Recently retired from teaching New Testament at Emmanuel School of Religion in Tennessee, Hull summarizes the history of the textual criticism of the New Testament. The tolling of his subtitle indicates major figures, texts and editions that have been critiqued, what the critics are trying to accomplish, criteria used to weigh readings against each other, and watershed publications that significantly shaped the field. Among his topics are the pre-critical age, the age of optimism, the age of consensus and the age of doubt, and reassessing the discipline. His intended readers are seminary students. Annotation 2011 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)