As I don’t blog anymore currently I was posed a topic the other day which I just had to share with both of you. You two are bibliophiles as I and I think you will have some fun with this. Yesterday, a student of mine came up and asked if I were going to SBL which I affirmed. He then asked me if I only had $300 what books would I buy and why. I have been giving this some very serious thought and then it struck me that it would make an excellent blog topic. Mores the pity that I don’t currently blog or this would definitely be on the menu for today. I would be curious to see what you two would buy for this sum.
<idle musing>
I think a lot depends on what your interests are. I'm primarily a philologist, so that would be reflected in my choices, because my money would land squarely on language reference works... I miss my Denniston, Greek Particle and von Soden's Akkadische Handwoerterbuch—even though I don't read Akkadian anymore, I like his comparative Semitic references (of course that is over $300 by itself...). Louw & Nida's Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament Based on Semantic Domains would be nice...
OK, stop! We have to assume he has none of the basics that I own. So, BDAG is essential, as is Smyth's Greek Grammar, to say nothing of Liddell & Scott, the big one. That's Greek. For Hebrew I would need Introductory Biblical Hebrew Syntax (there's the Eisenbrauns plug!), GKC, HALOT Study Edition, BDB, even though it is dated, it is still good.
If he were an archaeologist, he would need Sterns, The New Encyclopedia of Archaeological Excavations in the Holy Land - 4 Volume Set...
</idle musing>
So, what would you recommend?
1 comment:
"Only $300"? Shoot, I wish I had $300 to spend on books at SBL ...
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