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What book next?

Posted: December 27th, 2017, 8:16 am
by Matthew Longhorn
I am just coming to he end of a read through Luke where I have had to battle to learn over 500 new words and am wondering what people would suggest to read next.
I have already read mark, John, Romans, 1 Corinthians, part of 2 Corinthians before I admitted defeat), the johannine epistles.
Ideally it would be a book that has good supporting tools such as the Baylor Greek handbook series
It would be nice to have something that isn’t as vocab intensive but I still want to challenge myself.

Re: What book next?

Posted: December 27th, 2017, 10:55 am
by Stirling Bartholomew
After Luke, Acts would be next, Culy-Parsons Baylor Handbook is helpful but vocabulary isn't included. The "classic" F.F. Bruce commentaries might help with vocabulary. If that is too challenging then perhaps Matthew.

Re: What book next?

Posted: December 27th, 2017, 11:25 am
by Matthew Longhorn
Thanks for the suggestion Stirling. I think I have the Culy-Parsons handbook on paper at home so I will hunt that out and see what I can make of it.
Re the vocab, I don’t like relying on lists anyway - was just hoping for something that wouldn’t give me AS much as Luke did! I use Olivetree on my mobile and have BDAG a on it, so I read through until I hit a word that I am either uncertain about or just don’t know, highlight it in yellow and carry on with my reading after looking it up. At the end of the day I sweep back through writing vocab cards with as much of the semantic range as I can. This probably makes my life harder when it comes to learning, but I would hate to learn a single gloss and never think to wonder if there is a better meaning

I guess Acts will give me a chance to dig out and re-read “Transitivity based foregrounding in the acts of the apostles” again.

Re: What book next?

Posted: December 27th, 2017, 11:28 am
by Barry Hofstetter
I agree with Stirling, Acts would be the natural follow up, although it might similarly present some vocabulary difficulties. If you want to take a break before getting to it, though, I would suggest the Thessalonian correspondence. I remember it being a delightfully pleasant experience reading through the first time. I can't guarantee the same experience, but you won't find it as problematic as 2 Corinthians (which I find actually in some ways more difficult than the fabled difficulty of Hebrews).

Re: What book next?

Posted: December 27th, 2017, 12:29 pm
by Matthew Longhorn
Thanks Barry, good to hear a second voice confirming what Stirling has suggested. I will add Thessalonians onto my list to start after Acts then
Whilst I may have grumbled about the vocab - I am not averse to learning it. I hope to eventually reach a competency with vocab and grammar where I can read biblical and non biblical texts without problem so every word learned is a good thing. With electronic tools to make it easier I realise just how much I would strugggle if I had to sit with a paper copy of BDAG looking up each word! Just have to make sure I don’t over-rely on these tools though

Re: What book next?

Posted: December 27th, 2017, 2:03 pm
by Barry Hofstetter
Matthew Longhorn wrote: December 27th, 2017, 12:29 pm With electronic tools to make it easier I realise just how much I would strugggle if I had to sit with a paper copy of BDAG looking up each word! Just have to make sure I don’t over-rely on these tools though
You have just described my experience (although I used LSJ for a lot of my lexical work as well). I didn't start using electronic tools until they came available sometime in the 90's. And I heartily affirm (with a whole heart, even) that tools of any sort are not a substitute for knowing the language. You, sir, are a role model for how to use them responsibly in learning the language.

Re: What book next?

Posted: December 28th, 2017, 6:44 am
by daveburt
I third Thessalonians and suggest Matthew, Mark and Revelation. I make Acts harder, though it might be less so after becoming comfortable with Luke. I made some charts including how much vocab of what frequencies are present in each book here: https://www.ibiblio.org/bgreek/forum/vi ... f=6&t=4261