An accessible primer to the Septuagint that will acquaint readers with the Greek versions of the Old Testament.
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Book Description
Editorial Reviews
From Library Journal
This book by academics Jobes and Silva admirably delivers what it promises: it is a clearly written and organized introduction to the Greek-language Hebrew Scriptures commonly called the Septuagint, or LXX. The authors address, with great effectiveness, the history of the Septuagint itself, its transmission over time, the establishment of its text, its interpretation, its relationship to Judaism and Christianity both ancient and modern, and the current state of scholarship on the subject. Sustaining interest in this text, still too little known to the non-specialist, is a fine achievement, especially when done with the grace and intelligence the authors display. Highly recommended.
Copyright 2001 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Copyright 2001 Reed Business Information, Inc.
From the Inside Flap
As the Bible of Hellenistic Judaism and of the early church, the Septuagint has long been important to biblical scholarship as an aid for interpreting both the Hebrew Bible and the Greek New Testament. Until now, however, no user-friendly introduction to the Septuagint has been available. Previous volumes presupposed a great deal of prior knowledge about the scholarly discussions that had been going on for decades. Writing for beginning students and seasoned scholars alike, Karen Jobes and Moisés Silva give the necessary background and provide a primer that is both accessible and comprehensive. As it moves from basic introductory matters to more advanced issues, Invitation to the Septuagint €
clarifies the Septuagint's importance for the field of biblical studies €
reviews the history of early Greek versions of the Bible €
introduces the current printed editions of the Septuagint €
provides explanatory notes on selected Septuagint passages €
surveys the present state of Septuagint research This practical resource will undoubtedly become the standard introduction for those seeking a clear and accessible guide to the study of the Septuagint.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
101 of 104 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Excellent Beginner's Guide,
This review is from: Invitation to the Septuagint (Hardcover)
The two most impressive aspects of this work are 1) its organization and 2) it assumes no prior education in Septuagint studies on the part of the reader. The authors are careful to explain for the beginner such things as linguistic concepts and text-critical methods as they relate to biblical studies as a whole, and specifically to the Septuagint. It is not even assumed, for example, that the reader is aware the Septuagint and the LXX are one and the same. Throughout the book, Jobes and Silva clearly describe the numerous difficulties involved in this field, giving several examples along the way. As the book progresses, the level of difficulty increases, and the reader is made keenly aware of the problems involved in working with the Septuagint. The book contains an outstanding glossary of terms, a subject index, a Scripture index, an index of authors, and a chart giving the corresponding English references for Septuagint references (as they do not always harmonize). It is organized into three parts, each part successively more involved and advanced than the previous. Total contents: Introduction, 14 chapters, 4 appendices, and 3 indices. Introduction Part 1: The History of the Septuagint--Introduces the subject, including how "Septuagint" is pronounced and its relevance to biblical studies; describes its origin, how it was edited and copied over time, and introduces the reader to modern published editions of the Septuagint; explains translation methods of the Septuagint's translators. No Greek or Hebrew is required and any Greek or Hebrew terms used are transliterated. Part 2: The Septuagint in Biblical Studies--Covers textual criticism; linguistic issues relating to Koine Greek in the New Testament and the Septuagint; importance of the Dead Sea Scrolls; the New Testament's use and quotation of the Septuagint; and the Septuagint translators' hermeneutical methods. Unlike Part 1 of the book, the reader will benefit more from this section by having at least an elementary knowledge of Greek and Hebrew. Terms are no longer transliterated. Part 3: The Current State of Septuagint Studies--Introduces the reader to significant scholars in the field; current lexical and grammatical work; progress and theories related to textual criticism of the Septuagint; and theological factors during the Hellenistic period which may have affected interpretation and translation. Overall, an excellent introduction. I myself have never before been exposed to the many issues related to Septuagint studies. I was impressed with the book's organization, clarity, and comprehensiveness in introducing the beginner to the difficulties and many related fields of study which are involved in working with the Septuagint.
54 of 61 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
A good, but flawed, introduction,
By
This review is from: Invitation to the Septuagint (Hardcover)
James Barr's review of this work hits the flaw of Dobes and Silva's work accurately, if with too much emphasis. Whenever the LXX is compared to the MT in the work, the MT is presupposed to be the more accurate, even when good grounds exist for seeing the LXX as at least equally probably, J&S leave the reader convinced the LXX is the inferior reading.
They overuse the appeal to the "more difficult reading" since one does not know what that the LXX Vorlage would have actually 'been' easier. One of the goals of a translator is to make the text understandable in the language it is translated into. By appealing to the more difficult reading rule in a case of translation, they are assuming that the text is a woodenly literal translation when it may not have been. The result is when the LXX is clearly a complicated reading, the LXX must have 'garbled' the text. When the LXX is simpler, it must have been a later reading in the Hebew. One is left without a clear idea as to why one 'should' study the LXX, other than as a course of study or to work on one's Greek. Much of the work is excellent. The biographies, the background of the LXX and the history of its translation, and other matters are very well done. But the work is significantly flawed in the area of Hebrew/Greek text comparison, and one should perhaps compare this with a work that is less presupposed to MT dominance when doing text comparisons and side-by-side translations of the MT and the LXX.
33 of 36 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
The anti-Sepuagint scholar's guide to the Septuagint,
By J. Michael (Now Born) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Invitation to the Septuagint (Paperback)
I must heartily second Shawn Gillogly's review. While this is actually a very erudite and valuable work, one can't help being befuddled by the authors' frequent disparagement of the Septuagint (LXX) in favor of the Masoretic text (MT) as a more reliable transmission of the sense of the lost original Hebrew "Vorlage." In addition to the question as to why the authors would devote their careers to a text they disparage as some unreliable flight of fancy, I still do not understand why a manuscript dating from the 10th century AD, which the authors acknowledge to differ heavily from even the revised and standardized Hebrew text of the 2nd century AD-which itself differed heavily from earlier variants- should be considered a more "reliable" text than the Greek translation from the 3rd century BC. The authors make snide remarks about the use of the Septuagint by the Early Church and the modern Greek Orthodox and declare that translations should "rightly" be made from the MT. They also make declarative statements about the so-called deuterocanonicals having never been included in the Hebrew canon. That's a true statement, on the surface, but since a Hebrew canon wasn't officially established until at least a century after Christ, that doesn't say much about the legitimacy of the Early Church having chosen the LXX, with its "deuterocanonicals", as its Old Testament text. Are the authors' preferences an example of philosemitism or Protestant bias? I don't know, but I don't think they make the case for the superiority of the MT over the LXX, and anyone reading this book would be hard pressed to explain why there is any value in studying the LXX at all, except as Mr. Gillogly mused, as an exercise to polish one's ancient Greek language skills. The authors' frequent summary dismissal of rival academics' theories also grates on the nerves. (The theory of so-and-so has been "refuted" or is "not persuasive") They should have left such catty editorializing for their next Bible scholars conference in Las Vegas.
However, apart from that main concern, this book does provide an excellent overview of the various LXX manuscripts, revisions, recensions, editions and controversies. Readers without an intermediate knowledge of ancient Greek and Hebrew might find large parts of the book hard slogging from page 103 onward, but it would still be comprehensible to a monolingual reader. To me, this book is an excellent technical introduction to the Septuagint, but its authors' opinions are misguided I think and inappropriate for a book purporting to be a reference work of impartial scholarship.
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