15.12.2005
This is a list of books that I have found of interest personally. The books on this list will not be of use to everyone. The context from which I have considered these is as a novice, amateur student of New Testament studies. Doubtless, I will be impressed by things I shouldn't be and fail to notice things I should as a result of my context. But, for my own use, and for others, I thought I would keep a list of books I have found interesting or useful.
- Bruce, F. F. The Canon of Scripture. 1988. InterVaristy Press, Downers Grove, Illinois. (ISBN 0-8308-1258-X)
- I haven't read the whole thing, but from the parts I did use, I would say this is a good survey of issues related to canonicity. It's informative but quite readable. It also covers Old Testament canonicity (which is sort of a bonus, given the nature of this bibliography). It's very affordable, too, at around $20 for the hard cover.
- Bruce, F. F. Jesus and the Christian Origins Outside the New Testament. 1974. Hodder and Stoughton, London. (Hardcover ISBN 0-340-15868-9)
- This book was rather interesting. Bruce surveys, as the title implies, references to Jesus and Christianity outside of the Biblical text, both those that are considered to be authentic and those that are not but are of histrocial interest. Thus he examines early Latin authors (such as Pliny), Josephus, but also the corrupt Slavonic versions of Josephus, early (up to about the third century) Rabbinical texts, apocryphal Christian texts, and in Islamic writings. He also considers pre-Christian texts from Qumran, for the sake of conext. Finally, he ends with the examintation of some archaeological evidence of relevance. Most of the chapters in this book are neither too long nor too short, so it is a very readable. Bruce writes from an explicitly Christian stance, though that does not affect the text much. This book contains few secondary citations, which might less useful for studying, but more useful for reading. This book is not designed as a textbook, really, which is in some ways to its advantage. Its a nice survey, anyway, of some useful texts. This book is apparently out of print, but the paperback edition seems to be fairly readily available rather cheaply used.
- McReyndols, Paul, edited by. Word Study Greek-English New Testament. 1999. Tyndale House Publishers, Wheaton, Il. (ISBN 0-8423-8290-9, LOC BS1965.5)
- An interlinear translation by McReynolds with the United Bible Society 3rd Edition Greek text, with the New Revised Standard Version in parallel, and including a concordance in back keyed to Strong's. Since it is a "word study" translation, it is very literal and word-for-word, and usually one Greek word is almost always translated the same way, regardless of context, which has some disadvantages. He avoids using jargon though (for example, assembly instead of church for "ekklesia"). I can't speak for how accurate it is otherwise (though it seems to be fairly good based on what I have looked up). On a more material note, the book is well printed (alkaline paper - ooh), and moderately-priced (around $35). I have found it to be fairly useful.
- Metzger, Bruce M. The Canon of the New Testament: Its Origin, Deveopment, and Significance. 1997. Oxford University Press, Oxford. (ISBN 0-19-826954-4, LOC BS2320 .M47 1987)
- This is a really useful book. Metgzer begins with a two chapter survey of literature on the formation of the canon. In the next part of the book, Metzger surveys the literature of the "early church fathers" and their references to and portrayals of books that would later be considered for canonical status, considers early "heretical movements" and their effect on the formation of the canon (which Metzger as many others views as being formed in large part as a response to the "heresies"), surveys some of the still early literature bearing on the formation of the canon. In the last part of the book (which I have, unfortunately, still not read) Metzger considers "historical and theological problems in the formation of the canon." While Metzger's plan of attack is not always clear, once you've read through it, it becomes obvious that everything is presented in necessary order, so while the book sounds to be a bit haphazard, it is generally quite readable (though why he begins with a literature suvery I don't understand), if rather dense. The information is tightly packed, though, and very useful. Metzger takes a fairly strictly academic approach with some interludes of direct reasoning, not relying on theological considerations so much, but he still tends to come to conclusions that I would consider conservative. I found this book to be very interesting and probably the most informative of all the books on this list. Unfortunately, this book, available in paperback, generally, is rather expensive these days (I swear I bought it for $13, but it seems to run at least $45 on-line).
- Metzger, Bruce M. The Text of the New Testament: Its Transmission, Corruption, and Restoration (Third edition). 1992. Oxford University Press, New York. (ISBN 0-19-507297-9, LOC BS2325.M4 1992) (There is a more recent edition available.)
- This is really a sort of handbook of textual criticism, with a handbook's peculiar mix of instructive and referential material. In the first section Metzger writes about the method of productions of manuscripts, the common features of manuscripts, and so on, then he surveys the most important manuscripts (this is where the book leans more toward reference) and the early versions (that is, translations) . The next part discusses the most important printed editions and the textual-critical ideas behind them (which is mostly about, or at least framed in terms of, the so-called "Textus Receptus" and the reaction against it). The third part begins with a survey of the history of textual criticism, then discusses important considerations in criticism (that is, sources of errors in manuscripts), and ends with a sort of quick overview of how criticism is done. It also has some plates depicting some manuscripts, which, while too small to give a really good flavor, are of some use in giving an idea of what the manuscripts look like. As I said, this reads like a handbook or maybe textbook (which is in essence what it is). It would also help to be able to read Greek, though you could certainly read the book without knowing any Greek, but then you wouldn't be able to apply anything in it, though I think the information in it is useful (I certainly cannot read any serious quantity of Greek, and I still found it intersting and useful as an introduction to the field; it would of course probably be worthwhile re-reading parts after I have actually had an opportunity to work with the Greek text). It This book was useful, but it is more of an introductory text than reference, especially in comparison to the other books on this list. One quirk of this book is that most (all?) of the changes since the second edition apparently show up in the appendix, not in the book itself. There is a fourth edition out as of mid-2005 which would be more useful, I am sure, but I haven't been able to get ahold of it. This book is a little pricey, but not as bad as some (around $35 for the paperback, and $80 for the hardcover).
- Metzger, Bruce M. The Early Versions of the New Testament: Their Origin, Transmission, and Limitations. 1977. Oxford University Press, New York. (ISBN 0-19-826170-5)
- This book is a straightfoward survey of early translations ("versions") of the New Testament, covering Syriac, Coptic, Armenian, Georgian, Ethiopic, Latin, Gothic, and Slavonic in detail, and others in less. For each version he considers the history of the version, the manuscripts of the version, the "affinities" to the Greek manuscripts, and the limitations of the version in establishing the Greek text. This text might be more useful as a reference than as a straight-read, but you could do that too. I have only read portions, but I gather this book would probably be most useful to someone already rather experienced in the criticism of the Greek text. It is rather expensive (only available in hardcover, at around $90).
- Wenham, J. W. The Elements of New Testament Greek. 1965/1991. Cambridge University Press, New York. (ISBN 0-521-09842-4)
- This is a dense, and hence fluff-less, introduction to New Testament Greek. I find it to be quite usable. One major caveat is that it does not cover accents; I am finding that to be a sort of critical omission on the part of the authors, and am having to supplement this book with other sources, though I may end up replacing it altogether. It has a few exercises at the end of each chapter, which are moderately useful, though I suppose one could wish for more, but these are enough; also each chapter has a vocabulary list. This book also has the virtue of being affordable (about $30, with audio CD). I can't really recommend this though with the omission of accents, I guess, but otherwise I found it to be fairly useful (speaking as someone who knows next to nothing about Greek). (As most textbooks of this sort, it also has the disadvantage of being exclusively about New Testament Greek, which makes the book shorter, but also more narrow.)
