Professor of Christian Scriptures
George W. Truett Theological Seminary, Baylor University
Elizabeth E. Shively is Professor of Christian Scriptures at Baylor University’s George W. Truett Theological Seminary. She has published extensively on the Gospel of Mark, with forthcoming work that engages the practice of textual criticism and exegesis, including “New Testament Textual Criticism and Exegesis,” in the Oxford Handbook of the Textual Criticism of the Bible, edited by T. Wasserman and S.W. Crawford (Oxford University Press, coming in November 2025), and The Gospel of Mark in the New International Greek Testament Commentary series (Eerdmans, in preparation).
Thursday, May 28 | 1:20-2:10 | Main Room
When the ECM Rewrites the Narrative: How Textual Decisions Re‑shape Literary and Theological Readings
This plenary address highlights how recent decisions in the Editio Critica Maior (ECM) can reshape—not merely fine‑tune—the interpretation of the New Testament. Using the Gospel of Mark as the primary case study (1:1; 1:2; 1:4; 3:14 in relation to 6:30; 16:8), the presentation will show that ECM readings often carry narrative and theological consequences far beyond the variant unit itself. These decisions can re‑frame Mark’s characterization of Jesus and the disciples, shift the force of key intertextual echoes, and alter how readers perceive major motifs such as divine sonship, new‑Exodus imagery, the nature of discipleship, and the dynamics of the Gospel’s ending. The same pattern appears across the wider New Testament. Texts such as Acts 20:28, 1 Peter 4:16, 2 Peter 3:10, and Jude 5 illustrate how single variants can influence broader theological trajectories—from Christology and ecclesiology to communal identity and eschatology. Together, these examples invite interpreters to engage the ECM not simply as a tool for resolving micro‑variants but as a resource that can redirect macro‑level arcs in Scripture’s narratives and arguments. Reading with the ECM thus opens fresh possibilities for exegesis, translation, and theological reflection.