Books from 2007

The first is the top five books I read in my opinion and the second consists of the rest of the books I completed in 2007. The final list consists of books that I began in 2007 and will finish in the next month or two.

Top Five Books of 2007:

Early Christian Mission Jesus and the Twelve by Eckhard J. Schnabel

You can’t even touch Schnabel with his breadth of knowledge regarding both the Old and New Testaments. I can’t wait to sink my teeth into Volume 2 on Paul.

The Gospel of Matthew (NICNT) by R. T. France

This is probably the best written commentary I’ve ever read. France’s exegesis is focused and detailed, but he reads like a novel – not to mention his translation of the gospel is rendered with beautiful English style.

The First Book of Samuel (NICOT) by David Toshio Tsumura

See my review on the Review page to understand why this is here.

Lexical Semantics of the Greek New Testament by Eugene Nida and Johannes Louw

Now this is how you do word studies.

Rediscovering Paul: An Introduction to His World, Letters and Theology by David B. Capes

Simple, concise, but accurate and up to date introduction to everything Paul.

Book I read and completed in 2007

Articulatory Phonetics: Tools for Analyzing the World’s Language by Anita Bickford
Analyzing Grammar: An Introduction by Paul Kroeger
Phonological Analysis: A Functional Approach by Donald Burquest
Linguistics and Biblical Interpretation by Peter Cotterell & Max Turner
Ephesians and Colossians (Paideia: Commentaries on the New Testament) By Charles Talbert
Getting to Know the Church Fathers: An Evangelical Introduction By Bryan M. Litfin
The Mission of God: Unlocking the Bible’s Grand Narrative by Christopher Wright
The Text of the New Testament in Contemporary Research Edited by Bart Ehrman & Michael Holmes
The Text of the New Testament: Its Transmission, Corruption and Restoration by Bruce Metzger, 3rd Edition
The First Epistle to the Corinthians (NICNT) by Gordon Fee
Orthodoxy by G. K. Chesterton
Studies in the Theory and Method of New Testament Textual Criticism by Eldon Jay and Gordon D. Fee Epp
Explorations in Exegetical Method: Galatians As a Test Case by Moises Silva
God, Revelation and Authority (God Who Speaks and Shows, Volume I) by Carl Ferdinand Howard Henry
The Epistle to the Romans (NICNT) by Douglas J. Moo
Multipurpose Tools for Bible Study by Frederick W. Danker
Biblical Words and Their Meaning by Dr. Moises Silva
Honor, Patronage, Kinship & Purity: Unlocking New Testament Culture by David Arthur deSilva
Adopted into God’s Family: Exploring a Pauline Metaphor (NSBT) by Trevor J. Burke
Interpreting the New Testament Text: Introduction to the Art and Science of Exegesis by Fanning and Bock
Song of Songs (NICOT) by Tremper Longman III
Book Of Proverbs: Chapters 1-15. (NICOT) by Bruce K. Waltke
The End of the Affair by Graham Greene
Paul, Apostle of the Heart Set Free by Frederick Fyvie Bruce
Power from on High: The Spirit in Israel’s Restoration and Witness in Luke-Acts by Max Turner
History and Interpretation in New Testament Perspective by E. Earle Ellis
Has the Church Misread the Bible? by Moises Silva
God, Language, & Scripture: Reading the Bible in light of General Linguistics by Moises Silva
Greek Grammar Beyond the Basics by Daniel B. Wallace

Books I read the majority of in 2007 (and will finish in the next two months):

Interpreting the Pauline Epistles (Guides to New Testament Exegesis) by Thomas R. Schreiner
Bible Studies: Contributions Chiefly from Papyri & Inscriptions to the New Testament by G. Adolf Deissmann
Rock Climbing: Mastering Basic Skills (Mountaineers Outdoor Expert) by Craig Luebben
Paul and First-Century Letter Writing: Secretaries, Composition and Collection by E. Randolph Richards
The Letters to Philemon, the Colossians, and the Ephesians: A Socio-Rhetorical Commentary on the Captivity Epistles by Ben, III Witherington
The Writings of the New Testament: An Interpretation by Luke Timothy Johnson
The Book of Jeremiah (NICOT) by J. A. Thompson
A Discourse Analysis of Philippians: Method And Rhetoric in the Debate over Literary Integrity by Jeffrey T. Reed
Jesus and the Eyewitnesses: The Gospels as Eyewitness Testimony by Richard Bauckham
Letter to the Ephesians (PNTC) by Peter T. O’Brien
Ephesians (IVP New Testament Commentary Series) by Walter L. Liefeld
Ephesians 1-3 (Anchor Bible) by Markus Barth
Ephesians 4-6 (Anchor Bible) by Markus Barth
The Epistles to the Colossians, to Philemon, and to the Ephesians (NICNT) by F. F. Bruce
Ephesians: An Exegetical Commentary by Harold W. Hoehner
Idioms of the Greek New Testament (Biblical Languages: Greek) by Stanley E. Porter

7Comments

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1

Bryan L on January 10, 2008 at 7:53 pm

Is Lexical Semantics of the Greek New Testament by Eugene Nida and Johannes Louw really worth reading? I’ve considered it (even bought it a while back) but I figured all of the basic aspects of it have already been pretty much covered in other books dealing semantics and the New Testament?

Blessings,
Bryan L

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2

Mike on January 10, 2008 at 8:13 pm

How many other books do you know of that deal with semantics and the NT? The book length works can be counted on one hand. Other than that all that’s left is the very basic introductory essays found in Intro to Interpretation & exegesis books.

In terms of actually books, I can think of Biblical Words and Their Meaning by Silva, Louw’s Semantics of New Testament Greek, A Classification of Semantic Case-Relations in the Pauline Epistles by Wong, and this one. Among those, Wong’s book doesn’t necessarily belong, since its a discussion of Case Grammar Theory applied to Pauline verbs. The only other books that comes close is Linguistics and Biblical Interpretation by Cotterell & Turnerand Barr’s classic The Semantics of Biblical Language.

Barr is dated, Wong is a different (though related topic), and Cotterell & Turner focuses on numberous other issues.

This leaves only Silva, Louw, and Louw & Nida that specialize on the topic. And these three books complement each other, rather than replace.

If anything, we need more books on Greek semantics.

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3

Doug Groothuis on January 11, 2008 at 1:02 am

I suggest you finish God, Revelation, and Authority some time. I read vols 1-4 in the summer of 1981 and nearly all the rest of vols 5-6 when they came out later.

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4

Bryan L on January 11, 2008 at 7:17 am

I was thinking about the Cotterell & Turner book specifically, but then there area number of other books that go into the semantics thing and discuss Barr and Louw & Nida like:
1.) The Hermeneutical Spiral by Osborne
2.) Linguistics for Students of New Testament Greek by Black
3.) Exegetical Fallacies by Carson
4.) even Introduction to Biblical Interpretation by Klein, Hubbard, and Blomberg

I also have the Louw & Nida’s Lexicon so I’m wondering will I find that much more that hasn’t been covered or reviewed in the books I listed. If so I’d like to read it.

Blessings,
Bryan L

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5

Mike on January 11, 2008 at 10:37 am

Doug, yeah, its on my to do list. I read volume one during my final semester at MBI, which was more time consuming than I expected, but I loved it. Presently though, all six volumes are sitting in a box in my parents basement. I don’t think I’ll see them until June when my wife and I finish classes in Dallas.

Bryan L,

Yeah, those books do a good job, but they skim the surface more than Lexical Semantics does.

Actually, its funny that you mentioned the lexicon because the goal of the book is to expand on the methodology described in the preface to the lexicon so that people can see in detail the process involved in making the lexicon.

My advice? Since you already have it, pick it up and read the first two or three chapters and then decide.

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6

Bryan L on January 11, 2008 at 1:08 pm

Brain??

I don’t have it anymore. I returned it. at 30 something for 100+ pages I thought I could probably get something else instead. I’ll check it out from the library though. Thanks

Bryan L

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7

Mike on January 11, 2008 at 2:39 pm

sorry, typing too fast.

yeah, its ridiculously expensive. my copy was free, otherwise, I would have gone to the library too…

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