Beyond What Is Written

Beyond What is Written examines Erasmus' and Beza's multiple editions of the New Testament and the vast body of annotations which accompany these editions. This study provides a new understanding of the many conjectures on the New Testament text proposed by these two renowned scholars as part of their New Testament projects.As a consequence, it not only elucidates their different approaches to New Testament textual criticism, but also clarifies the nature and role of conjectural emendation in sixteenth-century scholarship. As a piece of historical research, this investigation into conjectures in the work of Erasmus and Beza also contributes to the ongoing debate on the nature and task of textual criticism today.The study is an important publication for textual critics and exegetes of the New Testament, as well as for historians of the Renaissance and the Reformation.

"This is a very thorough but readable thesis, displaying careful scholarship at its best: well–documented, judiciously analyzed, and logically presented and evaluated. In short, it is a richly deserved doctorate that we are now privileged to benefit from in the latest volume in this prestigious series." – J. K. Elliott, in: Review of Biblical Literature, 2007 "Krans has demonstrated a mastery of the earliest practitioners of conjectural emendation, and will serve as an able guide to their successor as his research continues." – Jeffrey Kloha, in: Novum Testamentum 51 (2009) "Krans’s work does something else that one might not expect for a book dealing with such a narrow topic. It appeals to the interests of those outside its own narrow enclave of New Testament textual criticism by placing the inquiry within the broader range of Church History." – Christian Askeland, in: Bulletin for Biblical Research 18/2

Jan L.H. Krans, Ph.D. (2004) in Theology, Vrije Universiteit, Amsterdam, is Lecturer of New Testament at the Vrije Universiteit, Amsterdam. He is currently working on a comprehensive overview and evaluation of important conjectures on the Greek New Testament.