''Bauer's Lexicon'' (also ''Bauer Lexicon'', ''Bauer's Greek Lexicon'', and ''Bauer, Arndt and Gingrich'') is among the most highly respected dictionaries of

Biblical Greek Koine Greek (; Koine el, ἡ κοινὴ διάλεκτος, hē koinè diálektos, the common dialect; ), also known as Hellenistic Greek, common Attic, the Alexandrian dialect, Biblical Greek or New Testament Greek, was the common supra-reg ...

. The producers of the German forerunner are Erwin Preuschen and

Walter Bauer Walter Bauer (; 8 August 1877 – 17 November 1960) was a German theologian, lexicographer of New Testament Greek, and scholar of the development of Early Christianity. Life Bauer was born in Königsberg, East Prussia, and raised in Marburg, ...

. The English edition is ''A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament and Other Early Christian Literature'' (the 3rd edition was published in 2001 by the

University of Chicago Press The University of Chicago Press is the largest and one of the oldest university presses in the United States. It is operated by the University of Chicago and publishes a wide variety of academic titles, including '' The Chicago Manual of Style' ...

, ).

History

''The origin'' may be traced to Erwin Preuschen's ''Vollständiges Griechisch-Deutsches Handwörterbuch zu den Schriften des Neuen Testaments und der übrigen urchristlichen Literatur'' (1910). Walter Bauer extensively revised this work, as ''Griechisch-deutsches Wörterbuch zu den Schriften des Neuen Testaments und der übrigen urchristlichen Literatur''. ''The first English edition'' was published in 1957. It is based on the fourth German edition (1949-1952) of

’s Greek-German lexicon (Bauer lexicon). The project began in the fall of 1949, when

F. Wilbur Gingrich Felix Wilbur Gingrich (27 September 1901 – 19 October 1993) was an American educator, scholar of Biblical Greek, and Christian layman who spent his entire career working with students at Albright College in Reading, Pennsylvania. Gingrich publi ...

was granted a leave of absence from

Albright College Albright College is a private liberal arts college in Reading, Pennsylvania. It was founded in 1856. History Albright College traces its founding to 1856 when Union Seminary opened. Present-day Albright was formed by the mergers of several ins ...

to work on a new Greek-English lexicon of the

New Testament The New Testament grc, Ἡ Καινὴ Διαθήκη, transl. ; la, Novum Testamentum. (NT) is the second division of the Christian biblical canon. It discusses the teachings and person of Jesus, as well as events in first-century Chris ...

, translating and adapting the work of Bauer in collaboration with Dr. William F. Arndt. The work actually took 5 ½ years. This English edition is often referenced by an abbreviation of the authors - Bauer, Arndt, and Gingrich (''BAG''). ''The second English edition'' was published in 1979 with the additional help of

Frederick William Danker Frederick William Danker (; July 12, 1920 – February 2, 2012) was a Christ Seminary–Seminex Professor Emeritus of New Testament at the Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago, Illinois. Danker was a noted New Testament scholar and the pre-e ...

due to the death of Arndt in 1957. It is based on Bauer's fifth German edition (1957-1958). This second edition, ''Bauer-Danker Greek Lexicon of the New Testament'', is commonly known as ''BAGD'' (due to the abbreviation of the contributors'' Bauer–Arndt–Gingrich–Danker''). ''The third English edition'' was published in 2000. It is based on the sixth German edition, which was published following Bauer's death in 1960, by

Kurt Aland Kurt Aland (28 March 1915 – 13 April 1994) was a German theologian and biblical scholar who specialized in New Testament textual criticism. He founded the ''Institut für neutestamentliche Textforschung'' (Institute for New Testament Textual ...

, Barbara Aland and Viktor Reichmann. Gingrich died in 1993, leaving Danker to complete the third English edition based on all the prior editions and substantial work of his own. Given the extensive improvements in this edition (said to include over 15,000 new citations), it is now known as ''Bauer–Danker–Arndt–Gingrich'' (''BDAG'') or sometimes the ''Bauer-Danker Lexicon''. A notable feature of the third English edition is vastly improved typography. This reflects early adoption of

SGML The Standard Generalized Markup Language (SGML; ISO 8879:1986) is a standard for defining generalized markup languages for documents. ISO 8879 Annex A.1 states that generalized markup is "based on two postulates": * Declarative: Markup should ...

technology. The entire lexicon was converted to SGML in the late 1980s at

Dallas Seminary Dallas Theological Seminary (DTS) is an evangelical theological seminary in Dallas, Texas. It is known for popularizing the theological system dispensationalism. DTS has campuses in Dallas, Houston, and Washington, D.C., as well as extension cam ...

with collaboration from SGML experts interested in the project, and Danker actually did substantial editorial and authorial work in an SGML editing program. This technology permitted much more consistent and flexible typography, as well as information retrieval. A Chinese translation of the lexicon, based on the third English edition, was published in 2009 in Hong Kong by Chinese Bible International Limited.

References

Sources

* Danker, Frederick W. ''A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament and Other Early Christian Literature.'' 3d ed. University of Chicago Press. .
Review by Rodney J. Decker
* Rykle Borger, "Remarks of an Outsider about Bauer's Worterbuch, BAGD, BDAG, and Their Textual Basis," pp. 32–47, Biblical Greek language and lexicography: essays in honor of Frederick W. Danker, ed. Bernard A. Taylor (et al.). Grand Rapids: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing. {{ISBN, 0802822169. Bible dictionaries Ancient Greek dictionaries Christian terminology

History

See also

References

Sources