Anchor Yale Reference Pre-Pub
I know I want the Raymond Brown collection, which is $120 by itself, and the Pseudepigraphica, $90. I'm not particularly interested in A Marginal Jew by itself ($160). Is there anything especially worthwhile in the rest of the collection?
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Pam, I don't know much about the works themselves, and "worthwhile" is a term that is relative to the person asking it: what makes it "worthwhile" for you (or anybody else)? For me, most of the authors are not in my theological spectrum, necessarily, but i would be quite enthused, as you are, about Raymond Brown. (I have hardcopies of his John/John's Epistles commentaries).
But Paul Meier as a good reputation and I could conceive that his works--even if I don't get into the title--would be valuable resources for a variety of reasons. As I looked down the list of other works, some of the reviews intrigued me, and another review or two were written by guys more in my theological realm, (like Scot McKnight) and they had specific praise and value for some of those works. Sooooo, I went ahead and took the plunge on the whole set. It is possible I might pare that back to a few, but if I can swing it financially, I think it is "worth it" to get the whole set on pre-pub pricing.
I like Apples. Especially Honeycrisp.
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I agree with Dan. When I opened Logos the first pop-up window was to the Ray Brown set and I ordered it through pre-pub then returned to Logos. Then the Charlesworth set popped up and I ordered that. Then the Anchor Library set popped up and I paused for a few minutes to see what was therein, think abouyt the price, and then ordered that set and canceled the first two! Unlike Pam perhaps, John Meier's work intrigues me and have worked rather laboriously through the four volumes. [I write "laboriously" because I had to look up citations manually and even then probably only got through 1/2 of the scriptural ones and 1/10 of the extra-canonical ones! I'll probably reread the texts when Logos publishes them because of the hyperlinks.] If one is interested in historical reconstruction of Jesus and wants a perspective other than that of the Jesus Seminar, one can not do much better than Meier (John, not Paul). His work is detailed, meticulous, careful and, above all, he exhibits what I would call "sound judgment." Of course I have disagreements with this and that, but even in disagreement I have found myself forced to come to grips with his arguments and to put that disagreement into words and am, I think, a better exegete for that. Of course, if that question holds no interest for one, then the four volumes are a colossal paper-weight or door-stop. So when I did the arithmetic, the decision was easy for me. Some of the other names are known to me, e.g., LT Johnson, and I expect to find some value in their work. Others were not know to me, e.g., the author(s) of the archeology texts, but colleagues in Hebrew scriptures vouched ex post facto for quality of their work. So I took the plunge and endorse Dan's last sentence
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"Jesus and the Dead Sea Scrolls" by Charlesworth is good. I've not read anything by Schiffman, but he is a respected authority on the scrolls so I am looking forward to his book.
I would also like to see the 3 volume set "The Bible and the Dead Sea Scrolls" edited by Charlesworth offered by Logos.
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Thanks, guys. I'm keeping my eye on the pre-pub page, and may make the switch before it goes to 100% (and presumably the price goes up). It's just that I would hate to lose out on the two smaller collections if budget issues cause me to cancel the larger collection before it goes live, and I don't think it's fair to Logos to keep all of the pre-pub options open.
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I've been weighing and balancing this set out, as well.
The Gottigen is going to be out on the 8th of November and AYRL seems to be coming out at the end of this week. I probably need to pick or choose. I am also grouping whatever I buy up with several other volumes which I had pre-pubs under and I am buying them at one fell swoop, thanks to D. Pritchett's offer to do so.
So, I am trying to figure out which of these two resources I am going to pick up this go around. Admittingly, The Gottigen Septuagint is an item I won't fully be taking advantage of until I go to Seminary, and then it would probably be the last couple years of the four year ThM. I can probably, almost assuradly, use the AYRL immediately.
But, lets look at the money picture here and figure out how good of a deal the AYRL really is to the library of an Academic book buyer.
I have a spread sheet with everything that is interesting to me both recently in pre-pub which has been released and that which is currently in pre-pub and about to be released. I break them down by Pre-pub price, number of pages, and finally, number of volumes included.
The AYRL is the best value of all of the high priced pre-pubs of recent memory or currently being offered. At $599.95 and 18,246 pages it comes to $.03 per page and $20.69 per volume. Conversely, the Gottigen is a close runner up at $.04 per page and 6,910 pages and the 69 volumes are a slick $4.35 per volume. Unless I just don't have any Septuagint resources, I think the AYRL is a clear winner for me.
Also, just for kicks, the AYBC (84 volumes) is $1,899 at retail and I'm sure you could get a great deal on the phone with a sales guy. But, at retail, the 44,123 page monstrosity is a fantastic deal at $.04 per page and $22.61 per volume. If you could get that for $1,500, you'd be paying $.03 per page and $17.86 per volume. I don't know if you can get it at $1,500, as I haven't even asked; I am just using that for an example. But the point here is the AYBC and the AYRL are fantastic values, probably close to or the best values in the entire Logos offering.
Wilson Hines
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