TC Girl

Today I read a very old article in New Testament Studies 16 (1970) by Kurt Aland, “Novi Testamenti Graeci Editio Maior Critica,” 167-77.

It’s interesting to see Aland’s comments on the development of the Editio Maior Critica. On p 170-171 he said, “Perhaps it will be confirmed, when we have the Editio maior critica, that the representatives of the families I, 13, 1424, etc., have been understood correctly by research until now and that the character of these families has been adequately described. But it is just as possible, even probable, that there will be variations in both directions.” Well, he was right. Obviously I am more familiar with Family 13 – and indeed they (Münster) have suggested that Family 13 may not be such a happy little family after all. Hopefully some of my work will shed a bit of light on the matter (as well as some extremely important Family 13 work going on at the University of Birmingham). But it’s still encouraging to see that these projections by K. Aland were somewhat accurate. Then again, I suppose one could argue that his projections were so vague that they were inevitable – like a horoscope for TC. Either way, at least we know we aren’t groping in the dark. (Just a poorly lit room.)