A Reader’s Lexicon of
the Apostolic Fathers Edited by Daniel B. Wallace, Brittany C. Brunette
& Terri Darby Moore
Wading in the waters of the Apostolic Fathers comes with its
share of difficulties, but this new Lexicon overseen by Daniel B. Wallace is a
treasure chest of help. The book entitled A Reader’s Lexicon of the Apostolic
Fathers is designed to aid the student/pastor who has a grasp of biblical
Greek to understand to carefully plough through the writings of early fathers
of the church. This lexicon provides the
reader with lexical forms for words used 30x or less in the church
fathers. The added advantage of this
lexicon is that the editors have indicated not only the frequency with which
words come up in individual writings but also indicate how many times those
words come up in the entire corpus of the early church fathers. Using this lexicon alongside Kregel Academic’s
A Reader’s Lexicon of the Greek New
Testament by Michael Burer and Jeffery Miller (2008) would go a long way in
aiding any serious student of Greek.
This lexicon can come in handy when reading through The
Didache. In chapter 7, the author says
some words concerning baptism. The
editors of the lexicon note that baptisma
from the verb βαπτιζω is used twice in this chapter and 6 times in the early
fathers. The interesting point is that
the editors provide a range of definitions from plunging, dipping, to washing
to translate baptisma which is
helpful in the present context of the word.
The context of chapter 7 is baptizing members when there is little or no
running water available. The lexical
range of meaning is contextually helpful because we might posit that plunging is
the best way to translate the word here, but the context leads us to see the
situation with little or no water available.
Therefore, washing or dipping might indicate a more consistent
translation with regard to the context of chapter 7. In some passages, we find the editors going
further than just providing a definition but also providing direction for the
use of datives (see The Fragments of Papias, 3:15, 242, for further information
on this use see Daniel B. Wallace, Greek
Grammar Beyond the Basics, 164-166)
The relative size of this lexicon, the focus on words occurring
fewer than thirty times, and the clear presentation of this volume make it
ideal for the reader of Greek to navigate his way through the Apostolic
Fathers. I was amazed at how helpful the
lexicon was as I was working through sections of the Greek Text of the
Apostolic Fathers edited by Michael Holmes.
There were many times I wish I had this exact volume in seminary, when I
was just cutting my teeth on the Apostolic Fathers. However, I am glad that now I have such a
great tool to research the original Greek of the Fathers.
Thanks to Kregel Academic for this wonderful lexicon in
exchange for an honest review.
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