Which Greek tools and texts to purchase

[beestonman]

I am having trouble deciding which Greek units to purchase.

I am doing theological college study in Greek but not Hebrew.

I have to write technical papers which may include, to a limited extent, discussions on textual variations.

 

I know I want the following modules:

 

[jpkang]

My suggestion would be to start with the NA27 apparatus--it covers the entire NT, and more importantly, it's the standard reference work, which will be the point of reference of a majority of discussions in commentaries and such. I would judge the CNTTS to be a specialist work, and it draws on what some would consider an idiosyncratic selection of manuscript witnesses (say, compared to the ongoing Editio Critica Maior).

 

Plus, with the GBS CD, you get the BHS apparatus (to which there is also practically no complete alternative at present).

 

Hope that helps!

[Robb B]

I second what J.P. said. I use the NA-27 Apparatus all the time. Tischendorf is also a nice supplement to that, but if I had to choose between the two, I would definitely go with the NA-27.

 

Currently, I have a print version of Metzger, so I haven't been able to bring myself to spend money on the digital version.

 

CNTTS is specialized and very detailed. Whether you will need it will largely depend on how in-depth your discussions of textual variants will be. You also need to take into account that it's not complete yet, so it might not have anything on a passage you are studying. My guess is that at the college level, CNTTS would be more (or, in some cases, less) than you really need.

[Lorinda H. M. Hoover]

Depending on the nature of your coursework, you might also want to think about getting the tagged Septuagint. Even if you're not studying the Seputagint per se, it can come in handy when the Greek NT text quotes the Old Testament; you can compare the similarities and differences between the two texts.

 

 

The NET Bible has some excellent notes in terms of textual variants. Metzger's commentary is probably more thorugh in this regard (I don't currently have it in either print or Accordance, although it is on my wish list), but the NET notes would give you another perspective on textual critical issues.

 

Lorinda Hoover

[Rick Bennett]

I would agree with JP, and Robb - but add to it the importance of Metzger. Does your class primarily use the UBS text? If so, you'll find that having Metzger will put you a step ahead of the rest when they are trying to figure out the reasoning behind a particular rating, and fumbling through their print edition to find it. Also, in most cases it will also list just enough text-critical information to suffice.

 

Although not on your list I would add Sinaiticus or Vaticanus. Having these in Uncial script and tagged is an unparalleled resource.

[beestonman]

Thank you to all. This is tremendously helpful.

 

Picking up on a few things:

Rick, yes my class uses UBS primarily. Are you saying that, in this circumstance, Metzger would be an appropriate starting point, adding NA27 apparatus if that proved insufficient? Or are both important?

What have you found most useful in having Sinaiticus/Vaticanus and which would you go for?

[Rick Bennett]

Picking up on a few things:

Rick, yes my class uses UBS primarily. Are you saying that, in this circumstance, Metzger would be an appropriate starting point, adding NA27 apparatus if that proved insufficient? Or are both important?

What have you found most useful in having Sinaiticus/Vaticanus and which would you go for?

 

Strictly speaking Metzger is not an apparatus so you should probably have both.

 

In working through the typical exegetical process (i.e., Fee) and dealing with TC issues, having either Sinaiticus or Vaticanus to reference would be helpful. You can open them in parallel with GNT-T, and remove spaces and versificaiton to see them just as they would appear in print. Which one would probably depend on what book you are working in, personally I would go with Sinaiticus (See Aland & Aland for further discussion). Once you get into a particular text, or project where this would be helpful, you could always unlock it from the Scholar's CD.