Professional Documents
Culture Documents
/)+012345&'67#$-'/,7*'8,79:
!"#$"%"-'%12:345&
674';+)-$)<'-"4'=")"*'>"4+7<"*+4'?@'A"$*BCD"2*"2'=")-12E"2'F'G9:072-'HI';90*7?",
;1)29"&'=1#)<'>"4+7<"*+)<J'K1,I'LLJ'M749I'N'3/O2IJ'NPPN5J'OOI'QRSCQSN
T)?,$40"-'?@&'8!UVV
;+7?,"'W!V&'http://www.jstor.org/stable/1561119
/99"44"-&'NXYPNYNPPS'QQ&LQ
Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of JSTOR's Terms and Conditions of Use, available at
http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp. JSTOR's Terms and Conditions of Use provides, in part, that unless
you have obtained prior permission, you may not download an entire issue of a journal or multiple copies of articles, and you
may use content in the JSTOR archive only for your personal, non-commercial use.
Please contact the publisher regarding any further use of this work. Publisher contact information may be obtained at
http://www.jstor.org/action/showPublisher?publisherCode=bap.
Each copy of any part of a JSTOR transmission must contain the same copyright notice that appears on the screen or printed
page of such transmission.
JSTOR is a not-for-profit organization founded in 1995 to build trusted digital archives for scholarship. We work with the
scholarly community to preserve their work and the materials they rely upon, and to build a common research platform that
promotes the discovery and use of these resources. For more information about JSTOR, please contact support@jstor.org.
BRILL is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to Novum Testamentum.
http://www.jstor.org
BOOK REVIEWS
189
190
BOOK REVIEWS
BOOK REVIEWS
191
opinion, the most important essays are those on linguistic aspects, literary analysis, rhetorical analysis, sociological analysis, pseudepigraphy
and literary falsification, and diversity and unity in the New Testament.
The greatest drawback involves the brevity of some of the essays.
This is seen, for example, in the discussion of textual criticism. Here
the reader is exposed to the history of textual criticism, book production in the ancient world, the manuscripts of the New Testament,
sources of errors in the transmission of the text, rules for making textcritical decisions, examples for practice, and a bibliography-all within
the compass of 16 brief pages! Each of these topics is handled superficially
at best. Especially troubling to this reviewer was the author's failure
to expose students to current approaches to New Testament textual
criticism. There is no mention of thorough-going eclecticism, nor is
there any discussion of the Majority text debate. The praxis of textual criticism is discussed in but two short pages! Here the rules that
have been set forth in Aland and Aland (Der Text des NeuenTestaments)
are presented without question or discussion. Finally, the only advice
offered in terms of actually using textual criticism in interpretation is
an encouragement to read the preface to NA27 and to examine three
texts (John 5:4; Rom 5:1; and Mark 16:9-20) on one's own without
any further guidance. In short, this essay is not likely to provide
sufficient information to enable readers either to understand this fundamental method of New Testament criticism or to apply it in any
meaningful way.
Perhaps these shortcomings are due to a larger problem, namely,
the fact that few of the authors are specialists in the areas they discuss. Indeed, few of them can be considered experts in New Testament
studies. Other than Schnabel, von Siebenthal, Maier, and Kostenberger,
the contributors have published very little in the field. One might contrast this with similar collections of essays on New Testament methods written for theological students, including New Testament
Interpretation
and
The
Testament
and Its
New
(I.H. Marshall, ed.; Eerdmans, 1977)
Moder Interpreters
(EJ. Epp and G.W. MacRae, eds.; Fortress/Scholars,
1989). Here the essayistsare all noted experts who have made significant
scholarly contributions to their respective areas of study.
In an era of biblical scholarship in which more and more is written about less and less, Das Studiumdes Neuen Testamentsis a worthy
undertaking. The editors address big issues, but in doing so they have
taken big risks. In the final analysis, these essays evoke responses of
both praise and skepticism-praise, because of their worthy goal of
introducing beginning students to the essential issues and methods
192
BOOK REVIEWS