The 'Original Text' and the New Testament

It is my position that the texts we possess along with various tools of textual criticism allow us to get back to what is essentially the original text. I am attempting to defend that position in a series of posts for which this post will serve as an index.

INTRODUCTION
The Question of Reliability and the 'Original Text'

SETTING THE STAGE
The Evidence
Clarifications

VARIOUS PROBLEMS
The Earliest Scribes
The Essential Doctrines, Ehrman's Admission, and Unknown Variants
The Uncertainty of the Single-Word/Opposite-Meaning Possibility

CONCLUSION (for now)
Probability and Certainty

[marginally related]
The Concept of the "Inerrant Original"
'Original' Text Continued