Birmingham Colloquium on the Textual Criticism of the New Testament
Institute for Textual Scholarship and Electronic Editing
Founded by David Parker and David Taylor in 1997, the Birmingham Colloquium is held every two years. Since 2007 it has been convened by Hugh Houghton, with David Parker continuing as co-organiser until 2017.
In addition to details of individual colloquia below, information and images from participants are also available on social media including those tagged as #BhamColloquium.
Some of the in-person participants at the Thirteenth Colloquium
The 14th Colloquium (2025)
The fourteenth Birmingham colloquium on the Textual Criticism of the New Testament will be held in Birmingham from 9th to 11th April 2025. The topic of the Colloquium is to be The Pauline Epistles, with special attention to the ancient versions, in conjunction with the AHRC-DFG GALaCSy project. It is anticipated that this will once again be a partly hybrid event. For further details and to be informed when the calls for papers and registration opens, please contact colloquium@contacts.bham.ac.uk
The 13th Colloquium (2023): "Catenae, Marginalia and the IGNTP" in conjunction with the CATENA Project
The thirteenth colloquium was held in Birmingham from 15-17 May 2023, in conjunction with the European Research Council-funded CATENA project. The conference had a global reach: one of the nineteen papers was live-streamed from Australia, and those attending in person came from across Europe, South Africa, Singapore and the USA. The presentations were also broadcast on Zoom, enabling around 80 people to participate in real time. Most of the recordings have been made available in a Birmingham Colloquium 2023 playlist on YouTube. Some of the papers marked the 75th anniversary of the International Greek New Testament Project, which was also celebrated in the Colloquium Dinner at Hornton Grange with an after-dinner speech from Professor David Parker. The colloquium concluded with a visit to Hereford Cathedral, to see the Mappa Mundi, Chained Library and manuscripts in the modern working library including the Hereford Gospels.
The 12th Colloquium (2021): "Fragments"
The twelfth colloquium was held as an online event on the Zoom platform over ten weeks from January to March 2021. The schedule may be seen on the ITSEE news page. Many of the presentations were recorded and made available on the IGNTP YouTube channel. Selected papers have been published in Clark R. Bates, Jacopo Marcon, Andrew J. Patton and Emanuele Scieri (ed.), That Nothing May Be Lost: Fragments and the New Testament Text (Texts and Studies 3.29). Piscataway NJ: Gorgias, 2022.
The 11th Colloquium (2019): "At One Remove: Versions and Other Indirect Evidence for the New Testament"
The eleventh colloquium was held at the Edgbaston Campus of the University of Birmingham from 4-6 March 2019. With 70 participants and parallel sessions, this was the largest colloquium yet. Twenty-six papers were presented on the textual history of the New Testament, considering languages including Latin, Syriac, Coptic, Gothic, Arabic and Caucasian Albanian. Selected papers have been published as H.A.G. Houghton and Peter Montoro (ed.), At One Remove: The Text of the New Testament in Early Translations and Quotations (Texts and Studies 3.24). Piscataway NJ: Gorgias, 2021. The programme is available online. Participants in the Colloquium also enjoyed a social evening in Brook's Sports Bar, a formal dinner in Staff House with a 'carnival' theme and a presentation by Dr Nicholas Hardy, and a guided tour of Birmingham Cathedral.
The 10th Colloquium (2017): "Lives of the Text: The Bible and Liturgy, and The Living Text of the Gospels after twenty years"
Held in the Orchard Learning Centre, University of Birmingham and Woodbrooke Quaker Study Centre from 20-22 March 2017. Presenters came from across the world, including Georgia, Japan, the USA and Canada. Papers from the Colloquium were published as H.A.G. Houghton (ed.), Liturgy and the Living Text of the New Testament (Texts and Studies 3.16). Piscataway NJ: Gorgias, 2018. The excursion was to Coventry; the after-dinner speech by Dr Alba Fedeli was a presentation of the oldest Qur'anic manuscript at the University of Birmingham. Nineteen papers were presented; the programme is online.
The 9th Colloquium (2015): "The History and Text of New Testament Commentaries" in conjunction with the COMPAUL project
Held in the Orchard Learning Centre, University of Birmingham from 2-4 March 2015. Delegates attended from twelve countries, including keynote lectures by Prof. Ronald E. Heine and Prof. Gilles Dorival. Papers from the Colloquium were published as H.A.G. Houghton (ed.), Commentaries, Catenae and Biblical Tradition. (Texts and Studies 3.13). Piscataway NJ: Gorgias, 2016, available in Open Access on the Gorgias Repository. The excursion was to Worcester Cathedral; the after-dinner speech was an introduction to the Museum of the Bible by Prof. Gordon Campbell. The full programme is available online.
Participants at the Ninth Colloquium
The 8th Colloquium (2013): "The Tradition of the New Testament: Treasures New and Old"
Held in the Orchard Learning Centre, University of Birmingham from 4-6 March 2013. Papers from the Colloquium were published as H.A.G. Houghton (ed.), Early Readers, Scholars and Editors of the New Testament (Texts and Studies 3.11). Piscataway NJ: Gorgias, 2014, available in Open Access on the Gorgias Repository. The excursion was to Leicester Public Records Office to examine GA 69; the after-dinner speech on The Great Trees of Life: Genes, Gospels and Languages by Professor Mark Pallen is available on YouTube. Pictures of the Colloquium are available on the ITSEE news listings.
The 7th Colloquium (2011): "Early Christian Writers and the Text of the New Testament"
Held in Elmfield House, University of Birmingham in April 2011. A selection of papers from this colloquium are included in M. Vinzent, L. Mellerin and H.A.G. Houghton (edd.), Biblical Quotations in Patristic Texts. Studia Patristica 54. Leuven: Peeters, 2013, and others were published elsewhere. The excursion was to Lichfield Cathedral where participants viewed the Chad Gospels; the after-dinner speech was given by Dr David Symons on the Staffordshire Hoard.
The 6th Colloquium (2009): "Launch of The Digital Codex Sinaiticus"
Held at the British Library, London, in conjunction with the launch of the Digital Codex Sinaiticus. The proceedings of the conference were published in Scot McKendrick, David Parker, Amy Myshrall and Cillian O’Hogan (edd.), Codex Sinaiticus: New Perspectives on the Ancient Biblical Manuscript. London: British Library, 2015. The launch was followed by a day conference in Birmingham on the Greek gospel codex Peckover Gr. 7 and the use of the Virtual Manuscript Room for textual research.
The 5th Colloquium (2007): "Textual Variation: Theological and Social Tendencies?"
Held in Elmfield House, University of Birmingham from 16-19 April 2007. There was an excursion to Hereford Cathedral Library and the after-dinner speech was given by Alessandro Falcetta. Papers from the colloquium were published in H.A.G. Houghton and D.C. Parker (edd.), Textual Variation: Theological and Social Tendencies? (Texts and Studies 3.6) Piscataway NJ: Gorgias, 2008.
The 4th Colloquium (2005): "Textual Criticism and ..."
This interdisciplinary meeting in April 2005 was held in Woodbrooke Quaker Studies Centre.
The 3rd Colloquium (2003): Gunther Zuntz and The Text of the Epistles after Fifty Years
Held in Mason Hall, University of Birmingham in April 2003. The keynote address was given by Prof. Michael W. Holmes (Minnesota) and members of Zuntz's family were in attendance.
The 2nd Colloquium (1999): The IGNTP/INTF work on the Gospel according to John
Held at the University of Birmingham, 19-22 April 1999. This was a meeting to discuss the development of collaboration between the IGNTP and the INTF. Papers were given by J.K. Elliott ("The IGNTP Luke Volumes: Prehistory and Aftermath"), J.N. Birdsall ("Sed quis custodiet ipsos custodes?"), D.C. Parker ("The state of progress on the Gospel of John"), Barbara Aland ("The IGNTP: An Assessment of its Plans, Achievements, and Future Goals"), Klaus Wachtel ("Co-operation of Various Institutions in Editing the New Testament: First Steps"), Gerd Mink ("Toward a Genealogy of New Testament Manuscripts"), W.F. Warren ("The Center for New Testament Textual Studies"), Bruce Morrill ("The Use of Minuscules in the IGNTP John Apparatus"), Paul McReynolds ("The Claremont Profile Method Applied to John"), Ulrich Schmid and Michael Bakker ("The NIAS Diatessaron Project"), W.J. Elliott ("The Synaxarion from Easter to Pentecost"). Demonstrations of computer programmes were given by Peter Robinson (Collate), Mike Bossingham (Critical Greek Testament Handler) and Bruce Morrill (Manuscript), and short presentations on versional evidence by Philip Burton (Gothic), A. Alexeev (Slavonic), J.L. North (Latin).
The 1st Colloquium (1997)
Held at the University of Birmingham, 14-17 April 1997. The after-dinner speech was given by Prof. A.A.M. Bryer. The proceedings were published as D.G.K. Taylor (ed.), Studies in the Early Text of the Gospels and Acts (Texts and Studies, Third Series, vol. 1), Birmingham: University of Birmingham Press, 1999. This volume has now been reprinted by Gorgias Press.