Theological Dictionary of the New Testament (Volume I) [Hardcover]

Gerhard Kittel (Editor)

Book Description

Series: Theological Dictionary of the New Testament | Publication Date: June 1964

Kittels Theological Dictionary of the New Testament is simply the most in-depth word study tool available. It contains articles on significant theological words in the New Testament, covering their usage in the Old Testament, their secular Greek background, their use in sources such as Josephus, Philo, pseudepigraphal and rabbinical literature, and their use in the New Testament. Where relevant, a subsection on a words use in the Apostolic Fathers is provided. Volume 1 contains entries from Alpha to Gamma.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 833 pages
• Publisher: Eerdmans Pub Co (June 1964)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0802822436
• ISBN-13: 978-0802822437
• Product Dimensions: 9.6 x 7.1 x 2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #953,328 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

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100 of 110 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A serious and excellent resource, but has serious drawbacks, August 24, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: Theological Dictionary of the New Testament (Volume I) (Hardcover)

I will speak about The Theological Dictionary of Kittel/Friedrich (tr. Bromiley) in general, then in its full vs. abridged form, and finally compare it to other resources. Let me say first, though, that my judgements are based on examinations of only a few articles. I am relatively new to this Dictionary.

Anyone's first impression must be that this work is obviously an extraordinary scholarly achievement. Articles tend to be packed with detail from several sources: Classical Greek usage, Hellenistic Philosophical and Theological/Religious vocabulary, Old Testament (Hebrew and Septuagint) examples, modern scholarship, Gnostic usage, and to a lesser extent material from Early Church Fathers, Dead Sea Scrolls, and later Judaism. I find, in fact, that the Philo's thought and Gnostic thought is overemphasized, at the expense of Patristic thought and Dead Sea Scrolls' content. I have yet to find any reference to St. Augustine's genius commentaries or treatises. (At least in the article on pneuma [Spirit] I would expect some use, or at least mention, of De Trinitate.) The writing is concise enough and readable enough for the intended (very serious) audience. Some familiarity with Ancient and Hellenistic history is essential. Anyone with intermediate skill in Ancient Greek will find the 10-vol set readable, but one needn't know Greek to find the abridged version entirely readable.

One must keep in mind, however, that it is indeed a "theological" work, and often that theology is poor. I begin to wonder even whether almost all the time was put into gathering massive amounts of texts and relavent modern analyses, so that almost no time was put into careful theologizing. For one example, in volume 6, p. 405, I read, "Lk. here [12:10] removes the saying about the sin against the Holy Ghost. . . from its Marcan context because he cannot possibly see the decisive manifestation of the Spirit in the exorcisms of the pneumatic Jesus." Another example, I've quickly come across instances that assert that St. John's Gospel and St. Ignatius of Antioch's writings brought aspects of Gnosticism into Christianity. One last example, in that same article on Pneuma (Spirit), it is said that the inference from Scripture that the Holy Spirit is the third person of the Trinity is a mistake (vol. 6, p. 433). Any reader who wishes to take this Theological Dictionary of the New Testament as a final religious authority should therefore keep in mind that in so doing he makes a few talented modern linguists more authoritative than the authors of the New Testament in matters of faith. I recommend that such a switch of faith would be unwise.

The abridged version as a rule removes the need to know Ancient/Hellenistic Greek. Passages and phrases from Greek works are referred to, but not cited. The footnotes are gone, and sometimes the content is dramatically reduced. This is necessary, for example, in cases where articles on words (or related word sets) span over 100 pages in the large volumes. Happily, some of the examples of bad theology that I gave in the above paragraph did not make it into the abridgement.

Finally I'll consider a random example of a short entry from the abridged version for comparison:

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pnoe.

1. This word means "blowing" (wind or fire), "snorting," "afflation," the "sound" of a wind instrument, e.g., the flute.

2. In the LXX it denotes the stormy wind as God's breath (2 Sam. 22:16). The human spirit is God's inbreathing (Job 27:3). pneo is the human spirit or wisdom in such passages as Prov. 1:23; 11:13; 20:27; 24:12.

3. Philo in Allegorical Interpretation of Laws 1.33.42 suggests that pnoe in Gen. 2:7 signifies the spirit that is created in the divine image.

4. A mighty wind (pnoe) announces the Spirit's coming in Acts 2:2. The Creator gives the breath of life to all people in 17:25.

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The corresponding unabridged entry, in comparison, instances the meanings in classical Greek literature with several specific citations. It lists the Hebrew words translated into pneo in the Septuagint. It references its meaning "the breath of life" through the Old Testament and deuterocanonicals. It expands on Philo's puzzlement that pneuma was not used instead in Genesis. And finally, it notes that the use of pnoe in Acts gives the account a "concrete realism."

Vine's Expositary Dictionary of New Testament Words, in contrast, only mentions the meanings "breath", "blowing", "wind", and "blast of wind". No other meanings, even from the Old Testament, are listed, and verse references are few. However, the immediate comparison of the word with its synonyms says something about the entry's symantic range that Kittel/Friedrich/Bromiley's Dictionary often misses.

New Thayer's Greek-English Lexicon, in comparison, defines pnoe as breath, the breath of life, and wind (from Homer on). It suggests comparison with one of the synonyms (pneuma), and lists one of the Hebrew words from which pnoe is translated in the Septuagint. The number of references to Old and New Testament verses are approximately the same as the number in the Abridged Theological Dictionary.

More shades of meaning for pnoe, which are not listed in any of the above works, are found in second century Patristic writings, as detailed in Lampe's specialized Patristic Greek Lexicon.

Hatch and Redpath's Concordance to the Septuagint shows that in fact 5 Hebrew words were translated pnoe in the Septuagint. Looking up each of these in a good Hebrew reference, I trust, will shed further light on the semantic range pnoe would have had for (at least) many early Jewish Christians, some of whom authored New Testament books.

In conclusion, if you want to know the full range of meaning for a New Testament word, no one (in fact no three) dictionary(/ies) will suffice. At least, I haven't found any that are complete enough. I would like to see a serious revision of the theological content of Kittel/Friedrich/Bromiley's Theological Dictionary, along with the addition of Patristic commentary, completion of Hebrew-to-Septuagint notes, and expansion on the treatment of Hebrew/Aramaic counterparts to the Greek words. Until then, it will still be of great use as a reference for academics.