Unabridged Theological Dictionary of the New Testament

One of the most widely-used and well-respected theological dictionaries ever created, TDNT is indispensible for studies in the Greek New Testament. Words were selected for inclusion in this dictionary based on their theological significance. The historical development and theological nuances of each word are exhaustively explored. The authors trace usage in classical Greek literature, the Old Testament (LXX) and extrabiblical texts, and New Testament passages.

As you can see, TDNT ("Big Kittel") is a massive reference work. The abridged 1,392-page version of TDNT is available as an unlock and is included with Scholar's Library. The full unabridged 9,081-page version is also included with Scholar's Library...or can be purchased separately here.
 

Preface to the Electronic Edition of TDNT

The Theological Dictionary of the New Testament (TDNT) is one of the few agreed upon standard reference works in the area of New Testament studies. The depth and breadth of the information contained within the pages of the ten-volume print edition are well worth the cost, weight, and shelf space that they require.

However, in the 70 years since the first volume was originally published in German, significant advances have been made in the areas of information storage and retrieval. Technology has progressed to the point where entire libraries can be accessed electronically. Therefore, there is no better time for the timeless information contained within the ten print volumes that make up the Theological Dictionary of the New Testament to be released in a Logos Bible Software compatible electronic edition.
 

Enhancements of the Electronic Edition

This electronic edition has several enhancements that make TDNT more usable than it has ever been before. While the ten-volume print edition has been useful mainly to scholars of classical and New Testament Greek, this electronic version offers many enhancements that increase usability for both the scholar and the astute Bible student. These enhancements come in a number of areas:

• Abbreviations, a commonly cryptic element of most theological works, can now be clicked upon and the user will be provided with the full abbreviation definition from the abbreviation table.
• References to both The Works of Philo and The Works of Josephus are enabled. Therefore, if versions of Philo or Josephus are available to the user, these valuable cross references can be examined in their complete context.
• The indices of volume ten have been implemented as topic indices within the Logos Library System. Specifically:
• The Index Greek Keywords included information that associates Strongs’ numbers with Greek articles. This information is implemented as a topic index. This allows the user to use a Strongs-number enabled New Testament (such as the King James Version or New American Standard Bible, 1995 Edition) to access the information in TDNT from a Strongs number.
• Individual Greek article headwords are included as topics in both Greek and Greek Lemma languages. This allows the user to use the Keylink functionality to jump to articles in TDNT from a morphologically tagged Greek text.
• The Index of English Keywords is also available. This allows the user to search TDNT in English for a given topic and arrive at the relevant Greek articles.
• The Contributor and Co-Worker Index is also available. A comprehensive list of articles from a contributor is available simply by clicking on the author citation at the end of each article.
• The Index of Biblical References is comprehensive in this electronic version. Using the Reference Search functionality, one can arrive at a complete listing of instances where a particular verse is referenced throughout the whole of the TDNT.
• All Bible references are enabled, allowing the user to click upon a Bible reference to look up the reference in a preferred translation. In addition, discrepancies in versification are automatically dealt with. So, when a verse reference to the Septuagint (LXX) is made, any versification differences are implicitly rectified when the search results are reported back to the user.
• Article references by either article name or by volume and page are enabled as well. This allows the user to examine the numerous instances where a given article refers the user to another article within TDNT for clarification and expansion on a given topic or idea.

Of course, the normal benefits of a Logos Bible Software compatible electronic book are available as well. The entire text is searchable by language. The layout and presentation of the printed edition are preserved as much as possible. Most important, however, is the fact that TDNT can now be used in conjunction with other electronic books within the single standardized interface of the Libronix Digital Library System.

Supplementary Enhancements to Other Logos Bible Software Compatible Electronic Books

In addition to the TDNT itself, enhancements have been made to other Logos Bible Software compatible electronic books that contain links to TDNT. Enhanced Strongs Lexicon and the Theological Dictionary of the New Testament, Abridged in One Volume (also known as "Little Kittel" or TDNTA) both contain information that link these texts to TDNT.

Each article in the TDNTA contains a citation to the volume and page of the TDNT article from which it was abridged. These volume and page links have been enabled as hypertext jumps. Therefore, one now may link to the fuller treatment of a given article in the TDNT from the abridgement in the TDNTA.

The portion of the Enhanced Strongs Lexicon that represents the Greek language includes volume and page references to the TDNT for selected articles. These references are enabled, so that the user may now jump from Strongs to TDNT via hypertext link. In addition, some articles also refer the user to the TDNTA page number for more information. These references are enabled as well.
 

Conclusion

The venerable Theological Dictionary of the New Testament becomes even more usable when it is digitized. The above mentioned enhancements allow the student of today to use TDNT in ways that the contributors and editors of the information may have never anticipated. In short, it allows students, pastors, and laypersons alike the opportunity to significantly increase their knowledge of New Testament Greek and allow this newfound linguistic knowledge to play a role in their study, teaching, and application of the New Testament message.

R. Brannan
July 2000

Стоимость CD-ROM: 15 у.е.