I’m not often surprised by new Bibles, but today I was. On his Facebook page, Con Campbell shared the cover of a new Greek NT he’s edited called The Greek New Testament Study Bible. It’s published by Zondervan. I suppose you could compare it to Crossway’s Guided Annotating Edition of the THGNT, but at 1168 pages, this appears to be much more than that. The release date in the U.S. is not until October and I couldn’t find a list of contributors at Zonderan’s website. Here is the description from Amazon:
The Greek New Testament Study Bible provides you with access to the insights into the Greek text from some of the world’s leading scholars, while encouraging and assisting you in the use of your Greek reading skills for sermon preparation, devotional study, and New Testament courses. If you sense you are losing your competence in Greek because of the passage of time or the pressures of ministry, yet you desire to study the text in Greek for preaching, teaching, and personal study, then The Greek New Testament Study Bible will help.
In one convenient volume, you get access to the full Greek text as it is found in the Reader’s Greek New Testament. At the bottom of each page of Greek text you will find a list of infrequently occurring words with short definitions, which means you don’t need to consult a separate lexicon for basic translation work. Right page notes identify key areas of grammar and syntax pertinent to the text under consideration, including insights into the use or absence of articles; particular lexemes; connectives; prepositions; pronouns, adverbs, and particles; verbal aspect; voice; questions; case; discourse analysis; prohibitions; the use of the imperative, subjunctive, and infinitive moods; and important textual variants.
The Greek New Testament Study Bible will:Key features of The Greek New Testament Study Bible:
- Give you competence and confidence in your handling of the Greek text
- Enable you to make exegetical decisions based on the Greek text, grammar, and syntax
- Equip you to continue using your knowledge of the Greek language beyond seminary in pastoral ministry and devotional studies
- Provide you with a quick reference guide to some of the key questions and insights in the text.
- Help you discern the major contributions that a study of the Greek text brings to your understanding of Scripture
- Lefthand pages provide the Greek text based on UBS5, while righthand pages contain study notes
- Contains more than 9,500 study notes on the Greek text
- At the bottom of each page of Greek text, definitions are provided for Greek words that appear 30 times or fewer in the New Testament.
- Includes contributions from 19 internationally recognized experts on the translation and interpretation of the Greek New Testament.
- Study notes comment on the use, or absence of articles; particular lexemes; connectives; prepositions; pronouns, adverbs, and particles; verbal aspect; voice; questions; case; discourse analysis; prohibitions; the use of the imperative, subjunctive, and infinitive moods; and important textual variants.
- Includes a glossary of 198 technical terms.
It is not clear to me what the Greek text is exactly. It says it is “based on UBS5” but then also says it’s the Greek text found in the Reader’s edition, which is really a retroversion from the NIV. So, perhaps they mean it’s based on the UBS5 the way the NIV is. It’s a bit of an odd way to say that though.
Though off-topic to this post, possibly of interest to some here:
ReplyDeleteDid Philo Allude to Sadducees and Pharisees?
https://bibleinterp.arizona.edu/articles/did-philo-allude-sadducees-and-pharisees
Related issues include whether Philo's Every Good Man is Free (Quod omnis probus liber sit) is a youthful (brash?) work (e.g., circa 25 CE, according to Joan E. Taylor, The Essenes, the Scrolls, and the Dead Sea) or a mature work (40-49 CE, according to Maren R. Niehoff, Philo of Alexandria: An Intellectual Biography).
Also, whether Philo was influenced by similar writing by Strabo. Both appreciated Platonic and Stoic philosophy and both were in Alexandria (Strabo including circa 26 CE) and both likely used the famous library there.
It looks like an interesting publication. I remember well when I was doing my undergrad, my greek teacher organized a casual reading group in the cafe in the off hours. It was attended by students from his various classes as well as a couple other interested people on campus. Two of those people were a history professor and his wife. They themselves had invested a lot of time learning new testament Greek when they were in school, and even though they did not use it regularly anymore, they did not want to lose it. I respected the world out of how they came every week prepared to read the text with us. One part that bothered me though was how they were not able to read the Greek text without having their copy of Zerwick open alongside it. Their Greek was no longer strong enough to read casually without the notes and aids that zerwick offered. Like I said, I was impressed and respected that they weren't giving up, but I prided myself in the fact that I knew I would never let my Greek get so weak that I would need helps like that just to read it. What a judgemental cocky kid i was! These days i spend most of my time in other vocations, and I probably only average 10 minutes a day studying the New Testament. Once I've studied a passage, then yes, it is familiar enough to me to read unassisted. But if I'm casually reading? I would hate to think of what younger me would say if he saw my copy of zerwick open on my desk!
ReplyDeleteIn any case, I can see how this publication would fill a valid need.
Interesting that this manuscript pairs Romans and Hebrews. The ana- compound family connecting Romans 12:2 (anakainōsis — the renewing of the mind) to the two hapax ana- compounds placed side by side in Hebrews 6:6 (anakainizein and anastaurountas — both coined once, both present tense, both upward) does not appear to have been fully explored in the literature as a unified morphological and theological thread. Given that both letters ground transformation in the once-for-all work of Christ, the pairing seems worth pursuing. This offers new insight into Hebrews 6:6.
ReplyDelete