Recension

Recension is the practice of editing or revising a text based on critical analysis. When referring to manuscripts, this may be a revision by another author. The term is derived from Latin recensio "review, analysis".

In textual criticism, particularly Biblical scholarship, the count noun "recension" may be used to refer to a family of manuscripts sharing similar traits; for example, the Alexandrian text-type may be referred to as the "Alexandrian recension". The term "recension" may also refer to the process of collecting and analyzing source texts in order to establish a tree structure leading backward to a hypothetical original text; for example, the compilation and collation of the Qur'an by Uthman ibn Affan may be referred to as a process of recension.

See also

• Biblical manuscript
• Categories of New Testament manuscripts
• Critical apparatus
• Torah redactor