[B-Greek] New UBS text, some thoughts on printing and binding
Curtis Hinson
curtis at curtishinson.com
Tue Sep 25 23:55:10 EDT 2007
>> So, it appears to be a combination of Zerwick's "A Grammatical
>> Analysis
>> Greek of the Greek New Testament" ( although a bit abbreviated),
>> Zondervan's "Reader's Greek New Testament" and the UBS text. I suspect
>> there will be page proofs at AAR/SBL in November.
>>
If it takes anything from the "Reader's Greek New Testament" other than
glossing, I hope it's a nice presentation. Fonts that are easy on the
eyes, text that is well laid-out, quality acid-free paper, preferably
sewn binding, and leather. I don't know why the GNT has been printed so
many times in binding that is virtually disposable. A text should be
cherished every bit as much as all the lavish and enviable bindings one
finds translations in. It should last for many years of constant
companionship.
A good friend of mine and I were recently discussing the way the GNT is
printed. He pointed out that in a typical GNT, you have verse numbers
interrupting lines of text all throughout, whereas in many Hebrew
bibles, the numbers are held in a column on the side of the page.
There's something to this: I wouldn't mind having a monotonic printing
of the GNT without chapter or verse numbers.
I've been thinking that the universal practice of peppering the text
with numbers everywhere has contributed to the practice of atomizing the
text and taking individual verses as though they are separate entities,
apart from the context they come from. If one takes out most or all of
the numbers, it ought to encourage readers to read the material in a
different way. Letters, for instance, read more like letters when the
eye isn't reminded every ten words that this text has been vivisected to
bits. I'd think that the literary nature and genre of texts is a little
more apparent when they're not read with the "book, chapter, and verse"
mentality.
I've also pondered the wild idea of having each book of the GNT bound as
a separate book. The practice of reading the NT corpus as an
inextricable harmonized unity undoubtedly misses what one might get from
settling down with just one book alone and considering what it might
have meant to those who first read it.
Bless the Name
Curtis Hinson
http://curtishinson.com
http://adfontes.ath.cx
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