[B-Greek] A Couple of Questions Concerning Reference Works

Carl Conrad cwconrad2 at mac.com
Wed Jul 16 19:42:17 EDT 2008


On Jul 16, 2008, at 7:07 PM, Will Dilbeck wrote:

> All,
>
> I would like to ask a couple of questions concerning reference  
> works. First
> of all, I have Robertson's "Greek Grammar in Light of Historical  
> Research"
> and I was wondering if it would be worth getting Wallace's "Greek  
> Grammar
> Beyond the Basics." Wallace's volume is not that expensive, but my  
> money
> could be used more effectively if his book wouldn't really add a lot  
> to what
> Robertson covers in his work.

"Everybody" will tell you that Robertson's work is dated and that  
Wallace is more useful (especially easy to consult in the digital  
version available through most Bible software programs). Robertson's  
work is hard to use -- and it's becoming increasingly evident that the  
preparation of the digitized version could have undergone a MUCH more  
careful proofreading -- but I can't escape the powerful sense that,  
although Wallace is probably right about things more often than not,  
his grammatical categories and subcategories seem to me awfully  
idiosyncratic, while there's always something to be learned from  
Robertson, if you can find where he talks about what you want to know  
at some particular point.

> Secondly, I have Kittel's TDNT, and many other lexicons, but I do  
> not have
> Bauer and Danker's "Greek-English Lexicon of the N.T. and Other  
> Christian
> Literature." I realize this lexicon is preferred by many, but it is  
> quite
> expensive. Would it really give me information that I do not have in  
> the
> TDNT volumes and the other Lexicons (Thayer, Liddell & Scott, etc.)?

I really wouldn't go so far as selling a firstborn (or subsequent)  
child to buy BDAG, but it is a POLUTIMOS MARGARITHS to be sought  
after. An unabridged L&S is worth having too (the "Little Liddell" is  
not very useful for GNT).

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






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