In a few weeks my partner-in-crime (Will Ross) and I have a book coming out on the Greek Old Testament (Crossway). It is slated to be available for purchase in early November, though it can be pre-ordered now.
Will and I have worked together on a handful of projects over the past few years, both during our time overseas and now as colleagues at RTS. This latest book aims to be an entrypoint to the fascinating and important world of the so-called Septuagint, pitched at educated laypersons, ministry leaders, and Bible college or seminary-level students.
On the heels of our work on Septuaginta: A Reader’s Edition (2018) and A Book-By-Book Guide to Septuagint Vocabulary (2019), we were approached by Justin Taylor with an idea of producing a more accessible guide to the Septuagint. Interest level has grown in the past decade largely due to (a) extensive academic research that has trickled down and (b) regular appeals to “the Septuagint” or “the LXX” in the field of OT-in-the-NT. On paper a book like this is a bit out of the ordinary for Crossway, but with their recent work on the Tyndale House edition of the Greek NT as well as the companion introduction by Dirk Jongkind, it started to make sense.
Will has provided a more comprehensive overview of the book over at his blog, so check it out over his way.
In many respects the most important chapter of the book is its final one, which deals with how we should think about the authority of the Greek Old Testament. We will be presenting on this very topic at the November meeting of the Evangelical Theological Society–so stay tuned for more on that.
Side note about the cover
Astute observers might notice that the background image on the blue band of the cover is from a fairly well-known manuscript of the Greek OT known as Codex Marchalianus. Originally the draft cover design just had a plain blue bar, but we pitched the idea of layering in this manuscript. It’s a portion of Ezekiel, and down the left-hand side you can see asterisks in the margin. These are “hexaplaric” markings that entered the manuscript tradition due to the work of the famous church father Origen. What are those markings, and who is Origen?
You’ll have to buy the book to find that out 🙂