'… anyone interested in the subject should drop whatever else they are doing and go and buy it … Brilliant, lucid, learned, nuanced, and able to look at things from lots of different angles. Also provocative, stimulating, informative and interesting.' Peter M. Head, Lecturer in New Testament, Faculty of Divinity, University of Cambridge and Tyndale House

'Parker is brilliant … trained researchers will find in this book an impressive amount of useful and up-to-date information. … those taking their first steps in this thorny field will unquestionably take advantage of this volume either as a textbook or as a reference tool. It is unlikely that, while reading it, they will not be captured by the deep fascination for manuscripts its author transmits in every single page; that, perhaps, is the best lesson he gives.' Reformation

'… [Professor] Parker … admits, as all genuine scholars do, that 'I am struck by how little we know … about almost everything I have written about'. That one sentence should be sufficient proof of this book's value to any doubters.' Contemporary Review