Just received from Hendrickson Publishers:

Oskar Skarsaune and Reidar Hvalvik, Editors: The Early Centuries: Jewish Believers in Jesus (amazon.com).

Here's the blurb from Amazon:

Jewish Believers in Jesus: The Early Centuries (amazon.com) examines the formative first five centuries of Christian history as experienced by individuals who were ethnically Jewish, but who professed faith in Jesus Christ as the Messiah. Offering the work of an impressive international team of scholars, this unique study examines the first five centuries of texts thought to have been authored or edited by Jewish Christians, including the Old Testament Pseudepigrapha, the New Testament Apocrypha, and some patristic works. Also considered are statements within patristic literature about Jewish believers and uses of oral traditions from Jewish Christians. Furthermore, the evidence in Jewish, mainly rabbinic, literature is examined, and room is made for a judicious sifting of the archaeological evidence. The final two chapters are devoted to an enlightening synthesis of the material with subsequent conclusions regarding Jewish believers in antiquity.

As I get into the book, I'll surely blog more about it.

Update (2007-08-06): Oh, yes — I was also told that there will be a session at the SBL meeting in San Diego on this very book (amazon.com). So if the topic (Jewish Believers in Jesus in the early centuries of Christianity) interests you, then you might want to check out the book and consider attending the session in November.

Update II (2007-08-16): Mentioned a bit more about the book in response to a post by Michael Bird. Check it out.

Update III (2007-08-22): Blogged the TOC of the book, which is extensive and gives a much better picture of the book's coverage.

Update IV (2007-09-16): Danny Zacharias of Deinde blogs about Jewish Believers as well. Danny's reaction? Pretty straightforward: "Earlier this year I made an authoritative declaration that every NT scholar ought to read Bauckham’s Jesus and the Eyewitnesses (amazon.com). This is now my second binding authoritative declaration: Every NT scholar needs to have this book on his or her shelf." I agree. So heed Danny and get your copy now (amazon.com).

But it is a very good reason, I'm sure all would agree.

I blogged the other day on Hendrickson Publisher's upcoming book, A Patristic Greek Reader (amazon.com). It sounds very good, but it isn't published yet (the date is sometime in September 2007, as I recall).

In lieu of that, I thought I'd blog about some other readers that are on my shelf. I haven't actually made it through these, though I have slogged through some portions of them.

1. Hellenistic Greek Texts (amazon.com) by Allen Wikgren. This was published by the University of Chicago Press in 1947, but still appears to be in print. The copy I have (purchased used and given to me as a Christmas gift by my mother- and father-in-law) is in good shape. The manuscript is typewritten. It is 290 pages; the back 65 pages are a glossary with very brief definitions. Selections from LXX, NT, Apocrypha, Pseudepigrapha, Philo, Josephus, Apostolic Fathers, other early Fathers, some Papyri and some other pagan Hellenistic literature. Recommended particularly if you'd like to broaden your horizons but only buy one book. Also, you can (without too much trouble) find English translations of most of these works, though the text itself has no translations.

2. A Greek Papyrus Reader with Vocabulary by Edgar J. Goodspeed and Ernest Cadman Colwell. This as well was published by the University of Chicago Press in 1935 with a second printing in 1936. But it doesn't appear to still be in print. As the title says, the focus is on papyrus. There are 82 papyri within the 108 pages of the book. Each papyrus has a brief intro and some notes at the foot. At the back are 20+ pages of vocabulary (a gloss list, essentially). The primary issue with this slim volume is that there are no translations, and it is difficult to find translations to check your work, so you're left wondering if you've got the gist of everything correctly.

3. While not technically "readers", I can recommend two diglot editions of the Apostolic Fathers: Michael Holmes' third edition (amazon.com), to be published in November -- though my primary experience is with the second edition; and Bart Ehrman's two-volume Loeb edition (Vol I (amazon.com), Vol II (amazon.com)). In my experience, Ehrman is more idiomatic and Holmes is more literal, so you take your pick. These have translations but no glossary/vocabulary sections.

Any other readers out there anyone would like to add to the list?

I've had reason to consult the printed edition of SBL Seminar Papers in the past, though I wasn't aware that the printing of the papers had been discontinued.

The SBL web site does make available seminar papers from 2002-2006. I was unaware of this until I stumbled across the page while looking to see if any version of the program guide for San Diego had been released yet. Here's the description paragraph from the page:

In years past, a print edition of the SBL Seminar Papers was made available in advance of the Annual Meeting each year in order to stimulate discussion of these works in progress during the meeting itself. Beginning in 2004, however, the print edition was discontinued, with a selection of papers presented at the meeting being made available online. In addition, a number of papers from previous years have been archived on the SBL Web site. Because these papers represent works in progress, they should not be quoted or otherwise cited without permission from the author.

(No, there is no release of a program guide yet. But console yourself with some of last year's seminar papers if you'd like.)

(NB: Actually, the archive goes back to 2002, though I have not changed the post title as it would change the link, and I don't want to do that.)

Randall Tan presented a paper in the Hellenistic Greek Language and Linguistics section at the recent International SBL meeting in Vienna called "Reversing the Roles of Lexis and Grammar?". I blogged about this back in January, where you can read a little background and the original paper proposal.

Randall was kind enough to list me as co-presenter, though my role was largely that of munger-of-data and sounding board. While I agree with what Randall presented, the ideas and approach are largely his.

Anyway, I figured it would be a good thing to post the paper here. So here it is:

• Reversing the Roles of Lexis and Grammar.pdf (103.97 KB)

We'd be interested in any feedback you may have on the paper; feel free to either comment here or zap email my way to the address listed in the sidebar.

From time to time I make mention of job openings at Logos Bible Software (yes, my employer). Many times they're for programmers and such, but this one isn't—it is for a "Marketing Genius: Press Relations and Customer Evangelism".

Read the whole description. Does it sound like you? Then we want to talk with you. So stop reading this blog post and go apply (though be sure to look at the full description!)

Update (2007-07-27): Note that I'm just pointing people to the job posting; please don't send your resumes/etc. to me.

If you're interested in Sahidic Coptic (and what serious NT scholar or NT scholar wannabe isn't?) then perhaps Bentley Layton's new intro is what you're looking for. Coptic in 20 Lessons: Introduction to Sahidic Coptic with Exercises and Vocabularies (amazon.com).

Speaking as someone who attempted Lambdin's Sahidic Coptic Intro (amazon.com), this sounds interesting. I made it through three or four lessons in Lambdin, just enough to not be freaked out by the extra letters (when compared to the Greek alphabet) or some other features, but not enough to really read anything. I've not yet purchased Layton's intro, but it is on my Amazon Wish List.

Here's the blurb:

Coptic in 20 Lessons (amazon.com) is written by the author of the most authoritative reference grammar of the Coptic language, and is based on decades of pedagogical experience. In easy steps and simple explanations, it teaches the patterns and syntax of Sahidic Coptic, along with the most useful vocabulary. Drills, compositions, and translation exercises enable the student to gain fluency. All words that occur more than fifty times in the Sahidic New Testament are introduced lesson by lesson in vocabulary lists, which are arranged by semantic field and accompanied by both Greek equivalents and English glosses. The book concludes with three chapters of the Gospel of Mark, in which all new vocabulary is glossed in footnotes. Coptic in 20 Lessons (amazon.com) is the ideal resource for use in the classroom or for teaching oneself Coptic.

Anyone out there familiar with the book and want to chime in on it's usefulness, particularly compared to Lambdin?

I forget where I saw mention of this, but I filed a note away to blog about it, so that's what I'm doing.

(Update: Of course, it was Mike Aquilina who blogged about it in the middle of June. Thanks, Mike!)

Looks like Hendrickson is getting ready to release A Patristic Greek Reader (amazon.com) by Rodney Whitacre. This sounds really good. Here's the book description from Amazon:

The heart of this book is a selection of Greek texts from early Christian writers, accompanied by notes so that a person with one year of Greek can read the texts. Basic translations of the texts are also provided so that readers can check their work. A list of words used 50+ times in the New Testament and the principal parts of several verbs is included.

The Greek selections represent a variety of styles and levels of difficulty. The notes also vary, with very extensive notes provided in some cases.

Passages that have played a major role in the history of Christian thought are included, as well as passages that contribute to matters of spirituality and pastoral care. Several passages are of more purely historical interest.

The author includes an introduction to the writings of the early Church to help orient readers to the writings of the Fathers in general and also give the rationale for the particular selections included in the book. Each selection also has a brief introduction discussing its historical setting and content. A brief bibliography is included for patristics in general, for the particular selections included, and for Greek tools a person would need for continued reading in such material.

The primary readership for A Patristic Greek Reader (amazon.com) are those who have studied Greek in order to read the New Testament. However, the book would also be of interest to those studying the Classics and could be used by anyone as a brief introduction to some samples of early Christian thought.

This may be the only book available that provides such translation notes for selections from the Greek fathers.

So, if you want to beef up your Greek and dig into some of the writings of the Apostolic Fathers at the same time, give A Patristic Greek Reader (amazon.com) a try. Though note it has a ship date of Sept. 30, 2007, so you won't be able to read it right away.