What Is Textual Criticism?

WHAT IS TEXTUAL CRITICISM?
Textual criticism is scholarly work with available manuscripts aimed at the recovery within the limits of possibility of the original text. We do not have the original papyri that Moses used to write the Torah. We do not have the original letter of Paul to the Galatians which contains his own signature. All we have are copies. In some instances they are copies of copies of copies. Textual criticism involves carefully examining those copies to find out what is the original text.