Theophrastus (υγεια σου!) has posted a note about Philip Comfort’s new New Testament Text and Translation Commentary (Tyndale, 2008). Amazon has some ecstatic reviews of the book. Theophrastus gives us a better description and summary of it, though, than either Tyndale [the book no longer appears on their website] or Amazon. There’s also a short review by Bill Warren on the Evangelical Textual Criticism blog.
All of these reviews mention Bruce Metzger’s A Textual Commentary on the Greek New Testament. I’ve always enjoyed the Metzger commentary, but always wanted it to be more extensive. It sounds as though Comfort has realized this with his exhaustive coverage of the variants and extended coverage of translational renderings. It sounds excellent.
It really is an exquisite volume. I jotted down some thoughts on it a while back (here & here). Sorry to keep linking to my blog. I don’t want to become that guy, but you keep mentioning books I’ve talked about! 🙂
I don’t mind the linking at all. It’s not like you’re pulling random links out of your…hat. In fact, I’m glad you posted those, because the I definitely remembered them, but not who wrote them or where they were. So thanks!
Awhile back I did a comparison of the notes in Comfort, Metzger, Omanson’s rewrite of Metzger, the NET Bible and the notes in the back of Westcott-Hort. I don’t go over the notes themselves, just a list to give an idea of coverage. Might be helpful for some. The link is http://www.supakoo.com/rick/ricoblog/2009/02/13/ComfortMetzgerOmansonNETAndWestcottAmpHort.aspx
Uh … that is, I compared the notes contained in First Timothy, not the whole of the NT. Apologies for forgetting to mention that little detail.
Whoa! That would’ve granted you überbragging rights for ages, Rick, and in another age, perhaps a pinch of incense now and again. It’s still worth bragging rights, though. Thanks for the good and thorough job!
These comments, linking to the work you guys have put into comparing the Comfort commentary with others, are truly compelling.
I’ll soon be adding Comfort to my List of Shame!
Kevin —
I am certain that you will love this book. It has Kevin Edgecomb written all over it in big crayon letters.
I’m sure it has “Esteban Vázquez” written all over it too! 😉