New review of BDAG ...
Eric S. Weiss
eweiss at gte.net
Fri Jun 14 01:15:05 EDT 2002
> "These comments in no way lessen the value of this resource; rather, they
> should simply encourage us to read lexica as we do other texts, both
> ancient and modern: critically, carefully, and comparatively. Furthermore,
> a close reading of a lexicon can remind us of the complex theoretical and
> practical problems involved in the act of ascribing meaning to words, to
> phrases, and to texts. BDAG will remain the standard reference tool for
> students and scholars of the New Testament and other early Christian
> literature for the foreseeable future."
(sigh!) For those of use who don't have the time, access, expertise,
exposure, etc., to comparatively read lexica to the necessary extent, it
is disheartening to read the reviewer's comments about BDAG's definitions
for, e.g., "Ioudaios" -- which does seem, from the review, to be based on
a desire to be "politically correct" more than based on proof that it
refers primarily to residents of Judea. (Versus Galileans -- or what? I
think Hugh Schonfield made a similar argument in his controversial
PASSOVER PLOT). Paul's statements about the Jews' rejection of Jesus does
seem to encompass the people as a whole, vs. EQNOS; PERITOMH vs.
AKROBUSTIA; etc. But this is moving beyond Greek grammar. Thanks for the
link -- I haven't yet spent my $125 on the volume.
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