Posted by: Nick Norelli | May 5, 2008

A Sign from Above

Synopsis of the Four GospelsI’ve been wanting to puchase a copy of the Synopsis of the Four Gospels: Greek-English Edition for a long time now, but the price has always been a little too steep. 

.
So clearly it ain’t cheap.  Well, a couple of weeks ago, CBD started offering 2 slightly hurt copies at a 48% discount, but even then it was still more than I was looking to spend.  Yesterday I noticed that the discount jumped to 54%, so I seriously started to consider picking one up, but ultimately decided against it because with the shipping it was more than I wanted to spend. 

Well, today I received an email from CBD saying that they’re offering free shipping on all orders of $35 or more until March May 16.  This was a sign from above; the Lord was speaking directly to me, telling me to get this book.  So I just ordered it at $59.99 and will expect it some time next week.  Hooray!!!

B”H

Posted in Books (Misc.), Miscellaneous

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Responses

watch those credit cards, Nick.

By: Mike on May 5, 2008
at 9:30 pm

Nick,

About a year ago, I purchased a copy from Amazon for $ 86.00. I got the Greek edition only, “Synopsis Quattuor Evangeliorum: Locis Parallelis Evangeliorum Apocryphorum Et Patrum Adhibitis Edidit.” It is really good for serious study of the Gospels in Greek (http://www.amazon.com/Synopsis-Quattuor-Evangeliorum-Parallelis-Apocryphorum/dp/159856014X/ref=pd_bbs_4?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1210037219&sr=8-4)

By: Celucien Joseph on May 5, 2008
at 9:31 pm

Wait, March 16th?

typo?

By: Mike on May 5, 2008
at 9:31 pm

Mike: I got government money coming. And I will correct the typo.

Celucien: Yes, this is that one plus the English edition bound together. I hear good things about it. I plan to use it with one of the new books I just got from Zondervan, as well as Bock’s Jesus According to Scripture.

By: Nick Norelli on May 5, 2008
at 9:37 pm

Think about getting Scot McKnight’s Interpreting the Synoptic Gospels (Baker, 198 8) in the Guides to New Testament Exegesis Series - he talks about a decent color-coding system for comparing pericopes. It also talks about what a synopsis is and is not, what is does and does not do.

you got a good deal.

By: brianfulthorp on May 5, 2008
at 11:00 pm

oops, that was supposed to be 1988).

By: brianfulthorp on May 5, 2008
at 11:00 pm

Brian: You mean like highlighting the various pericopes? I can see how that could be helpful. And yeah, those 8+) can be troublesome at times. I can’t ever put Isaiah 44:8 in parentheses any more. ;)

By: Nick Norelli on May 5, 2008
at 11:06 pm

Yes. It is the only real way to get at the similarities and dissimilarities between the various pericopes - if it is the same word same form it is one color - same word different form another color - same word in MT and Lk but not MK then yet another color - same word in Mt and MK but not Lk another color, and so on.

That is if you are into that sort of thing - you could always scan a pericope and practice on paper first.

If you want to see an example I can send you my Luke paper from seminary.

By: brianfulthorp on May 5, 2008
at 11:18 pm

There’s an excellent review of this book with lots of images over at Mark’s blog:

link

Looks nice, I’d love a copy but my book money is pretty well spent until after graduation.

By: Nathan Stitt on May 5, 2008
at 11:28 pm

Brian: Sounds good, and feel free to send that paper along. :)

Nathan: Yeah, I saw that a while back and thought to myself, ‘man, I wish I could afford that synopsis.’ Now I can!

By: Nick Norelli on May 6, 2008
at 12:41 am

Yes, I bought the all Greek version (SQE) sometime ago for about the same from a seminary. I wanted the non-canonical parallels and the other trimmings. Then recently I saw the all English edition in a store and said, “Why not?”

For the Greek- impaired it’s hard to go wrong withThrockmorton. Alas, he excludes John’s Gospel but hurrah! He translates many noncanonical parallels. And it uses the NRSV as its base translation.

I will also repeat my fondness for the HCSB Harmony of the Gospels, based on A.T. Robertson’s (see photo beside this comment) old reliable harmony. The HCSB harmony is really a sort of “study bible” gospel harmony, with notes at bottom of pages and articles before and after the text.

By: Chuck Grantham on May 6, 2008
at 1:26 am

Chuck: The HCSB Harmony looks quite good. Perhaps one of these days I’ll request a review copy. ;) I can’t really see the point of the other one though.

So you know if there’s any difference between the SQE and the Greek in the Greek-English version I got? I was under the impression that the Greek-English was simply a combination of the two.

By: Nick Norelli on May 6, 2008
at 9:57 am

Nick: The big difference between the two is that SQE has

1. original language non-canonical parallels for each pericope
2. Coptic Gospel of Thomas appendix with German,English, and Greek retroversion translation
3. Testimony of the Fathers about the Gospels in original languages appendix.

You’ve got to have Wieland Willker’s online textual commentary of the gospels handy to really complete the picture, as he finds variants even SQE doesn’t note. I also keep his best manuscripts of the gospels printout along with Rodney Decker’s New Testament Textual Criticism Reference Chartspages in the front of my copy, along with the Witnesses and Abbreviations foldout that came with SQE.

By: Chuck Grantham on May 6, 2008
at 10:28 am

Chuck: That kinda sucks. I thought that the one I got was the Greek version (SQE) bound together with the English version. I didn’t know it was missing anything. :(

By: Nick Norelli on May 6, 2008
at 10:30 am

Yeah, but that Greek- English edition is fatter and more impressive when people see you with it. ;-)

You can always supplement that edition with Stroker’s Extracanonical Sayings of Jesus and April DeConick’s Original Gospel of Thomas. Excellent books to have, anyway.

You could have asked someone interested in textual criticism about the differences before buying, you know. We know these sort of things because it comes with the OCD that makes a good textual critic. ;-)

Eric Sowell probably would have done a five post blog with photos if you’d asked him, in fact, complete with three synopsis out of print for twenty years. :)

By: Chuck Grantham on May 6, 2008
at 11:12 am

Chuck: While I wish that this one had all the bells and whistles of the other, it wouldn’t have influenced my decision. A good deal is a good deal, and being the bargain hunter that I am, I just had to jump on it.

And I think you are right about Eric! :-P

By: Nick Norelli on May 6, 2008
at 11:15 am

I think you got the best version for your present knowledge of Greek. It’s probably the same one I’d get out of the three I think. I actually went to my local bookstore to grab their used copy, but it turned out it was the all English version which I didn’t want. They did have an all Greek version of the synoptic gospels which I grabbed for $8 used. Eventually I plan to get the version you just purchased, or perhaps the all Greek one since it seems to have more in it, including John’s gospel.

By: Nathan Stitt on May 6, 2008
at 12:01 pm

Nathan: I almost got the all English version like 20 different times, especially when Eisenbrauns had it on sale for under $13, but I always held off. The all Greek version has always been (and still is) too expensive. But when I saw this hurt copy I had to get it. I just thought that it was the Greek and English bound together, I guess not. :-| But to my knowledge, all of the versions have John’s Gospel in them. It would be weird to call it a synopsis of the four Gospels and not include John, ya know? ;)

By: Nick Norelli on May 6, 2008
at 12:06 pm

I have both an English edition and the Greek only edition - the English one I got as a recommended text in my NT Intro class and the Greek one I got during my year long Greek exegesis class. The Greek is much more useful than the English one, really. Why? Due to word forms that don’t always translate into the English Matt and Luke can use the same word (say, called) but be in two different tenses but the difference would not necessarily be enough to notice in the English.

By: brianfulthorp on May 6, 2008
at 2:33 pm

I just got a copy for 4 pounds 70 with 3 pounds shipping from abebooks.com. I lost my last one in my travels which was Greek only but this is miles cheaper. I always look at that website first for second hand copies.

By: steph on May 7, 2008
at 7:50 pm

Mind you it was only ordered yesterday … it hasn’t arrived yet.

By: steph on May 7, 2008
at 7:52 pm

Steph: Wow! That’s fantastic! Congratulations! It’s funny, because I looked on Abebooks a while back and they were just as expensive as everyone else. I guess you checked at just the right time.

By: Nick Norelli on May 7, 2008
at 11:27 pm

I normally find them cheaper for second hand - their prices range from little to lots depending on the greed of the seller :-) but I was very surprised at this one. It was thanks to you that I was reminded to look at the site again after I read this post but I’m still hoping it really arrives!

By: steph on May 8, 2008
at 3:30 am

Steph: Well, I’m glad (and a bit jealous) that I could inspire you to search out such a great deal! :)

By: Nick Norelli on May 8, 2008
at 8:55 am

Norelli inspires someone positively?

Will wonders never cease? :-p

By: Chuck Grantham on May 8, 2008
at 10:43 am

reminded not inspired :-) although I’m sure Nick has inspired many - in many ways :-)

By: steph on May 9, 2008
at 6:52 am

Well I’ve been looking around online and I think I’m gonna end up getting the all Greek version (SQE) this summer.

By: Nathan Stitt on May 9, 2008
at 8:20 am

Chuck: As long as you’re blogging and commenting, no, they won’t ever cease. :-P

Steph: Yeah, usually to throw glass bottles and riot. ;)

Nathan: I like the sound of the SQE, and honestly, I thought I was getting that, but I don’t know that the extras are enough to justify me getting it in addition to what I just purchased. I’m sure eventually my addict nature will force me to get one, but I’ll hold off until I really get into studying the Gospel of Thomas.

By: Nick Norelli on May 9, 2008
at 10:41 am

[...] After receiving a sign from above, I ordered a copy of the Synopsis of the Four Gospels: Greek-English ed., which should have [...]

By: Finally! « Rightly Dividing the Word of Truth on May 22, 2008
at 1:19 pm

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