The Classification of the Greek Manuscripts of 1 Peter with Special Emphasis on Methodology

The problem. Either because of methodological flaws or because of inadequate databases, Greek manuscripts of 1 Peter have not been satisfactorily examined. This study is an attempt to establish a better textual critical method and to apply it to a larger database. The method identifies new statistical techniques that facilitate quantitative analysis, necessary to establish the tentative groups that are used for the profiling of manuscripts. The method. The method I used for the classification of Greek manuscripts of 1 Peter combines the computer-generated profile method and a statistical technique known as factor analysis. The profile method has been used for the last 35 years whereas factor analysis is applied to textual criticism for the first time. Factor analysis eliminates hours of laborious computation usually associated with the Revised Claremont Profile Method's quantitative analysis, while at the same time yielding accurate results because it forms tentative groups in one swift process. The computer-generated profile method refines and modifies the tentative groups made by factor analysis, thus enabling the establishing of the final groups. The results. When I applied factor analysis to the 106 Greek manuscripts of 1 Peter, 3 groups of Alexandrian manuscripts emerged and 13 groups of non-Alexandrian manuscripts. When I applied the computer-generated profile method to those tentative groups, I found that 27 of the manuscripts are Alexandrian in text-type (3 groups), 63 are Byzantine (10 groups), and 16 are Mixed (3 groups). Conclusions. Factor analysis and the computer-generated profile method used in this study, are the best available methods at this present time for the classification of the Greek manuscripts. The classifications of the 106 Greek manuscripts of 1 Peter done in this study are also helpful resources for understanding textual groupings of Greek manuscripts of 1 Peter.