The Pseudo-Oecumenian Catena on Romans - examining manuscripts to create a critical edition of the commentary

Career overview

Professor Hugh Houghton is a distinguished academic in the field of New Testament Textual Scholarship and serves as the Director of the Institute for Textual Scholarship and Electronic Editing at the University of Birmingham. He holds a PhD from Birmingham, an MPhil and an MA from Cambridge, and a BA from Leeds. His academic journey began at the University of Birmingham in 2003 as a Teaching Fellow in the Institute for Archaeology and Antiquity, where he developed and delivered courses on Greek and Latin language and literature. Professor Houghton has been actively involved with the Institute for Textual Scholarship and Electronic Editing (ITSEE) since its inception, initially working as a Research Fellow on significant projects such as the Vetus Latina Iohannes and Codex Sinaiticus. He has led various research initiatives, including the European Research Council-funded COMPAUL project from 2011 to 2016, which focused on the earliest Latin and Greek commentaries on the Pauline Epistles. He was also the Principal Investigator for the Workspace for Collaborative Editing project, a collaboration between Birmingham, Münster, and Trier, from 2010 to 2013. From 2018 to 2024, he served as the Principal Investigator for the CATENA project, another European Research Council initiative, and was a co-investigator on the AHRC Codex Zacynthius project from 2018 to 2020. His research has significantly contributed to the understanding of the textual history of the New Testament, particularly through identifying new witnesses to the earliest Latin translations of the Gospels and working on the online Codex Sinaiticus and Codex Bezae. Professor Houghton has authored several monographs, including The Latin New Testament with Oxford University Press, an English translation of Fortunatianus of Aquileia''s Commentary on the Gospels, and A Textual Commentary on the Greek New Testament, commissioned by the German Bible Society. He has also edited The Oxford Handbook of the Latin Bible. In 2017, he was appointed Director of ITSEE and has held various leadership roles, including Director of Research for the Department of Theology and Religion and Head of Postgraduate Research for the School of Philosophy, Theology and Religion. He has been instrumental in organising the Birmingham Colloquium on the Textual Criticism of the New Testament since 2007 and has served on multiple editorial boards, including as the executive editor of the Texts and Studies book series and as editor of The Journal of Theological Studies for Oxford University Press. Professor Houghton''s expertise lies in Latin and Greek manuscripts of the New Testament, and he employs new digital technologies to enhance the accessibility and understanding of biblical manuscripts. His contributions to the field have established him as a leading figure in textual scholarship, with a focus on the intersection of technology and biblical studies.

Research interests

Professor Hugh Houghton focuses on the text of the New Testament in Latin and Greek, employing and developing electronic tools to create digital editions of individual manuscripts and biblical books. His research includes overseeing a new edition of the Pauline Epistles as Executive Editor for the International Greek New Testament Project. He has directed several significant research projects, including the European Research Council''s COMPAUL project, which investigates the earliest Latin and Greek commentaries on the Pauline Epistles, and the CATENA project, which studies Greek New Testament commentary manuscripts. Additionally, he has worked on the Vetus Latina Iohannes project, producing an edition of the earliest Latin translations of the Gospel according to John, and the GALaCSy project, focusing on the earliest translations of the Pauline Epistles. His scholarly contributions include identifying new witnesses to the earliest Latin translations of the Gospels, and he has published extensively on the manuscripts and text of the Latin New Testament, as well as the use of quotations in early Christian writers. His notable works include monographs such as The Latin New Testament, an English translation of Fortunatianus of Aquileia''s Commentary on the Gospels, and A Textual Commentary on the Greek New Testament. He is also involved in various editorial roles, including serving as editor of The Journal of Theological Studies and being part of the editorial committee for the United Bible Societies'' Greek New Testament.