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

Carl W. Conrad cwconrad at artsci.wustl.edu
Thu Jan 25 11:44:09 EST 2007


On Jan 25, 2007, at 10:36 AM, James Spinti wrote:

> 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.

Benner's Homer is as useful to me now as it was in 1953, even though  
it's
taped together to keep it from falling apart. It is every bit as  
gratifying and
eye-opening to me today as Chapman's Homer was to Keats.

But I take YOUR point here too: there is a real difference between  
"school
commentaries" and commentaries intended, as A.E. Housman inscribed his
commentary on Manilius, "for use of scholars."

>
> 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/
>>
>>
>>
> ---
> B-Greek home page: http://www.ibiblio.org/bgreek
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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/





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