Acts: A Handbook on the Greek Text

Rating:
Summary: A unique and very helpful resource
Review: I saw this title in an ad from Baylor and asked for an examination copy since I am a professor of Greek exegesis. To be honest, I had low expectations, thinking that it was going to be too basic for my own needs and those of my students in "The Greek Text of Acts." Was I pleasantly surprised when I received this marvelous book, compactly written and printed and yet still over 550 pages. It serves its purpose - to illuminate the grammar of Acts for exegesis - exceedingly well. I have already decided to adopt it for a course in the Fall. This is more than an "analytical lexicon." It is more than a "grammatical analysis." It combines the good points of those types of works with a great awareness and sensitivity to the most recent work in grammar and linguistic insights into the language.
It will serve pastors well, but also should not be viewed by professors as too much of a "crutch" for their students. It doesn't tell the reader everything about a verse. It doesn't eliminate the use of a good commentary or one's own exegetical analysis. As a matter of fact, the authors make excellent recommendations about other writings and have an excellent up-to-date bibliography on Acts. Parsons and Culy often cover matters that the commentaries omit. It is current, compactly written and very helpful for readers of the Greek text at all levels. We need to see more works like this from these two authors, if they are in the same vein as this work. Highly recommended!

Rating:
Summary: A unique and very helpful resource
Review: I saw this title in an ad from Baylor and asked for an examination copy since I am a professor of Greek exegesis. To be honest, I had low expectations, thinking that it was going to be too basic for my own needs and those of my students in "The Greek Text of Acts." Was I pleasantly surprised when I received this marvelous book, compactly written and printed and yet still over 550 pages. It serves its purpose - to illuminate the grammar of Acts for exegesis - exceedingly well. I have already decided to adopt it for a course in the Fall. This is more than an "analytical lexicon." It is more than a "grammatical analysis." It combines the good points of those types of works with a great awareness and sensitivity to the most recent work in grammar and linguistic insights into the language.
It will serve pastors well, but also should not be viewed by professors as too much of a "crutch" for their students. It doesn't tell the reader everything about a verse. It doesn't eliminate the use of a good commentary or one's own exegetical analysis. As a matter of fact, the authors make excellent recommendations about other writings and have an excellent up-to-date bibliography on Acts. Parsons and Culy often cover matters that the commentaries omit. It is current, compactly written and very helpful for readers of the Greek text at all levels. We need to see more works like this from these two authors, if they are in the same vein as this work. Highly recommended!

Rating:
Summary: Solid exegesis starts right here
Review: Martin Culy, who did the bulk of the work in writing this book, is obviously one of the most scrutinizing and perceptive exegetes in evangelicalism today. Clear, concise, and painstakingly careful, you will not find a better work on the Greek text of Acts anywhere.

The book is directed toward people who have at least an intermediate knowledge of Greek. Among other things, it helps readers to understand what are the various interpretive options that the text of Acts allows, and often makes arguments for which ones are preferable. It is not for the faint of heart, though; it is anything but light reading. I often spend fifteen minutes examining one specific verse, analyzing what the different exegetical options are, and considering how my interpetation of the text could be affected by each one.

The book is formatted in the style typical to scholarly commentaries today. The text of Acts is broken up into various sections, at the beginning of each one is Culy's own translation. Then he provides a phrase by phrase (often word by word) analysis of each individual verse.

It is worth noting that the book is quite handy for those who find Luke's style of Greek to be somewhat intimidating. It can help to clarify those difficult passages where his writing leans heavily toward the classical style, and is even useful for those who are studying his gospel, since it gives readers a feel for his use of the language.

It should be emphasized that there is not very much in this book as far as "commentary" is concerned. Rather than examining the broad picture that Luke has given us, it focuses on the tiny pixels that make up that picture. But, it does such a great job in doing so, that I highly recommend keeping it nearby when you are reading any commentary on Acts.

Rating:
Summary: Solid exegesis starts right here
Review: Martin Culy, who did the bulk of the work in writing this book, is obviously one of the most scrutinizing and perceptive exegetes in evangelicalism today. Clear, concise, and painstakingly careful, you will not find a better work on the Greek text of Acts anywhere.

The book is directed toward people who have at least an intermediate knowledge of Greek. Among other things, it helps readers to understand what are the various interpretive options that the text of Acts allows, and often makes arguments for which ones are preferable. It is not for the faint of heart, though; it is anything but light reading. I often spend fifteen minutes examining one specific verse, analyzing what the different exegetical options are, and considering how my interpetation of the text could be affected by each one.

The book is formatted in the style typical to scholarly commentaries today. The text of Acts is broken up into various sections, at the beginning of each one is Culy's own translation. Then he provides a phrase by phrase (often word by word) analysis of each individual verse.

It is worth noting that the book is quite handy for those who find Luke's style of Greek to be somewhat intimidating. It can help to clarify those difficult passages where his writing leans heavily toward the classical style, and is even useful for those who are studying his gospel, since it gives readers a feel for his use of the language.

It should be emphasized that there is not very much in this book as far as "commentary" is concerned. Rather than examining the broad picture that Luke has given us, it focuses on the tiny pixels that make up that picture. But, it does such a great job in doing so, that I highly recommend keeping it nearby when you are reading any commentary on Acts.