This book is the first part of a planned commentary in four volumes on the Bezan text of Acts.Josep Rius-Camps (University of Barcelona) and Jenny Read-Heimerdinger (University of Wales) have already authored several books and articles on the textual problems of Acts.Both of them agree on the pivotal role of Codex Bezae in the textual history of Acts.Contrary to the more common opinion, they believe that, except for several smaller errors, Codex Bezae Cantabrigiensis transmits the original text of the book of Acts.Herein they even go beyond the ideas of scholars like M.-E.Boismard and others, who claim that the so-called "Western" text of Acts is more authentic than the Alexandrian one.Rius-Camps and Read-Heimerdinger argue that the theological message of the Bezan text is much more consistent and coherent than that of the Alexandrian text, which usually is preferred by textual critics.In this context the authors describe the difference between both texts by applying the metaphor of two photographs as an example: while the vivid picture of the events told in the Bezan text is compared to a coloured photo, the Alexandrian text just seems to be "black and white." In opposition to Eldon Jay Epp (Epp 1966, Epp 2003), Rius-Camps and Read-Heimerdinger contend that the Bezan text of Acts does not show an anti-Jewish bias, but is written from the perspective of an author who was well-acquainted with ancient Judaism.The author of the Bezan Acts uses the events told as a framework to present the inner journey of the apostles, "as they leave behind their traditional Jewish teachings and expectations and, with considerable difficulty, finally come to understand and accept the message of Jesus" (p. 1).The authors argue that the reason for the creation of the Alexandrian text was the Jewish perspective of the Bezan text plus its critical attitude towards the apostles, which became unacceptable at later times.So their thesis is mainly based on the grounds of a kind of internal textual criticism.Their main criterion seems to be that the more coherent and more vivid text must be the "better" and "older" one-a principle, which, I think, is at least problematic.2. In their introduction the authors give a short overview of the different texts of Acts.Contrary to the Alexandrian text, they characterize
Tobias Nicklas (Sun,) studied this question.