Customer Reviews

The New Testament in the Original Greek (Greek Edition)

5 star:		(19)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

A very impressive work! The preface gives a fascinating summary of Greek New Testament text types, as well as an explanation of how this particular Byzantine textform was arrived at. Another reviewer did not seem to like the essay at the back of the book being included as part of the work. I respect that criticism, but personally I found it helpful at correcting some of the misinformation that has circulated regarding the Byzantine textform, and did not consider its content to be inappropriate here. I like the simplicity of the critical apparatus...it leaves the page looking attractive and uncluttered. The Greek text itself is laid out in a beautiful font (it looks like the font in my Mounce text book, and happens to be my favorite) that is non-italic. This to me is a huge benefit, as an italic font tends to distract me. Capitalization, normal Greek punctuation, accents and breathing marks are all present, which makes for smooth reading. In all physical respects, the book seems to be of top-notch quality (kudos to Chilton Book Publishing on that). The binding seems strong, and easily allows you to open the book all the way while laying it flat on the table. The paper is relatively heavy, and you cannot see through the pages at all. The cover is hard-back and classy-looking. Even the dust cover is attractive. The black-ribbon page marker is a nice touch as well. The entire work seems to be very well edited. I tend to be a stickler about spelling or punctuation errors, and I did not notice any in the preface, text, or essay at the back (although of course I haven't read all of the Greek text yet). I don't know this for a fact, but based on the quality of the book and the advertised price, I would say that they must be selling it at cost. Thanks to the compilers and publisher for a very respectful treatment of God's Word in Greek. This is a fitting memorial to Mr. William Pierpont, to whom the volume is dedicated.

Since Seminary I have been more and more convinced that the Byzantine Text (found in the majority of Greek NT manuscripts) deserves greater consideration than it is given when determining the readings of the original. This work comes the closest of any to representing a text reconstructed according to that theory. For that reason alone it should be helpful to both proponents and opponents of this theory.

I have been using the original Pierpont/Robinson Greek New Testament since it came out in 1991 but, like others, missed the variant apparatuses. This edition is a great step forward, though it still lacks the completeness of the Hodges/Farstad apparatus (much less that of Nestle/Aland 27), where you can actually get an idea of the texual witnesses. This is a shame, because I believe the text itself is superior to either of those other two.

Add to that a readable font, nice hadrcover presentation, very thorough theoretical introduction and appendix, and a price well below the other editions, and this should make it a consideration for use as a first New Testament text in Bible College and Seminary Greek classes.

Missing is the bibliography available in both the older edition and also in the Hodges/Farstad Majority Text.

Also, it is refreshing to see the editors releasing this text into the public domain so it can be used free of copyright restrictions.

My only question is, Why not adhere to the currently accepted order of the NT books. Using an old 4th cemtury order, in my view, only makes it harder on the general reader, and serves no useful purpose.

Although I had the previous edition, its "unique features" kept me using my Hodges and Farstad as my primary New Testament. That earlier version was a paperback, with bare, unaccented, unaspirated, unpunctuated text, and no apparatus. This one is a beautiful hardback (with a nice dust-jacket), with a very nice, large font, accented/aspirated/punctuated text, intra-Byzantine variants in the left column, and NA/UBS variants at the bottom of the page. Ideal in almost every way.

I'm glad Dr. Robinson has incorporated features that will help make the Byzantine Text more widely accessible to non-specialists. Hopefully this will contribute to a more widespread usage of this excellent text.

I would highly recommend this book as a good standard "Byzantine" text exhibiting the 'majority' textform. It is set in good readable type; but one thing that would make it more valuable would be examples and cross-references.
I particularly was impressed with the defense for the "majority text" in the back of the Greek New Testament.
Following Dean John Burgon's seven tests for reliability and validity helps make this text a "keeper" and one which will soon become the standard Greek Text among those who value historic testimony as Burgon did.

Setting aside for the moment the issue of the underlying text, this is a GREAT Greek NT to own. The other reviewers are absolutley correct; The font on this text is by far the best available, large and clear and dark, printed on nice white paper. It is almost as large as the large print Nestle Aland and larger than the UBS 4. Both of those books for some reason have yellow paper, the white paper is much nicer. The binding on this book is MUCH better than the NA or UBS stuff which is known to fall apart with any use at all. The cover on this book is a nice red/gold/black. Because there is more Greek text per page than anything else available, this book is thinner and more light weight than others which does make a difference. All this at an excellent price!

Now as far as the idea that the Byzantine text is closer to the original than the primarily Alexandrian text underlying NA27 and UBS 4, I would say that even if you don't beleive this to be true you should still buy this text because at the bottom of the page you have every reading from NA27 which differs from this text. Thus if you are an enthusiast for NA27 you can see all the places where it disagrees from what is more or less a modified version of the Textus Receptus. When you do this I think you will be struck with a few things. Number one, both texts agree most of the time, say 95%. Where they disagree a lot of the differences are very minor, DE for KAI, a different word order, maybe an article missing or added. More importantly, you will note that MANY of the readings in this text appear shorter and more difficult according to the traditonal criteria and therefore on the surface would appear more likely to be original. Robinson points out in an appendix that NA27 excludes these readings because they come from a "late" texts, but you can't have it both ways. If more difficult readings are likely to be original, how come Robinson's text has so many more difficult readings. What all this does I think is lower your confidence in textual criticism. You are left with the impression that this text for the most part is likley to be as close to the original as NA 27. Maybe it does make sense to read instead of a text which is a hodgepodge of speculations from modern scholars to read a text which at least represents readings that are found in a textual family that is earlier enough. Particularly when again you have all the readings of NA 27 in footnotes.

But even if you think this text is late and secondary, it still is nice to have as a resource. You can use it more closely with a KJV or a New KJV translation if that is your preference, and it is kind of nice to have a text which for example includes the doxology in the Lord's prayer right in the text. But above all, for pure joy of reading the external features of this text as so superior to UBS or NA that I would at least get it to supplement one of those, again considering the price is so cheap.

This is an all-round excellent edition of the Greek New Testament.

The text font is large and highly readable; similar to what you would find in a Biblical Greek textbook. Overall, the external quality of the book is very high, especially taking into consideration the retail price.

Variant Byzantine readings are included in the margin where they have a significant amount of textual support (although no detail is provided in regards to specific manuscript support of each variant). ALL variations between this text and the NA27/UBS4 base text are also included in the footnotes, even when these are only very minor such as word order (I did a quick comparison of one chapter between this text and the NA27 and all variants were definitely noted).

Accents, Breathings, capitalization and punctuation have been added to the text to improve readability (although these were not included in the original manuscripts they are certainly helpful for those of us who are not experts in Koine Greek). Paragraph divisions and chapter/verse numbers have also been added. Subject headings are not included in the text.

This edition also contains a good introduction and appendix outlining some general introductory information about the various text types and presenting the editors reasons for their choice of texts. Even if you are a NA27 proponent these articles still contain valuable information, and alert the reader to the methodology utilized by the editors when choosing between competing manuscripts.

Conclusion: If you are after a well-priced and highly readable edition of the Greek New Testament, this is a highly viable option.

I was nothing but pleased when I recieved this edition. I can tell a lot of work was put into it. I would like to see more work done to have a English translation based off the byzantine text. This is a much needed bridge in between the Texus receptus and the critical text. Really well bound, very readable print, and awesome price.

I have long believed the Majority Text (MT) to be superior to the Critical Text (CT, i.e., the NA/ UBS text) and even to the Textus Receptus (TR). My first introduction to the MT was via the textual footnotes in the NKJV. These reference Hodges and Farstad's Majority Text.

Later I became aware of Robison & Pierpont's MT, and having studied their differing methodologies, I came to believe that R&P's was even more accurate. However, it should be noted that the differences between these two texts are minimal. This is even truer for the Second Edition of R&P's text as some of the changes between editions brought R&P's text into alignment with the H&F text. I discuss in detail my reasons for preferring the R&P's MT to the CT and TR and even to H&F's MT in my book Differences Between Bible Versions.

So when I felt God was leading me to produce my own translation of the NT back in 1999, I naturally used R&P's text. The First Edition of the text was available on my BibleWorks program, which I used extensively in my translation work. But I was also able to contact Maurice Robinson, and he graciously emailed me a digital copy of his text, with changes that had been made to it at that point in preparation for his Second Edition. So the First Edition of my Analytical-Literal Translation of the New Testament: Third Editionwas as up-to-date as possible.

In 2005 I began work on the Second Edition of my ALT, and Dr. Robinson once again helped me out by sending me a list of changes between his First and Second Editions, so ALT2 could be based on the new edition. He also sent me a list of all of the Byzantine alternative readings that would appear as footnotes in his new edition. These indicate places where the Byzantine Greek manuscripts are closely divided. But I wasn't able to include those in ALT2.

In 2007, I published a Third Edition of the ALT, along with an accompanying Companion Volume to the Analytical-Literal Translation: Third Edition. In this volume, I was able to include translations of the Byzantine alternative readings. In many cases, the difference between the main text and the alternate reading is so minor that it does not show up in translation. But my "Companion Volume" lists all of the alternate readings where the difference is translatable. But even then, most of the time, the difference between the main text and the alternate reading is very minor. So the reader can have full confidence in the integrity of R&P's Greek text.

So I have been working extensively with this Greek text for some time, even before it was published. But it good to see that Dr. Robinson was finally able to get his text published in a very readable and usable format.

This is an absolute joy to read!! Anyone interested in the Greek New Testament should definetly add this to their library. If your new to learning the Greek language, or are in the dark on the majorty text issue, this is a great resource. This book is also very easy to read. Also, the New Testament in this book is completely in Greek, no Engish in an interlinear format, or on oppsing pages!! The introduction, preface, ect. are in English though. I give this product an A+!!!

Excellent in it's simplicity. Robinson and Pierpont give you exactly what you want and nothing you don't. This book is just what it's title claims it to be, "The New Testament in the Original Greek". There are no Strong's numbers or any other kind of "helps" in the text; it's all Greek baby! So understand that you'll need to at least learn the Greek alphabet and a few basic words going in, but it is what it is. I give this book the highest rating.