[B-Greek] Review of Culy, 1-3 John

James Spinti JSpinti at Eisenbrauns.com
Thu Jan 25 10:36:27 EST 2007


Carl,

The point is well taken. I, too, have found some Greek (Hebrew/Latin)
commentaries practically useless, while others were exceedingly useful.
But, it also seems to be a function of how much Greek (Hebrew/Latin) I
knew at the time. Some that I find exceedingly useful now, were
worthless to me as a second year student; I just didn't know enough to
make good use of them. And, vice-versa, some of the school text
commentaries that were very useful then (think Oxford's series on Greek
classical texts, for example), are not as useful to me now.

It is a difficult, if not impossible, balance to make a commentary
useful without being idiosyncratic or too tightly focused. Few, if any,
are able to accomplish it. Which, of course, accounts for many of the
posts to this list :)

James
________________________________
James Spinti
Marketing Director, Book Sales Division
Eisenbrauns, Good books for more than 30 years
Specializing in Ancient Near Eastern and Biblical Studies
jspinti at eisenbrauns dot com
Web: http://www.eisenbrauns.com
Phone: 574-269-2011 ext 226
Fax: 574-269-6788 

 

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Carl W. Conrad [mailto:cwconrad at artsci.wustl.edu] 
> Sent: Thursday, January 25, 2007 10:21 AM
> To: James Spinti
> Cc: B-greek list
> Subject: Re: [B-Greek] Review of Culy, 1-3 John
> 
> 
> It's an interesting review. But it raises a serious question (I cite  
> the review):
> 
>   "Is it enough to assume that a reader with a 'basic Greek  
> knowledge' will adequately find her or his way through the  
> grammatical, linguistic, and syntactical remarks, picking up and  
> understanding the presupposition and points of departure that are  
> employed in the book? If not, the user-friendliness of the book will  
> be jeopardized. On the other hand, it could be asked whether  
> providing more guidance in the introduction would amount to a 
> sort of  
> 'basic grammar,' something that could easily be found elsewhere and  
> that is evidently not the purpose of the book ... "
> 
> The question that jumps out here is: just exactly what do we mean by  
> "a reader with a 'basic Greek knowledge"? I suspect that opinions on  
> this would range over quite a spectrum, but the question raised in  
> the review sets one thinking along lines that have recurred  
> throughout my career as both a student and a teacher of Greek (and  
> Latin): every commentary seems to be idiosyncratic: it speaks to  
> questions that are not the ones that I am asking or that another  
> person might ask, but it surely does speak to questions that some  
> people ask. Going all the way back, I find that one of the best  
> commentaries I ever used was was Benner's _Selections from Homer's  
> Iliad with Vocabulary_, first published in 1903 and still available  
> today in a paperback format (Amazon: http://tinyurl.com/2vezfx); I  
> used it as a sophomore in college in 1953 and I delight to work  
> through it today. Another of the most valuable commentaries I ever  
> used was Barrett's on Euipides' Hippolytus (out of print now, I  
> fear), and another was Eduard Fraenkel's on the Agamemnon of  
> Aeschylus (republished by Oxford in 2003 but currently unavailable).  
> I owe an inestimable amount of what Greek I know to these  
> commentaries. But I've worked through commentaries that were  
> practically useless for me, commentaries that answered none of the  
> questions I wanted assistance with but all sorts of questions I  
> wasn't raising or interested in.
> 
> I am inclined to think that what constitutes a good commentary on a  
> Greek text is one that makes one understand the Greek language  
> better, not just this particular author's Greek, but more generally.
> 
> On Jan 25, 2007, at 8:52 AM, James Spinti wrote:
> 
> > All,
> >
> > There is a review of Culy's "1,2,3 John: A Handbook on the 
> Greek Text"
> > on the RBL website:
> > http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=5146
> >
> > His summary paragraph:
> > In conclusion, I think Culy provides us with a handbook that will be
> > welcomed by many
> > students of the Letters of John. I am especially positive 
> about the  
> > fact
> > that the book is
> > written in such a way that inexperienced Greek students who might
> > consider bypassing
> > the analysis of the Greek text now have a handbook that 
> will help them
> > to conquer their
> > fear, hopefully giving them the necessary confidence to 
> integrate the
> > analysis of the Greek
> > language with their exegetical activities, leading to a responsible
> > understanding of the
> > Letters of John.
> >
> > HTH,
> >
> > James
> > ________________________________
> > James Spinti
> > Marketing Director, Book Sales Division
> > Eisenbrauns, Good books for more than 30 years
> > Specializing in Ancient Near Eastern and Biblical Studies
> > jspinti at eisenbrauns dot com
> > Web: http://www.eisenbrauns.com
> > Phone: 574-269-2011 ext 226
> > Fax: 574-269-6788
> >
> >
> > ---
> > B-Greek home page: http://www.ibiblio.org/bgreek
> > B-Greek mailing list
> > B-Greek at lists.ibiblio.org
> > http://lists.ibiblio.org/mailman/listinfo/b-greek
> 
> 
> Carl W. Conrad
> Department of Classics, Washington University (Retired)
> 1989 Grindstaff Road/Burnsville, NC 28714/(828) 675-4243
> cwconrad2 at mac.com
> WWW: http://www.ioa.com/~cwconrad/
> 
> 
> 



More information about the B-Greek mailing list