[B-Greek] Machen

James Ernest jdemail at charter.net
Mon Sep 22 08:41:02 EDT 2003


In the hope of ending a long thread featuring numerous postings
containing mostly speculation and misinformation:

As late as August 1997, when Jim Kinney of Baker Academic posted a note
on the topic to this list, the copyright to J. Gresham Machen's New
Testament Greek for Beginners was expected to expire at the end of
December 1998. Baker Academic was preparing to release a revised
edition, authorized by the Machen family and prepared by a member of the
faculty of Westminster Theological Seminary (of which Machen was a
founder), early in 1999. If you search the internet, you will even find
bibliographic references to this projected revised edition. Baker never
published it, however. Jim Kinney, now director of Baker Academic (and
thus my boss since I moved to Baker in July), tells me that the original
Machen never made it to the public domain because subsequent to his post
to this list U.S. copyright law was changed, extending the period of
copyright another twenty years.

If you wish to read the relevant provisions of the United States Code,
you can download http://www.copyright.gov/title17/circ92.pdf, a 290-page
document titled "Copyright Law of the United States of America and
Related Laws Contained in Title 17 of the United States Code."  Note
especially the Sonny Bono Copyright Term Extension Act on page vi and
the sections on duration of copyright on pp. 110-120.

Prentice-Hall is publishing the promised second edition; it's advertised
on page 309 of the SBL program guide for the Atlanta meeting. That ad
gives no price, but see the following more complete information at:
http://vig.prenhall.com/catalog/academic/product/0,4096,013184234X,00.ht
ml

> New Testament Greek for Beginners, 2/E
> J. Gresham Machen, Deceased, Westminster Theological Seminary
> Dan G. McCartney, Westminister Theological Seminary
> ISBN: 0-13-184234-X
> Publisher: Prentice Hall
> Copyright: 2004
> Format: Cloth; 304 pp
> Status: Not Yet Published; Estimated Availability: 10/01/2003
> US: $60.00
> You Save: $6.00 (10% off)
> Our Price: $54.00

> For courses in New Testament Greek.

> This textbook is intended primarily for students who are beginning the
> study of the Greek Testament either without any previous acquaintance
> with the Greek language or with an acquaintance so imperfect that a
> renewed course of elementary instruction is needed. This revision,
> over seventy-five years since the first edition was published, retains
> much of the character and organization of the first edition while
> accommodating students today who lack an understanding of Latin and
> grammar necessary for fully comprehending the original edition.

Bottom line: This book is not now and never has been in the public
domain.

My posting of this information should not be construed as an endorsement
of the text. Perhaps some of the professors on the list will receive
review copies and post evaluations of the new edition in comparision
with the original and with the other texts that are available at various
prices.

James

--------------------------------
James D. Ernest, Ph.D., Editor
Baker Academic
9084 Costner Drive SE
Caledonia, MI 49316 USA
+1 616 891 5625
jernest at bakerbooks.com
-------------------------------- 




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