Canter Bridge

The review that follows was originally published in The Churchman, 1999.

HOSEA. The International Critical Commentary
A.A. Macintosh
Edinburgh: T. and T. Clark. 1997 600pp ISBN 0 567 08545 7

Andrew Macintosh’s Hosea offers its reader the judiciously critical stance, the attention to detail, and the craftsmanship which have characterised the ICC in its best moments. It then adds to this package a reverent dialogue with an ancient interpretative tradition that rarely finds a voice in the circles frequented by readers of such commentaries, that of Medieval Jewish exegetes like David Kimchi, Rashi, and Nachmanides. The result is extraordinarily rich. (more…)

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The review that follows was originally published in The Churchman, 1999.

THE DICTIONARY OF CLASSICAL HEBREW, Volume II: beth—waw
David J.A. Clines, editor; John Elwolde, executive editor
Sheffield: Sheffield Academic Press 1995 660pp £65 hb ISBN 1 85075 544 2

The modern English-speaking reader of the Old Testament floats happily in a sea of lexical tools which would have been unimaginable only a generation ago. The DCH (Dictionary of Classical Hebrew) contributes usefully to the modern upsurge of philological activity. The volume under review is the second of eight projected volumes. In all, three of these are now in print, encompassing words from aleph to tet. (more…)

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For lovers of language and epic drama, Homer and the Bible brook few competitors. For readers up for a slightly higher degree of difficulty, William Cowper’s eighteenth-century English translation of the Odyssey provides a second layer of beauty. Not only do you get Homer’s genius. You also soak in the resonant and ironic tones of an English dialect that is familiar enough to be almost completely understood but also different enough from modern American dialect to bring astonishing and pleasing insight into the language we speak. (more…)

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David Seccombe is the principal of Capetown’s highly regarded George Whitfield College and a New Testament scholar of sturdy reputation. This monumental treatment of Jesus and the kingdom he claimed both to introduce and to rule is able, insightful, faithful, and refreshing. It is a pity to be obligated to recognize that most Jesus scholarship–especially its popular manifestation–falls short of what Seccombe has produced in this book with regard to all four of those cardinal virtues. (more…)

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Full product information for this item, together with my review, my ranking of the product, and any reader comments, can be found at http://www.amazon.com.

An English friend musician of mine from Cambridge days used to sigh with ineffable poignance and say, ‘Ah, the French …’ (more…)

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