Customer Reviews

A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament and Other Early Christian Literature, Second Edition

5 star:		(42)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Like the the biblical pearl of great price, the only advice I can give is,"Go sell all that you have" and get this newest edition of the venerable Bauer, Arndt, Gingrich, and Danker! This edition includes much longer definitions rather than the simple glosses that have been used by the previous two editions. The typography has been greatly improved and it makes this edition much more user-friendly. Frederick Danker is worthy of the kudoes that will be coming his way in his magisterial revision of this indispensable tool for any minister, seminarian, theological student, professor, teacher or Biblical scholar. This will be standard Greek lexicon for the next two decades. Even if you have BAGD, you'll want ot get this edition (now known as BDAG). The improvements alone are worth the purchase price.

Danker brings tremendous industry and learning to this new edition of what is, without question, the ultimate lexicon of New Testament Greek in English. Since so many other reviews appraise the (very great) absolute value of the 3rd edition, I feel that it's appropriate to sound a cautionary note about whether the 3rd edition really shines that much relative to the 2nd edition. (...)

In short, the 2nd edition is a monument of scholarship, a rock of scholarly solidity and clarity that has not been suddenly rendered obsolete. One's enthusiasm for shelling out for the 3rd edition is a bit dampened when you consider several issues:

(...)To conclude, there is obviously an audience who needs to have the absolute most current edition: namely, scholars who are going to follow up all the references in the bibliography, who need to have the published record (the 3rd edition) of every iota of deepened reflection reached by Danker. But the 2nd edition is not just a book now useful only to "unscholarly" readers. It was published in 1979, making use of Qumran material, etc., and it continues to offer its users a lucid and authoritative account of the NT lexicon.

I am not a NT specialist, but a Classics professor. I think my demands for quality philological information with which to read the NT are pretty high. The 2nd edition meets them to my satisfaction. I'd not be distressed to have only the 3rd edition--on the whole, its advantages outweigh its annoyances--but there is certainly not $50 worth of difference in the value of these editions.

This is the standard Greek lexicon for New Testament studies. I find that it takes longer to use than Louw and Nida, but gives a more mature understanding. It gives many more examples, and also points out grammatical features of the words, which can be extremely helpful. This lexicon does not attempt to give you a full dictionary definition; instead, it tries to give you the data to allow you to develop your own. For a comparison of the standard lexicons for New Testament Greek, see "http://www.mindspring.com/~jwrobie/littleGreek.html"

This book makes you work for each little bit of understanding. The method of giving many, many different examples of usage for each Greek word really broadens your understanding of each word, but is time-consuming.

This lexicon is excellent for word studies beyond the Strong's level and will drive you nuts if you don't know your case forms yet (I know from experience).

But all in all, this is a resource no Biblical scholar or wannabe scholar should be without. I'd recommend getting Strong's Concordance, Vine's Expository Dictionary, a Greek New Testament and this book to go along with a New American Standard Bible for the novice in Greek.

Your understanding of the New Testament and of Greek will grow by leaps and bounds with diligent study of these very basic resources - even if you don't intend to study Koine Greek professionally.

In a word, thorough. Owning this, you won't use your smaller Greek lexicons anymore. Besides definitions (multiple definitions, showing the range of meaning of each word), there are copious examples taken from actual usage, both in and out of the NT. This is THE lexicon of koine Greek.

With the exception of the short dictionary at the back of my Greek New Testament, no tool has been of more use in my study of Biblical Greek than this lexicon.

More than just a dictionary, the strength of this lexicon is that it gives both specific meanings of words in context as well as a knowledge of the shadings of meaning that a word carries throughout the Bible. This moves the student from a general grasp of a thing to an attentiveness to the precise way God has made himself known--there is nothing quite like it.

As other reviewers have noted, this is probably not a good place for beginners hoping to do a word study to jump in. I'd recommend Vine's for that. I also recommend that those serious in the study of Biblical Greek use this book in conjunction with a Greek New Testament, Mr. Mounce's Grammar (his lexicon is handy too), and Zerwick's Grammatical Analysis. This broad group of tools should help keep you from falling pray to a single interpretive spin.

Don't let its size and price scare you off--this book is essential for the student of Biblical Greek.

This is the most comprehensive Lexicon of Koine Greek available. I like how for almost every word, the lexicon gives you an extensive list of how this word is used in not only the New Testament, but in some of the Christian literature of the post New Testament era.

It gives you the tense and voice and mood of words, and whether or not a verb is used passively or actively in a given verse. This is the pinnacle textbook for those who are exegeting and parsing the New Testament.

The only caveat I have is with the price. But even at $140, this book is still essential for a richly rewarding study of the New Testament for advanced students. But if you live near a seminary library, you'd almost be farther ahead to use the copy in the reference section.

But if you live in the boonies like me, this book is something you should get. You may want to buy the CD-ROM Version, it is very intuitive and easy to use, and best of all, it is run on the proprietary Libronix Digital Library System, the fastest and most seamless software engine available.

I actually use the BDAG 3rd Edition add on in BibleWorks 7.0 along with Kittel's TDNT and Spicq's Theological Lexicon book sets. In my software I have BDAG next to Thayer's, Liddell & Scott, Louw & Nida's Semantical Domain, United Bible Societies, and Friberg's Lexicon. I use all of them every week for sermon exegesis (except for Kittel's and Spicq's). BDAG is a great lexicon, maybe not the best...as some reviewers have said. It really depends on what you are studying. Louw & Nida's Semantical domain really helps one see the range of a word in context to other words, and BDAG doesn't do that. BDAG gives one a lot of information, but if you are not a trained scholar, it's hard to understand it all. So often I end up turning to other lexicons for more information.

There is a tendency with BDAG towards gender inclusivity in some entries, so if you are concerned about that issue, you may be happy or unhappy with that depending on your position. It's more accurate than the older editions. Just know that the gender inclusive approach is controversial and a reason why this lexicon should be compared with others. I really like to compare this lexicon with the semantical domain lexicon by Louw & Nida.

Comparing this lexicon with other lexicons is super easy in the outstanding professional grade exegetical software called BibleWorks 6.0. (See my review there). With the pass of mouse, one can see all the lexicons on a word, with BDAG being just one of several. This allows constant comparison...and that's really the best way to use this lexicon in my opinion. When you do that over and over, week after week, month after month as I do, one gets the feel for this lexicon's strength. That strength is in providing good categories for a word, citing prime examples of each category, and a relatively fair approach in controversial issues.

A nice improvement has been hyperlinks that allow one to click on BDAG citations to see their fuller context in the program. I don't think I would get the book copy of this lexicon because the software version allows you to quickly paste an entry next to other lexicons in a word document and print them out for further ease of study and note taking. How easy is that with a printed copy of the lexicon?

With a program like BibleWorks 7.0 or their competitors one can search the lemma of a word instantly to see other instances of the use/form/stem which BDAG may not mention and get a graphical analysis of useage throughout various LXX/NT writers so you can assess the word in a more general way.

Overall, BDAG turns out to be very helpful in providing a base to chase down more information on the nuance of a word's meaning for certain situations/contexts. I cannot imagine doing exegesis without it. I would only recommend you stick the $140 bucks into software that has BDAG as an add-on. It's worth the extra money.

2009 update to this review: I've found some bias in this lexicon. I've learned that one must double check the work, and have come to see more of this lexicon as a 'commentary' than as unbiased lexical data. For example, the word 'PROGINOSKO' (to foreknow) is defined in Thayer's lexicon simply as to foreknow, yet in BDAG it has two definitions: To foreknow AND also to choose beforehand. This second definition is then leaned on heavily by Calvinists to argue for Unconditional Eternal Election based in part on the two appearances of 'Proginosko' in Romans (8:29 is the classic example). The problem with this second definition is that the term 'Proginosko' is NEVER used to mean 'Choose beforehand' in any extra-biblical literature, Greek or Jewish anywhere. It always clearly means 'to know before' or 'foreknow' usually in a prophetic sense. And if one is willing to entertain theological views outside of Calvinism, then the definition 'Foreknow' fits beautifully in Romans 8:29. (BTW-Arminians differ on whether this matters for their position-I think it strengthens their position, but many don't think it's a necessary point). In any case, Lexicons should give definitions based on some convincing evidence...especially BDAG (which cites ancient sources outside the NT in it's very title!) So this example, and there are others, demonstrates why I have learned to double check ALL lexicons and their claims. Especially when any sort of debate is involved. Double check their claims by looking at the use of the term for yourself. This is very simple with one of the professional grade software programs out there. BibleWorks 8.0 is my current favorite, but there are others that can call up all uses of any term in a wide array of ancient literature (especially Jewish literature from 300 BC through 200 AD.

Inspite of this big warning, summed up by a quote from Dr. Greg Beale at Wheaton College Grad School, "All Lexicons are commentaries", and inspite of the bias I find in this Lexical commentary, it is still a valuable tool and worthy of a five star. I still use it all the time, just double check the notes to make sure there is no bias.

There are three essential reference works that one MUST have in their library:

1. BDAG, "Greek-English Lexicon of the NT" 3rd Edition
2. Williams, "Concordance of Natural Language Patterns in the Greek New Testament"
3. Moulton-Geden, "Concordance to the Greek Testament"

All are available on Amazon at last perusal.

That being said, this new release of BDAG is well worth the reinvestment if you have been using the 2nd edition, (like me), for over 25 years. First, it is packed with the most recent papyrii and mss finds. Such additional comparative philological references are indispensable for accurate contextual studies. This 3rd edition is highly recommended.

I purchased the second edition of this volume when I was studying Greek at Denver Seminary, back in 1989 as it was highly recommend by my Greek professor. And I used it quite a bit during seminary and even after that in my personal Bible studies.

When I began work on my Analytical-Literal Translation of the New Testament: Third Edition (ALT), I got the BibleWorks 7 software program. That program has several lexicons that come standard with it, and it is a lot easier to use those lexicons than to look up words in this volume. But even with that program, with wanting to be exact as possible in my translations, I would still check Baur on occasion as it contains information that is not found in BibleWorks. Most especially, this volume indicates how words were used in extra-biblical literature. And this info can be a great help in getting an idea of how a particular word was used at the time the NT was written.

For instance, I depended on information in Baur to decide how to translate the plural of "adelphos." Most lexicons give definitions like "brother, fellow Christian, fellow believer" (Friberg on BibleWorks). But Baur's lexicon indicates "The plural can also mean brothers and sisters" (p.16). It then gives specific examples of this usage in extra-biblical literature.

This concurs with what I was taught at seminary that "adelphoi" was used to refer to a group of only men and to a group of both men and women. So I decided that the best way to render this word was to use "brothers [and sisters]." This rendering indicates the term definitely includes men but might also include women (e.g., Rom 1:13).

So this lexicon can be very helpful in pinning down the exact usage of words. But it is very expensive, and I see it is now available as an add-on for BibleWorks. Given the expense of the new third edition and of the BibleWorks add-on, since I already own the second edition, I won't be getting either of these. But if you don't own a previous version and intend to do in-depth Greek word studies, then either this hardcopy version or the BibleWorks add-on would be worthwhile.