BMCR 2002.05.32

Response: Taylor and Pennington on Goodrich on Wenham

Response to 2002.05.23

Response by

A. In response to Richard Goodrich’s review (BMCR 2002.05.23):

Cambridge University Press is actively planning a new introductory New Testament Greek textbook, based to some extent on J. W. Wenham’s classic but considerably adapted to the needs of the current generation of students and teachers. Publication will be in 2005. Kevin Taylor
Publishing Director, Humanities & Social Sciences
Cambridge University Press
ktaylor@cup.cam.ac.uk

B. To whom it may concern:

I know Mr Taylor at CUP already responded with general information regarding the coming update of the Wenham textbook. While I agree with some of Mr Goodrich’s critiques of the Wenham text (I have taught with both Wenham and Mounce), I was disappointed with his review at several points. Following is my response to his review of the audio CD portion of the product.

Simply, it was really no review at all. Mr Goodrich pokes fun at audio learning in general with his snide comments about the CD’s being used for subliminal learning. Not only is this obviously far from the stated purpose of the CD’s, it is sadly narrow-minded and oblivious to the reams of research on multi-sensory learning. Moreover, thousands of students and professors who regularly use my other audio CD’s, “New Testament Greek Vocabulary” (Zondervan, 2001) would disagree! Even worse: Mr Goodrich doesn’t actually review the CD’s at all. He simply states (only in part) what they contain and then critiques audio learning in toto. This certainly falls short of what a review is supposed to do.

Nevertheless, I agree with Mr Goodrich that the Wenham text is in need of revision and I am happy that this is in the works. Thank you for the opportunity to respond.

Sincerely,

Jonathan T. Pennington
jtpennington@yahoo.com