Cremer

Phillip J. Long plong at gbcol.edu
Sat Oct 24 12:24:40 EDT 1998


On Sat, 24 Oct 1998 08:39:22 -0700, you wrote:

>I have a reprint of Cremer from the 60's. Cremer is shorter than Spicq and has
>a more simple structure than TDNT. I would place it in the curio category,
>although I use it occasionally just to see how it contrasts with the more
>current works. I think most of the information in Cremer was probably
>incorporated into TDNT but due to the massive volume of that work you would be
>hard put to find it. 

Moises Silva has some interesting "history" of "theological
lexicography" in his book _Biblical Words and their Meaning:  AN
Introduction to Lexical Semantics" Revised and Expanded Edition (GR:
Zondervans Pub House, 1994), pg 23ff.

Cremer's goal was to "reform and scientifically to reconstruct NT
lexicography."  This is really the first attempt to take a Biblical
word and describe the usage in all the literature outside the NT and
attempt to draw differences between the biblical and extra-biblical
meaning.  TDNT does the same thing on a much grander scale.

Silva's criticism (and others, for that matter) of this type of study
is that there is more to a biblical concept that a single word.  For
example, "to sin" is a biblical concept that cannot be confined to a
single Greek word.  In fact, the Bible has much to say about sin
without even using vocabulary for sin.  The NIDNT is an attempt to
address this concern.

I have a copy of Cremer, but it is stored on a very high, lonely shelf
that I rarely get to...more of a bookend right now that a well used
tool.




Phillip J. Long
Asst. Prof. Bible & Greek
Grace Bible College



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