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55 of 56 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
ISBN confusion, May 21, 2007
This review is from: Nestle-Aland Novum Testamentum Graece (Greek Edition) (Imitation Leather)
This is a review of the Nestle-Aland Novum Testamentum Graece, editione vicesima septima revisa (revised twenty-seventh edition), edited by B. and K. Aland, Karavidopoulos, Martini, and Metzger. The standard abbreviation for the work is NA27.
Other reviewers who know more Greek than I do have already dealt with the edition itself; here I only want to sort out a confusion of ISBN numbers.
NA27, in blue vinyl boards, without a dictionary, is ISBN 9783438051004. If you search for that ISBN on Amazon, you turn up an edition priced at $39.99. But Hendrickson Publishers has collaborated with the German Bible Society to release copies of their critical editions to the United States at lower prices; hence an Amazon search for ISBN 978-1598561722 leads to yet another product page for NA27 in blue vinyl boards without a dictionary, but this time priced at $25.05. Let me say it clearly: ISBN 9783438051004 and ISBN 9781598561722 refer to exactly the same volume: there is absolutely no difference between them whatsoever, except price. I know this because I ordered ISBN 9781598561722, the edition distributed by Hendrickson, and received an immaculate copy of NA27, which had ISBN 9783438051004 printed on it. Why Hendrickson created an ISBN which does not appear on the printed book, I don't know. I imagine because they wanted to distinguish the copies which they distribute from the copies which the Bible Societies distribute.
To summarize:
NA27 without dictionary distributed by American Bible Society: ISBN 9783438051004, $39.99.
NA27 without dictionary distributed by Hendrickson Publishers: ISBN 9781598561722, $25.05.
The price is the only difference; you get the same book.
Two other ISBNs deserve mention: ISBN 9783438051073 is NA27 with a German dictionary, and ISBN 9873438051158 is NA27 with an English dictionary. I believe Hendrickson distributes NA27 with the English dictionary as well, under a different ISBN and at a lower price, but I do not have the ISBN.
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11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
A good edition, if hidebound, April 28, 2008
This review is from: Nestle-Aland Novum Testamentum Graece (Greek Edition) (Imitation Leather)
This edition of the Greek New Testament has what I would call a "reasonable text," but not an "excellent text." While the text is about as good as can be expected when following the Aland school of textual criticism, other scholarly approaches (a label which automatically excludes the "Majority Text" and "Textus Receptus" approaches) are possible and in some cases more useful. (See, for example, the insightful article "Remarks of an Outsider about [several Greek lexica] and Their Textual Basis" in the book Biblical Greek Language and Lexicography.) It is the uncritical acceptance of this Aland school that has led to the gratuitous "grade inflation" noted between the 3rd and 4th editions of the UBS Greek New Testament, which has the same Greek text as the NA 27. The more you gaze at your own navel, it seems, the better it looks, even if it hasn't changed a bit over the years. This hidebound quality of the UBS-NA text has led to some referring to it, tongue-in-cheek, as "the new Textus Receptus."
The Greek font used in this edition (I have the large print one) is easy to read; I have no complaints about it. I find the font of the UBS 3rd edition more beautiful, but that is a matter of personal taste. However, the font used in the UBS 4th edition is criminally ugly and vertigo-inducing. You may need to get it for the critical apparatus, but you will want this NA 27 or UBS 3 for continuous reading. (The UBS edition aims to highlight variants significant for translation, while the NA edition aims to cover a larger number of variants with a more complex apparatus.)
If you are a newcomer to New Testament Greek, avoid the UBS 4th edition for continuous reading. If you can, get a used copy of the 3rd edition ( The Greek New Testament; 3rd Edition With Dictionary), which has a beautiful font. Otherwise, get this Nestle-Aland 27th edition. And best wishes in your studies! It _is_ possible to learn to read the Greek New Testament well, so don't lose heart if the early going is rough.
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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Best Greek New Testament Available, November 21, 2009
This review is from: Nestle-Aland Novum Testamentum Graece (Greek Edition) (Imitation Leather)
Nestle-Aland's edition of the Novum Testamentum Graece is the best possible edition a reader of the Bible can purchase for reasons which I will enumerate.
The text is perfect: it represents the pinnacle of modern scholarship, including many variant readings and places where the text is unclear. The aesthetics are outstanding: this is beautiful Greek, and reading 1 Corinthians 13 in this beautiful looking, sounding, and meaning Greek has never been so exalting. Nothing but effusive praise here.
It is also extremely durable. It is medium-bound with softboard, some weird hybrid of hard and softcover. No matter: turn the pages gently and this book will last decades.
The Nestle is rather expensive, but in the world of commerce, you get what you pay for, and let me assure you, this little book is worth every cent.
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