Trench's Synonyms of the NT

Eric Weiss eweiss at gte.net
Sun Aug 16 00:47:48 EDT 1998


I am not qualified either to argue or agree with James Ware's praises of
Trench's Synonyms (I have a 1948 Eerdmans edition of the ninth edition,
published in London in 1880 - how much better is the 11th edition, or is
mine a "dumbed down" edition?). BUT ... I (not having really used it - I
got it really cheap at a used bookstore) have cautioned some people
against it because D.A. Carson, in his EXEGETICAL FALLACIES (p. 54 of
the 1984 edition) says (re: Problems surrounding synonyms and
componential analysis): "But if we decide contextually specific
questions of synonymy on the basis of the total semantic range of each
word, any synonymy in any context is virtually impossible. Hendricksen's
treatment [of AGAPAW and FILEW in John 21] illegitimately forecloses the
question. This particular fallacy is a hallmark of Trench's SYNONYMS OF
THE NEW TESTAMENT."

--
"Eric S. Weiss"
http://home1.gte.net/eweiss/index.htm
eweiss at gte.net
S.D.G.





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