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Summary: Wegner on the Biblical Text
Review: A handsome book! 462 pages in a smyth-sewn hardcover for under [price], the paper is not however, certified ANSI acid-free stock.Wegner does a fine job of introducing the average Christian to the sources of their English Bibles. It is clearly written and professionally laid out (despite some lingering software/printing errors). It has numerous images and charts, many of important persons (Westcott, Gerrit Verkuyl et cetera) and of numerous Biblical manuscripts (many from the Van Kampen collection in Florida). The book is a fine work for use in a classroom situation as well as private learning. It also serves as a quick general reference text for data related to the text and editions of the English Bibles. My only complaint is that Wegner is biased towards the text as found in Egypt, as seen in his discussion of the KJV debate beginning on pages 337 ff.. His language downgrades the Byzantine text-type, which is too bad. He does admit that just because the Egyptian text-type has been discovered, and is dated as the earliest text or manuscripts -- does not automatically mean that it/they must therefore be the most accurate, but he unfortunately does not abide by his observation! He laments that no early copies of a Byzantine text has yet been found (yet papyri P46, P66 and many other MSS found in Egypt do DISPLAY Byzantine readings) [or, more technically - Antiochian readings]. He is a good writer, but he should have withheld his uninformed judgment here! Also he seems to be unaware of the many errors lying in the apparatuses of the Nestle/Aland and UBS Greek New Testament text editions! A fine book, useful and well worth the price. Be sure to purchase the corrected edition -- on the publication data page it will say -- "Corrected printing, December 2000", in which many images and layouts are corrected. Some still remain, yet a small hinderance they be. ...
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Summary: heavy-handed polemics in a docrinally slanted disappointment
Review: I was excited to get this book - when it arrived, I liked it immediately. It is handsomely bound, with a beautiful glossy cover, in a comfortable size and weight, and with a very user-friendly typeface. I've been searching for a good, modern, doctrinally neutral history of the Bible text from ancient manuscripts to compilation/recension to modern translation, and thought I might have finally found it. But I was mistaken. After four chapters worth of heavy-handed doctrinal polemics, I decided to close the book and look elsewhere. I want a research thesis, not a Sunday School theology lesson! The author seems unable to set aside his desire to promote his own pet theological bias (and to denegrate all others), and just focus on the objective history of the Bible text. Which is fine for a church lesson-book, but inappropriate in a scholarly treatise in layman's language. I bought the book based on the strength of several of the reviews I read here on amazon's site, as well as the praise from the back cover, all from sources I respect. But I just couldn't go with the crowd on this one, I have to call it as I see it. A real disappointment. I got much more benefit from OUR AGELESS BIBLE by Thomas Leishman and THE MAKING OF THE ENGLISH NEW TESTAMENT by Edgar Goodspeed, both of which are basic introductory texts, but unfortunately out-of-print.
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Summary: A Reader-friendly Guide
Review: Nicely written, with excellent illustrations, sidebars, charts, &c., this book will guide complete novices into a better understanding of where their favourite English version(s) came from. Technical subjects (for example, textual criticism) are handled simply, but not simpistically. Wengert most successfully realizes his goal--to "enable those in the church to determine the validity of charges leveled against modern versions, as well as to instill an appreciation of the difficulties of producing new translations of the Bible" (p. 17).
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