Textual Criticism in the Gaps The Likelihood of B46's Readings in Galatians 3:1 and 4:17, Hebrews 11:4, and Philippians 1:1

This article concerns the likelihoods of competing textual reconstructions in the Chester Beatty Papyrus B-46 based on the available space in its lacunose lines. To quantify these relative probabilities, the author uses statistical models of line lengths in B-46 and a recently described technique for calculating the likelihood of a reconstructed lacunose text. He first demonstrates the power and versatility of this approach with examples in Gal 4:17 and 3:1. He then revisits two more contested textual reconstructions proposed for B-46: the absence of tau(sic) theta epsilon(sic) in Heb 11:4, suggested by G.D. Kilpatrick in 1941, and the absence of sigma upsilon nu epsilon pi iota sigma kappa omicron pi omicron iota sigma kappa alpha iota delta iota alpha kappa omicron nu omicron iota sigma in Phil 1:1, suggested by T.C. Skeat in 1995. He shows that Kilpatrick's proposed shorter reading in B-46 is six times more likely than the longer reading in Heb 11:4, while the evidence is not decisive between the readings in Phil 1:1.