Book Reviews -- By: Anonymous

Journal: Grace Journal
Volume: GJ 06:2 (Spring 1965)
Article: Book Reviews
Author: Anonymous


Book Reviews

Theological Dictionary of the New Testament. Vol. I, ΑΓ. Ed. Gerhard Kittel. Trans. and ed. Geoffrey W. Bromiley. Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, Grand Rapids, 1964. xl + 793 pp., $18.50.

This is the first volume of the unabridged translation of Kittel’s Theologisches Wörterbuch zum Neuen Testament (commonly designated: TWNT). Kittel’s Wörterbuch is in the tradition begun by Hermann Cremer nearly a century ago with the publication of his Biblico-Theological Lexicon of New Testament Greek. The work of Cremer, of course, has had a long and valuable service in New Testament interpretation. The original intent of Kittel was merely to revise the work of Cremer and Kögel. Instead, an altogether new work was undertaken. Kittel assumed this task in 1928 and continued as the editor of TWNT until his death in 1948. Since then the editorial task has fallen to Gerhard Friedrich. The first volume of the German edition was published at Stuttgart in 1933. The task is still incomplete but work is progressing on the eighth and final volume. Despite the incompletion of the project, the published portions have gained wide recognition—so much so that virtually no respectable NT commentary now ignores it. Selected articles from the Wörterbuch have appeared in English translation in the Bible Key Words series published in this country by Harper and Row. Even these translations, however, are incomplete, and since the publication of the Eerdmans edition no new additions will be made to the Key Words series. English-speaking students are therefore greatly indebted to Eerdmans for undertaking the publication of the entire Wörterbuch.

The translation is being done with characteristic distinction by G. W. Bromiley of Fuller Theological Seminary. According to the present plan of publishing one volume of the English edition every year to year and a half, the completion of the translation will coincide with the completion of the German original.

In this first volume there are 167 separate articles contributed by 39 scholars in addition to Kittel. To give some notion of the resources brought to bear in the effort, the list of abbreviations of source material requires 48 columns.

Inasmuch as the Dictionary purports to be as well a theological work one is naturally interested in the theological bias of the contributors. In a recent article, “Theological Wordbooks: Tools for the Preacher” (Interpretation: July, 1964), James Martin succinctly summarized their attitude. “There is a strong sense of the unity of the Bible, with an attempt to do justice to the rich diversity of interpretations within the historical compass of the Bib...

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