This highly technical book deals with the origin and transmission of all the translations of the New Testament made prior to AD 1000. These texts enable the historian to chart the spread of Christianity, and give the critic clues about textual families. Metzger also discusses the characteristics of the languages---Georgian, Syriac, Latin, Gothic, Ethiopic, Coptic, Armenian, and others---and their bearing on attempts to recover from the versions the readings of the underlying Greek manuscripts. Hardcover from Oxford, 498 pages with extensive notes and indexes.