of the Most Learned Commentators and Critics: with Notes and Various Readings, and a Copious Alphabetical Index. London, 1729. 2 vols.

Daniel Mace, a Presbyterian minister in Newbury, published this edition anonymously for good reasons. Although some of his alterations to the Received Text anticipated the results of later editors, many were ill-founded, being capriciously chosen from the apparatus of Mill 1707 or made simply upon conjecture. Worse yet, his English translation clearly displayed Unitarian tendencies. Mace's edition was castigated by prominent scholars (Michaelis among them), and generally brought text-critical studies in England into disrepute. Tregelles observes that, after 1729, nothing more was heard from Bentley (see Bentley 1720) concerning his Proposals. For an account of Mace, see H. McLachlan, "An Almost Forgotten Pioneer in New Testament Criticism," Hibbert Journal, xxxvii (1938-9), pp. 617-25.

von Maestricht, 1711. Gerhard von Maestricht [Mästricht], H KAINH DIAQHKH. Novum Testamentum, post priores Steph. Curcellæi et D.D. Oxoniensium labores. Cum Prolegomenis G.D.T.M. et notis in fine adjectis. Amstelodami: ex officina Wetsteniana, 1711, 2nd ed. revised by J.J. Wettstein, 1735.

Von Maestricht here reprints the text of Fell 1675 with an apparatus enlarged from Mill 1707, and the addition of notes which try to explain (and usually discredit) all of the various readings given in the apparatus. He does this by placing numbers after the readings, which refer to a list of 43 so-called canons of criticism enumerated in the Preface. 38 pages of notes on the more important readings are added at the end. The 43 canons are misnamed, being for the most part a rambling series of pointed observations rather than a system of rules; yet a number of sound principles are expressed in them. They are fully quoted and criticized by J.A. Bengel in his Gnomon Novi Testamenti, who in the course of his discussion also points out many errors in the first edition (see Bengel 1742). The second edition (1735) was revised and provided with a new Preface by J.J. Wettstein (see Wettstein 1730, 1751).

Mai, 1857. Angelo Mai, editor, H PALAIA KAI H KAINH DIAQHKH. Vetus et Novum Testamentum ex antiquissima Codice Vaticano. Edidit Angelus Maius, S.R.E. Card. Romæ MDCCCLVII. apud Josephum Spithöver. Rome, 1857. 5 volumes, the New Testament being volume 5.

This edition of the Codex Vaticanus was really a revision of the Received Text according to the Vatican manuscript as collated by the Italian Cardinal Mai and his assistants (who, despite their evident lack of competence, were given privileged access to the manuscript until their work should be published). The edition had been announced in 1836, at which time it was stated that the New Testament volume was ready for the press; but Mai, who for twenty years prevented other scholars from examining the manuscript, held his own edition back because of its potentially embarrassing faults. After the death of Mai in 1854 the edition was finally seen through the press by his assistant Carlo Vercellone, beginning with the New Testament volume in 1857. In the words of Tregelles, the edition was regarded as "a contribution, and nothing more, to our acquaintance with the Vatican readings." Its faults were partly rectified in Vercellone 1859.

Marsh, 1810. Herbert Marsh, A Course of Lectures, containing a Description and Systematic Arrangement of the several Branches of Divinity, accompanied with an Account both of the principal Authors and of the Progress which has been made at different Periods, in Theological Learning. London, 1810-1823 (multiple volumes in a series).

Marsh, 1828. Herbert Marsh, Lectures on the Criticism and Interpretation of the Bible, with two preliminary Lectures on Theological Study and Theological Arrangement: to which are added two Lectures on the History of Biblical Interpretation. London, 1828. New edition, 1838.

This is a revision of the first four parts of the author's earlier Course of Lectures.

Marshall, 1958. Alfred Marshall, The Interlinear Greek-English New Testament: the Nestle Greek Text with a literal English Translation. London: Samuel Bagster and Sons, 1958.

Marshall's interlinear text is the 21st edition of Nestle-Aland (see Nestle 1927). No textual variants are given. This text has been reprinted with several different English translations in parallel columns, including KJV, RSV, NASB, NIV, NIV & NASB, NRSV, and NIV & NRSV. Most recently reprinted in The Interlinear NASB-NIV Parallel New Testament in Greek and English (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1995).

Martin, 1956. Victor Martin, Papyrus Bodmer II: Evangile de Jean chap. 1-14. Cologny-Geneva: Bibliotheca Bodmeriana, 1956. Papyrus Bodmer II: Supplement, Evangile de Jean chap. 14-21 (1958; 2nd edition with photographic facsimiles, 1962). Papyrus Bodmer XIV: Evangile de Luc chap. 3-24 (1961). Papyrus Bodmer XV: Evangile de Jean chap. 1-15 (1961). In the same series: Michel Testuz, Papyrus Bodmer VII-IX: L'Epitre de Jude; les Deux Epitres de Pierre; les Psaumes 33 et 34. Gologny-Geneva: Bibliotheca Bodmeriana, 1959.

In these volumes were published the three New Testament papyrus manuscripts called the Bodmer papyri, after the name of the man who first brought them to the attention of scholars. Martin Bodmer, a wealthy collector from Geneva, purchased the manuscripts from an antiquities dealer in Cairo sometime in the 1950's. They are believed to be from the early third century. Their designations and contents are as follows.

Papyrus 75 is especially valued by critics because of its affinity with Codex Vaticanus. It and Papyrus 66 are discussed at length in Finegan 1974. See also the discussion of all three in Comfort 1992 (chapter seven).

Martini, 1968. Carlo M. Martini, Novum Testamentum e Codice Vaticano Graeco 1209 (Codex B) tertia vice phototypice expressum. In Civitate Vaticana: Ex Bibliotheca Apostolica Vaticana, 1968.

Copies of this color facsimile edition of Codex Vaticanus were given to each bishop attending Vatican Council II. It includes an Introduction by Carlo M. Martini.

Masch, 1774. Andreas Gottlieb Masch, Bibliotheca Sacra post Jacobi Le Long et C.F. Boerneri iteratas curas ordine disposita, emendata, suppleta, continuata ab Andrea Gottlieb Masch. Halle, 1774-1797. 5 vols.

Merk, 1933. Augustinus Merk, Novum Testamentum graece, apparatu critico instructum. Rome: Pontifici Instituti Biblici, 1933. Reprinted with a Latin text in Novum Testamentum Graece et Latine. (Rome: Pontifici Instituti Biblici, 1935). 3rd ed., 1938.

The text of Merk, a Roman Catholic scholar, was much influenced by von Soden 1913. The readings of its latest printing (1964) are given in the appendix of Aland et al. 1979.

Metzger, 1955. Bruce M. Metzger, Annotated Bibliography of the Textual Criticism of the New Testament 1914-1939. Copenhagen: Ejnar Munksgaard, 1955.

Metzger, 1964. Bruce Metzger, The Text of the New Testament: Its Transmission, Corruption, and Restoration. New York: Oxford University Press, 1964; 2nd ed. 1968; 3rd ed. 1992.

Metzger is a member of the editorial committee of the UBS text (see Aland Black Metzger Wikren 1966). In this introduction to textual criticism he explains the view of textual history and text-critical technique which characterize the current mainstream of scholars. Since its appearance, Metzger's introduction has been the most widely used one in American schools. It is more interesting and of more general scope than the comparable introduction by Kurt and Barbara Aland, Aland and Aland 1981, and also gives much fuller bibliographic information. Chapters seven and eight, "Causes of Error in the Transmission of the Text of the New Testament" and "The Practice of New Testament Textual Criticism," are especially helpful.

Metzger, 1975. Bruce Metzger, A Textual Commentary on the Greek New Testament. London: United Bible Societies, 1975. Second edition, 1994.

Metzger reports the UBS editorial committee discussions for more than three thousand textual variants in this textual commentary, designed as a companion volume to the 3rd edition of the United Bible Societies' Greek New Testament (see Aland Black Metzger Wikren Martini 1975). It is by far the most comprehensive textual commentary to be published in the past century. Despite its general excellence, the book does have some rather strange faults: The readings of the Received Text, which are historically important (especially to translators), are often simply ignored, while the insignificant variations of obscure sources are regularly mentioned. Metzger also neglects to mention the decisions of past editors, although surely these have influenced the decisions of the UBS committee. Distributed in America by the American Bible Society, 1865 Broadway, New York, NY 10023.

Metzger, 1977. Bruce M. Metzger, The Early Versions of the New Testament: Their Origin, Transmission, and Limitations. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1977.

Metzger, 1981. Bruce M. Metzger, Manuscripts of the Greek Bible: An Introduction to Greek Paleography. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1981.

Metzger et al., 1990. Bruce M. Metzger et al., The New Revised Standard Version, New Testament. New York: Oxford University Press, 1990.

This is a revision of the Revised Standard Version on the basis of Aland Black Metzger Wikren Martini 1975.

Meyer, 1883. H.A.W. Meyer, editor, Meyer's Commentary on the New Testament. London: T & T Clark, 1883. Reprinted by Hendrickson Publishers in 1983.

This series of volumes (eleven in all) is an English translation of a scholarly commentary series which first appeared in German, with Meyer as the series editor. The series is particularly useful for the study of textual variants. At the beginning of each section (corresponding to the chapter divisions of the Received Text) there is a review of all significant variants adopted by the editors of the nineteenth century critical texts, with brief comments on the merits of each reading.

Michaelis, 1750. Johann David Michaelis, Einleitung in die Göttlichen Schriften des Neuen Testaments. Göttingen, 1750; 4th ed. 1788, 2 vols. English translation: An Introduction to the New Testament, by John David Michaelis, late Professor in the University of Göttingen. Translated from the fourth edition of the German, by Herbert Marsh, D.D. 6 vols. Cambridge, 1793-1802; 3rd edition 1818; 4th edition 1823.

"The translation of the Introduction of Michaelis was long the storehouse of materials for all who in this country studied subjects of this kind." (Tregelles).

Mill, 1707. John Mill, H KAINH DIAQHKH. Novum Testamentum Græcum, cum lectionibus variantibus MSS. Exemplarium, Versionem, Editionum, SS. Patrum et Scriptorum Ecclesiasticorum, et in easdem notis. [The Greek New Testament, with the various readings of Manuscript Copies, Versions, Editions, Holy Fathers and Writers of the Church, and in the notes of same]. Studio et labore Joannis Millii, S.T.P. Oxonii, e Theatro Sheldoniano. 1707.

Mill's edition is a major landmark in the history of textual criticism; in its margin he amassed a collection of more than 30,000 various readings, gathered from every source available to him over a period of thirty years. The text is that of Estienne 1550 with a few unintentional variations (Mill's text was frequently reprinted in manual editions, without the critical notes; see Lloyd 1828, and Sanday 1889). The Prolegomena (written in Latin) give comprehensive and detailed treatises on the manuscripts, versions, editions, commentators, and various readings of the New Testament. Mill's discussion in the Prolegomena casually introduces some principles of textual criticism which were later elaborated by scholars and systematically employed in the revision of the text (see Wettstein 1730, Bengel 1742, Griesbach 1796, Lachmann 1842, Tischendorf 1849, Westcott and Hort 1881); among them, the rule difficilior lectio potior "the harder reading is the better," and also the idea that a reading is best established not by numerical preponderance but by the testimony of independent sources (see Fox's study cited below, page 147).

Mill's apparatus was the first to habitually mention the readings of the early ecclesiastical writers and versions (for the latter he relied upon the Latin translations in Walton 1657), and was also the first to record readings of the Greek lectionaries. Readings of the following Greek manuscripts (here designated by the notation of Scrivener and Miller 1894), in addition to those represented in the editions of Walton 1657 and Fell 1675, were noticed:

Uncials:

Evst. 3 (10th or 11th cent.)
Apost. 3 (lost codex known only by collation)
Evst. 4 (11th cent.)
Evst. 5 (10th cent.)
Evst. 18 (12th cent.)
Evst. 19 (13th cent.)
Evst. 20 (11th cent.)
Evst. 21 (14th cent.)
Evst. 22 (14th cent.)

Mill's edition was reprinted at Rotterdam in 1710, with improvements and additions by Ludolph Küster. Küster added readings of the following twelve manuscripts to the apparatus:

Uncials:

Evan.9 (12th cent.)
Evan.11 (12th cent.)
Evan.13 (12th cent.)
Evan.14 (12th cent.)
Evan.15 (10th cent.)
Evan.78 (12th cent.)
Evan.119 (12th cent.)
Evan.285 (14th cent.)
Act.42 (11th cent.)

Mill's work aroused much consternation among those who feared that the enemies of the Church would use it as an occasion for discrediting the Bible. These fears were expressed along with some very offensive insinuations by Daniel Whitby in his Additional Annotations to the New Testament; with Seven Discourses; and an Appendix entituled Examen Variantium Lectionum Johannis Millii, S.T.P. in Novum Testamentum (London: Churchill, 1710). Soon afterwards the deist Anthony Collins seized the opportunity to disparage the authority of Scripture in A Discourse of Freethinking, occasioned by the Rise and Growth of a Sect called Freethinkers [i.e., Deists] (London, 1713). Both Whitby and Collins were then answered by the Oxford professor Richard Bentley in Remarks upon a late Discourse of Free-thinking (London, 1713: under the pen name Phileleutherus Lipsiensis), in which he showed expert knowledge of the subjects treated in Mill's Prolegomena. A large extract of this work is reprinted in Tregelles 1854, pp. 49-57. For a full description of Mill's work and Bentley's defense of it, see Adam Fox, John Mill and Richard Bentley: A Study of the Textual Criticism of the New Testament 1675-1729 (Oxford: Blackwell, 1954).

Miller, 1886. Edward Miller, A Guide to the Textual Criticism of the New Testament. London: George Bell & Sons, 1886.

Miller was a disciple of John W. Burgon (see Burgon 1883), and in this little book he summarizes the principles of Burgon, without all the bombast and rhetoric that is so much a part of Burgon's own works. "Those interested in the majority text theory should consult this book before reading Burgon in order to see such a position calmly presented." --Maurice A. Robinson

Miller, 1897. Edward Miller, ed., The Oxford Debate on the Textual Criticism of the New Testament, Held at New College on May 6, 1897, with a Preface Explanatory of the Rival Systems. London: George Bell & Sons, 1897.

A transcript of an academic debate held at the suggestion of Miller. The "Rival Systems" were those of Burgon 1883 (represented by Miller, G.H. Gwilliam, and A. Bonus) and Westcott and Hort 1881 (represented by William Sanday, A.C. Headlam, and Willoughby C. Allen).

Milligan, 1873. William Milligan and Alexander Roberts, The Words of the New Testament: As Altered by Transmission and Ascertained by Modern Criticism. Edinburgh: T & T Clark, 1873.

This book is written on a very simple level, and was intended to prepare the public for the English Revised Version of 1881. Much of it consists of a chapter-by-chapter examination of important various readings expected to be adopted in the revision.

Mitchell, 1880. Edward C. Mitchell, The Critical Handbook of the Greek New Testament. New York: Harper & Brothers, 1880; 2nd edition 1896.

Monser, 1910. Harold E. Monser, The Cross-Reference Bible: with Variorum Readings and Renderings. Champaign, Illinois: Cross-Reference Bible Co., 1910.

Similar to the Variorum Bible (see Sanday 1880) but with an American Standard Version text and a greater number of annotations. New Testament part reprinted as The American Standard New Testament, with variorum readings and renderings, topical analysis and cross references, a layman's commentary on the Holy Spirit, the complete study New Testament (Plainfield, New Jersey: Logos International, 1972).

Moulton, 1967. Howard K. Moulton, Papyrus, Parchment and Print, the Story of how the New Testament Text has reached us. London: Lutterworth Press, 1967.