Glossary of Textual Criticism
A reference for the technical terms used in the Ad Fontes book and series, in plain English, alphabetically arranged.
Online Sunday school study
Ad Fontes: Textual Criticism for Lutheran Laity
Lutheran laypeople already encounter textual criticism—in pew-Bible footnotes, online videos, classrooms, and conversations nobody handed them a framework for. This study supplies that framework in plain language and from within the categories of the Lutheran confession.
The sixteen sessions stand on their own, include complete citations, and end with assignments you can do using the Bible already on your shelf. Work through the material with a group, teach it as a Sunday school course, or read at your own pace.
The series is adapted from Ad Fontes: Textual Criticism for Lutheran Laity (second edition, Sept 2026).
Study the course
- Session 1
To the Sources
An orientation to New Testament textual criticism and the evidence in your own Bible
Read session 1 → - Session 2
You Have Been Doing This for Years
The footnotes in your Bible are the doorway into textual criticism
Read session 2 → - Session 3
How We Got the New Testament
Papyrus, copyists, early witnesses, and preservation through ordinary means
Read session 3 → - Session 4
From Erasmus to Nestle-Aland
Five centuries of returning to the manuscripts as the evidence grew
Read session 4 → - Session 5
How Textual Critics Actually Work
External evidence, internal evidence, and the question that holds them together
Read session 5 → - Session 6
The Ending of Mark
Four endings, an empty tomb, and a Gospel that still gives us everything it promises
Read session 6 → - Session 7
The Woman Caught in Adultery
A beloved story without a fixed home in the manuscript tradition
Read session 7 → - Session 8
The Comma Johanneum
A late Trinitarian gloss—and the abundant apostolic ground beneath the Trinity
Read session 8 → - Session 9
Where the Older Text Says More
Three Christological variants that refuse a simple ‘modern Bibles remove words’ story
Read session 9 → - Session 10
What Did Jesus Actually Say?
A liturgical ending, a prayer from the cross, and a hard word about anger
Read session 10 → - Session 11
The Verse-Numbering Ghosts
Why modern Bibles sometimes skip a number—and why the gap is evidence of recovery
Read session 11 → - Session 12
The Other Acts of the Apostles
The ancient, vivid, and expansive Western text of Acts
Read session 12 → - Session 13
The Latin, Syriac, and Coptic Bibles, and the Fathers
Greek first, ancient translations confirming, early Christian writers locating
Read session 13 → - Session 14
The Majority Text, Fairly Presented
The strongest case for Byzantine priority—and why this course remains eclectic
Read session 14 → - Session 15
How the Discipline Works Now
Reasoned eclecticism, thoroughgoing eclecticism, and the CBGM
Read session 15 → - Session 16
What We Have, What We Don't, and Why It's Enough
Confident humility at the end of the manuscript trail
Read session 16 →
Reference desk
Corrections
Substantive corrections to the Ad Fontes online study, logged with dates.