[B-Greek] GNT "Reader's editions" compared

Hugh Donohoe Jr. justusjcmylord at yahoo.com
Thu Dec 20 23:59:16 EST 2007


I found both options to be lacking. I made my own
"Reader's GNT". Of course my recommendation is only
apropos for those who have learned the lexemes found
in Metzger's Lexical Aids, the vocab found ten times
or more excluding proper nouns (1067 words). Of course
there are over 5000 lexemes in the New Testament. But
3000 of those are found like three times or less. So
basically I bought a large print NA27 and wrote in the
margin the rare vocab. The large print edition
provides much room for notes to be penciled. The
Nestle-Aland font I find to be most pleasing to eyes.
If the RGNT had a better font and text I would have
joyfully purchased it. It was a great idea executed
poorly

Hugh J. Donohoe

For those who really like or want this sort of thing,
Rick Brannan  
blogs a detailed comparison of the Zondervan "Reader's
Greek New  
Testament" and the German-published "UBS GNT: Reader's
Edition." You  
can read it at:

http://www.supakoo.com/rick/ricoblog/2007/12/15/ReadersGreekNewTestamentSmackdown.aspx
or
http://tinyurl.com/2ego5g

For what it's worth, I'd reiterate my sense that the
NET/UBS GNT  
diglot (http://www.bible.org/page.php?page_id=2056) is
ultimately more  
useful for a serious student of the GNT who wants the
comfort" of a  
reasonably good English translation and the utility of
translator's  
notes that go far to explain the implications of the
translators'  
choices for rendering particular Greek locutions. Of
course the diglot  
doesn't have those "glossy glosses" that endeavor to
tell you (in one  
word or less, not much more) what the Greek words you
don't recognize  
are supposed to mean.

If these little volumes are termed "reader's
editions," I wonder who  
the "regular" editions of UBS4 and NA27 are meant for.
They certainly  
don't have that special Latin rubric that A.E. Housman
(a Latin  
scholar, though less well-known as such than as author
of the  
"Shropshire Lad" verses) posted prominently on the
title page of his  
scholarly editions of Latin poets (Juvenal, Manilius,
Lucan): "in  
editorum usum edidit."

Carl W. Conrad
Department of Classics, Washington University (Ret)



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