Acts: A Handbook on the Greek Text (Baylor Handbook on the Greek New Testament) [Paperback]

Mikeal C. Parsons (Author), Martin M. Culy (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 1, 2003 | Series: Baylor Handbook on the Greek New Testament

While more recent commentaries have focused on questions of the social values, rhetorical conventions, and narrative strategies, Parsons and Culy provide the textual, philological, and grammatical essentials to any act of interpretation. By working through this text systematically, readers will gain a firmer grasp of the peculiar shape of the grammar of the book of Acts and become equipped to approach the other New Testament documents with increased confidence.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Their work instantly moves to the front rank of necessary reference books for all readers of Acts . . ." -- A. K. M. Adam, Associate Professor of New Testament, Seabury-Western Theological Seminary

Teachers and students of the Greek New Testament have long lacked resources for book-by-book lexical, grammatical, and textual analysis. The Book of Acts--less-studied than most other New Testament books--benefits especially from Parsons' and Culy's thorough, careful, exhaustive treatment of the book's syntax and vocabulary. Their work instantly moves to the front rank of necessary reference books for all readers of Acts. --A. K. M. Adam, Associate Professor of New Testament, Seabury-Western Theological Seminary

What pastors and students need today are tools to facilitate rapid reading and study of the Greek text, tools that at the same time keep a person in touch with issues of basic grammar and syntax. This simple but helpful volume fits the bill. --George H. Guthrie, Benjamin W. Perry Professor of the Bible, Union University

About the Author

Martin M. Culy is associate Professor of New Testament at Briercrest Biblical Seminary. Culy earned an M.A. in Linguistics from the University of North Dakota, the M.Div. from Grace Theological Seminary, and the Ph.D. from Baylor University. Mikeal C. Parsons is Professor of Religion at Baylor University. Parsons earned his Ph.D. from Southern Baptist Theological Seminary and is the author of The Departure of Jesus in Luke-Acts (1987); Rethinking the Unity of Luke and Acts (1993); and, with Heidi J. Hornick, Illuminating Luke: The Infancy Narrative in Italian Renaissance Painting (2003).

Product Details

• Paperback: 558 pages
• Publisher: Baylor University Press (November 1, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0918954908
• ISBN-13: 978-0918954909
• Product Dimensions: 7.4 x 6.3 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #592,755 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

20 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A unique and very helpful resource, April 10, 2004

By 

William Varner "dribex" (Newhall, CA United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Acts: A Handbook on the Greek Text (Baylor Handbook on the Greek New Testament) (Paperback)

I saw this title in an ad from Baylor and asked for an examination copy since I am a professor of Greek exegesis. To be honest, I had low expectations, thinking that it was going to be too basic for my own needs and those of my students in "The Greek Text of Acts." Was I pleasantly surprised when I received this marvelous book, compactly written and printed and yet still over 550 pages. It serves its purpose - to illuminate the grammar of Acts for exegesis - exceedingly well. I have already decided to adopt it for a course in the Fall. This is more than an "analytical lexicon." It is more than a "grammatical analysis." It combines the good points of those types of works with a great awareness and sensitivity to the most recent work in grammar and linguistic insights into the language.
It will serve pastors well, but also should not be viewed by professors as too much of a "crutch" for their students. It doesn't tell the reader everything about a verse. It doesn't eliminate the use of a good commentary or one's own exegetical analysis. As a matter of fact, the authors make excellent recommendations about other writings and have an excellent up-to-date bibliography on Acts. Parsons and Culy often cover matters that the commentaries omit. It is current, compactly written and very helpful for readers of the Greek text at all levels. We need to see more works like this from these two authors, if they are in the same vein as this work. Highly recommended!

13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Solid exegesis starts right here, January 12, 2004

By 

James A. Stewart "tyndale2045" (Toccoa, GA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Acts: A Handbook on the Greek Text (Baylor Handbook on the Greek New Testament) (Paperback)

Culy and Parsons are among the most scrutinizing and perceptive exegetes in evangelicalism today. Clear, concise, and painstakingly careful, you will not find a better work on the Greek text of Acts anywhere.

The book is directed toward people who have at least an intermediate knowledge of Greek. Among other things, it helps readers to understand what are the various interpretive options that the text of Acts allows, and often makes arguments for which ones are preferable. It is not for the faint of heart, though; this is anything but light reading. I often spend fifteen minutes examining one specific verse, analyzing what the different exegetical options are, and considering how my interpetation of the text could be affected by each one.

The book is formatted in the style typical to scholarly commentaries today. The text of Acts is broken up into various sections, at the beginning of each one is the authors' own translation. Then they provide a phrase by phrase (often word by word) analysis of each individual verse.

It is worth noting that the book is quite handy for those who find Luke's style of Greek to be somewhat intimidating. It can help to clarify those difficult passages where his writing leans heavily toward the classical style, and is even useful for those who are studying his gospel, since it gives readers a feel for his use of the language.

It should be emphasized that there is not very much in this book as far as "commentary" is concerned. Rather than examining the broad picture that Luke has given us, it focuses on the tiny pixels that make up that picture. But, it does such a great job in doing so, that I highly recommend keeping it nearby when you are reading any commentary on Acts.

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Grammatical Commentary, February 28, 2008

By 

S. M. Baldwin (Fox Point, WISCONSIN United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Acts: A Handbook on the Greek Text (Baylor Handbook on the Greek New Testament) (Paperback)

The ground rules: I am not a professional theologian or greek scholar. I am a layman who has done 1st year greek for fun. I am past Mounce's "Basics" and am at the early Wallace ("Greek Grammar Beyond...") stage.

I would describe this book as a grammatical commentary. Culy and Parsons divide Acts into passages and translate each. Then they go through phrase by phrase and comment on the grammatical structure. They provide a lot of parsing information which is useful to the beginner/intermediate reader. They also identify the common and the more advanced grammatical structures -- for example in Acts 1:2 we have an example of an "internally headed relative clause". You always wondered about Acts 1:2 didn't you? :-). They thankfully provide definitions for such structures!

If you want theology, word studies, literary criticism etc. you will not find it here. If you want a more in-depth analysis of the grammar of Acts, or if you want a helping-hand with your parsing as you read, this book is a treasure trove and is highly recommended. It provides much more grammatical information than e.g. Zerwick/Grosvenor (A Grammatical Analysis of the Greek New Testament)and suchlike volumes but will not (in general) translate individual words.

There is one more book in this series by Martin Culy on John's Epistles which follows the same format and is equally valuable.

I think that with this type of book, Baylor have addressed a real need here, and I hope they follow up with further volumes on more books of the GNT.