How current is Leon Morris' John?
I am looking at buying Leon Morris' discounted commentary on John in the NICNT series. I already have Carson (Pillar), Köstenberger (BECNT), Smalley correction: Beasley-Murray (WBC), Lindars, Keener, and Lincoln (Black). In light of this, I don't want to pick up a volume that would prove to be largely redundant. I have two questions then for owners of the volume:
1. To what extent does it remain current or may be outdated?
2. In light of what I already have, if you think it remains a must-have, why would that be?
Comments
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It has been replaced by the commentary from J. Ramsey Michaels, but it is still valuable. I would think the biggest benefit would be that all of the other volumes that you own refer to it, probably numerous times, so you could have it to see the context of those citations. It's also a chance to own another NICNT volume if you like that series.
Edit: I was going to reply again to say that it seems very expensive, even with the sale price, but I note that it is now cheaper than the Kindle edition.
Disclaimer: I hate using messaging, texting, and email for real communication. If anything that I type to you seems like anything other than humble and respectful, then I have not done a good job typing my thoughts.
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Joseph Turner said:
it seems very expensive, even with the sale price, but I note that it is now cheaper than the Kindle edition
Yes, on both counts. Cheaper than the kindle edition shows that the Logos price is comparatively fair (on sale) but overall, the volume remains inordinately, and somewhat inexplicably, high priced. It is interesting that the current sale on the entire Kistemaker 12 volumes NT set makes it available to me for $49. It makes for an interesting comparative question when it comes to value versus cost: should I buy, for comparable cost, an entire set or one volume? Is the one volume so much superior that it justifies such a difference in pricing? I have my doubts about this.
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Considering what you already have, I don't think the Morris volume is necessary. All of the newer volumes will cover any groundbreaking insights that Morris provides.
Agreed about the Baker New Testament Commentary set. At that price, I couldn't pass it up.
Disclaimer: I hate using messaging, texting, and email for real communication. If anything that I type to you seems like anything other than humble and respectful, then I have not done a good job typing my thoughts.
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I'll throw in my two cents. I wrote my dissertation on John almost 20 years ago (which means Morris was 20 years newer). Naturally, I was aware of his commentary, but I don't recall a single citation to it in 300 pages of work, not because it isn't competent work, but -- as Joseph has pointed out -- there wasn't much there that wasn't somewhere else. If you're pondering whether to buy this volume versus buying a whole set, or whether it's worth it to buy just this volume irrespective of other choices, I can't answer that for you because I don't know your priorities or financial situation. But I would certainly not put Morris in the "essential works on John" category. Besides, it was replaced for good reasons, not all of which have to do with publication date.
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