Tusculum University

A Tusculum University biblical scholar has continued to demonstrate his research with recent publications and presentations.

Dr. Travis Williams, professor of religion, is the author of the recently published book "Secretaries in Ancient Letter Writing: Influences on the Composition of New Testament Epistles.” He was also a plenary speaker at the Text and Manuscript Conference in Dallas, where he presented his paper “Reading 1 Peter with the Scribes: Pronominal Variation, Scribal Alteration and the Editio Critica Maior,” which will soon be published.

In the book, Dr. Williams articulates that scribes were not the composers of content in the New Testament, as many of his colleagues have contended, but were instead recorders or transmitters of an author's words when they were used. The paper examined how patterns of pronominal variation in the manuscript tradition of 1 Peter can illuminate scribal habits, textual transmission and the relationship between textual criticism and exegesis.

You can read more about the book and the the paper at https://www3.tusculum.edu/news/news/2026/biblical-scholar-at-tusculum-university-pens-book-contending-scribes-might-have-held-a-lesser-role-in-new-testament-content/.

Dr. Williams is a prolific researcher with particular expertise in Catholic Epistles of the New Testament and the Dead Sea Scrolls.