A Companion to Greek Literature, edited by Martin Hose and David Schenker (Wiley Blackwell, 2016), 552 pages.
Anyone studying Christianity faces the task of dealing also with Greco-Roman culture. If affected Christianity in multiple ways, from the early philosophical ideas of Plato and Aristotle that filtered down to the Stoics and Epicureans of the time of the early church, to the history of Alexander the Great’s conquests, to the evolution of the Greek language.
This new companion from Blackwell assists those who want to get a broad sweep of Greek literature in compact and introductory essays. It falls in eight parts:
- Production and Transmission. This is a useful section because the first essay covers the mechanics and means of production in antiquity. This introductory essay is complementary to books on writing in the ancient world by the likes of Randolph Richards and Jerome Murphy-O’Connor. The second chapter on textual survival and transmission has obvious application to the study of NT manuscripts.
- Greek Literature as a Dynamic System. Here one can see the evolution of Greek literature from its oral stages to its more mature literary stages, and finally to its encounter with Christianity. This chapter on the influence of Christianity on Greek literature is useful in itself (ch. 8).
- Genres. While describing all the genres of Greek literature, particularly important is ch. 14 on historiography and biography. The Gospels are generally now defined as ancient biographies of one sort or another (e.g., see Aune), and the question of historicity is almost at hand while studying the Gospels and Acts.
- The Players. This section covers the creators, users, sponsors, and enemies of literature.
- The Places. This section covers the places of production and presentation, the former being somewhat applicable to our study of NT manuscripts and scribal practices. Chapter 23 covers topos and topoi, which one may apply to the study of proposed topoi in the NT.
- Literature and Knowledge. Truth and knowledge are consistent themes throughout Greek literature and it arises in unique ways.
- Literature and Aesthetics. The student of NT Greek will want to note ch. 29 on the language of Greek literature. Andreas Willi studies the different Greek dialects and their various meters and rhythms.
- The Reception of Greek Literature. Important more for historians and students of the humanities, this section covers trends in the modern academy and the impact of Greek literature on the formation of Western identity.
Each of the essays is well-researched, with plentiful citations and content notes. Following the bibliography in each chapter is a section on further reading, which provides some guidance on a course for further study in that area and comments on the individual works suggested.
While the collection is commendable and useful, I am surprised there was less attention to individual works that were more influential than the others (the exception is Homer, which does receive good attention). A chapter on intertextuality also would have been enthralling, since one can find so many allusions to older Greek works in various authors.
Lastly, I was hoping for more attention to the Greek language. Since most of the literature under scrutiny includes poetry or dramas, one might expect more than one chapter on the language used to compose these pieces. Language is the means by which poets bring their dramas to life, and I had hoped to find more analysis of the language to enhance my knowledge of Greek in the periods before Koine, but alas.
This volume would be useful for those interested in the humanities, early Greek thought, and select chapters would be useful for NT students as noted above.
Find it here on Amazon.
