Just wondering if anyone has any thoughts about the Lexham High Definition New Testament? Especially anyone who might own it. Thanks in advance.
Well....I'm not the most accomplished person to speak about it....but here are two screen shots...the first is from the introduction.....and the second is part of a text....
You guys are REALLY BAD PEOPLE!
Here I thought that I had arrived, now there is one more thing on my Logos wish list [:(]
I have been using the Lexham Series since they were published in connection with my doctoral research. They are very useful in helping to unpick exactly what is happening in dynamic, grammatical terms in a Biblical text. At present the Discourse Grammar of the Greek New Testament: A Practical Introduction for Teaching and Exegesis is available on PrePub. http://www.logos.com/products/prepub/details/4599
In Discourse Grammar of the Greek New Testament, Steve Runge introduces a function-based approach to language, and seeks to describe grammatical conventions based upon the discourse functions they accomplish. This volume does not reinvent previous grammars or supplant previous work on the New Testament. Instead, Runge reviews, clarifies, and provides a unified description of each of the discourse features. That makes it useful for beginning Greek students, pastors, and teachers, as well as for advanced New Testament scholars looking for a volume which synthesizes the varied sub-disciplines of New Testament discourse analysis.
The approach in Discourse Grammar of the Greek New Testament is cross-linguistic. Runge looks at how all languages operate before he focuses on Greek. He examines linguistics in general to simplify the analytical process and explain how and why we communicate as we do, leading to a more accurate description of the Greek text. The approach is also function-based—meaning that Runge gives primary attention to describing the tasks accomplished by each discourse feature.
Having been passed a review copy I can't recommend it too highly. If you are interested in how discourse analysis can be used, then Read This First!
Steve Runge is the Scholar in residence at Logos and blogs occasionally in the Logos Blog and has his own NT Discsourse Blog. If you want a flavour of what Discourse Analysis can do, you can sample it at http://www.ntdiscourse.org.
As a layman, I benefit from it a lot. I will say that it certainly helps. For example, one of the things we need to constantly look at is the sentence division, where the main verb is (so, where the participle is), which words are emphasized, etc. These are all related to Greek grammar, which I cannot master until years of training. Actually some of the translation allows you to do the same analysis. e.g. I used Darby in the past, its sentence division and participle are used exactly as the Greek (I mean the main verb and the participle). And Darby translate all the connections (and, so, then, now...) from the Greek. The result is a translation in WRONG English. So, I find that all the popular modern translation abandon this approach. That's the reason I use HDNT, so that same kind of information is obtained in a modern translation. Of course, I also learn more things from it. Its introduction to all the discourse analysis tools actually introduce us the concept of discourse analysis briefly. E.g. attention-getting, counter point point (from the Greek "men"), etc.
I will say it is very useful overall. But it cannot replace the need of Greek. Using it before one master Greek is very helpful, and it will still be helpful after mastering Greek. The reason is this: I cannot use the Greek in everyday life (morning devotion, daily Bible reading, preaching, etc.) but with the HDNT it becomes so accessible that can be read daily, and study the Greek when you want to study the Bible.
Someone who has this resource may want to report the comma splices in the third and fourth bolded example sentences as typos.
Thanks guys for the replies. I'm leaning towards picking this up but wanted some inside opinions.
I will suggest you to buy the Discourse Greek New Testament together, which is in one package. It helps even if you know Greek.
