Critical edition of the Gospel according to St John

Professor David Parker is leading the International Greek New Testament Project in the making of an edition of the Gospel of John, based on the most comprehensive survey of the evidence for all forms of the text ever undertaken.

Detail from an illustration of St John reading a manuscript

The team of scholars is based in the Institute of Textual Scholarship and Electronic Editing (ITSEE), in collaboration with the Institute for New Testament Textual Research (Munster), specialist institutes in Salzburg, Vienna, Sassari (Sardinia), Amsterdam and Louvain-la-Neuve and individuals worldwide.

This edition, funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council in a series of projects, brings together Greek manuscripts, ancient versions and quotations by early Christian writers. Of the 1,800 Greek manuscripts, the oldest have been edited in: Elliott, W.J. and Parker, D.C. (edd.) The New Testament in Greek IV. The Gospel according to St John. 1. The papyri (Brill 1995, ISBN 9004 09940 9; available on the Brill website). Current research is focused on about 300 Greek manuscripts from the Byzantine period.

Birmingham also hosted Dr Roderic L Mullen during his preparation of a scientific edition of the Byzantine Text of the Gospel of John for the United Bible Societies from 2001-4.

The progress of the project can be viewed at www.iohannes.com/; see also www.itsee.bham.ac.uk/projects/GreekNT/