A History of New Testament Lexicography

By John A.L. Lee

New Testament lexicons of today are comprehensive, up-to-date, and authoritative. Behind them lies a tradition dating back to the sixteenth century, whose characteristics are not well known. Besides giving a history of this tradition, A History of New Testament Lexicography demonstrates its less satisfactory features, notably its dependence on predecessors, the influence of translations, and its methodological shortcomings. John A. L. Lee not only criticizes the existing tradition, but stimulates thought on new goals that New Testament lexicography needs to set for itself in the twenty-first century. This book caters to the non-specialist as well as those interested in philological detail.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0820434809
• ISBN13: 9780820434803
• Release Date: May 2003
• Publisher: Peter Lang Inc., International Academic Publi
• Length: 414 Pages
• Weight: 1.30 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.9" x 6.0" x 9.0"

Customer Reviews

Edifying Experience (Mostly)

I confess Ancient Greek Lexicography is an area of interest for me, so my review is biased. I will not prognosticate what your experience will be. As Lee says Lexicons are considered the last word when it comes to meaning. So the reader will come away understanding the history behind the glosses (one word equivalents) in their Liddell-Scott and Bauer-Danker lexicons. Once they understand the Latin-German-English evolution behind our English lexicons, perhaps that knowledge will encourage translators of Greek to do word studies and not blindly follow fallible lexicons. Lee acknowledges that New Testament studies are in a better state than the Classics or Hellenistic literature, lexicographically speaking. The inadequacies of our Greek lexicons was handled with even-handedness by Lee. He devotes the remainder of the book to examples of the inadequacies mentioned in the historical section through case studies of particular lexemes. There are no smoking guns, just examples where minor adjustments are needed.

An enjoyable not infrequently witty tour of NT lexicography

Academic tomes in relatively obscure series written (apparently) for an esoteric few aren't supposed to be this enjoyable. Lee's book even kept diverting me from studying for my NT comprehensive exams (until I hit the second part, which is a little slower going). Part 1 is a fascinating historical tour, replete with photographs of ancient lexicons Lee unearthed. Lee managed to process a massive amount of information--the contents of dozens of lexicons in various languages--by wisely selective reading. He describes the character of these works in order to build a convincing narrative about them. The themes of that narrative, I'd say, are two: 1) the gloss method of definition is deficient, and 2) every lexicon necessarily builds off of others: beware! Part 2 applies his insights to a fresh processing of the usage data for various NT words, including AGAPHTOS and other less well-known words. Lee offers some key suggestions as to the direction NT lexicography ought to go in the future. I'm excited to see (during my lifetime?) the production of his own (and G.A. Horsley's) "Lexicon of the New Testament with Documentary Parallels."

Fascinating

Although I will readily admit that the title of this book alone would make many people assume that it cannot be very interesting, I must take a stand and say that the book was extremely interesting and helpful. I might never have read the book if it had not been assigned for one of my classes, but I am very glad that I read it. Lee does a very good job detailing the history of the lexica. He outlines both the things that the lexicographers have done well and also the shortcomings. Beyond that, he writes in a very engaging style, so that the reader is kept interested. Overall, I was very impressed with this book and would highly recommend it to anyone who is serious about delving into the Greek New Testament.