3 Questions with Daniel B. Wallace, professor of New Testament studies at Dallas Theological Seminary; author, Greek Grammar Beyond the Basics
How has A.T. Robertson’s A Grammar of the Greek New Testament impacted your study of the language?
I have two copies of his magnum opus — one at school and one at home. Robertson was a brilliant grammarian with an intuitive sense of how the language worked. He was one of the first to recognize how important the non-literary papyri were for New Testament studies. I have devoured his masterpiece several times. Not only his big grammar, but his journal articles and other books have impacted me. His command of the literature was most impressive, and his devotion to our Lord is clearly seen in his academic work. That may have impacted me the most: Here was a man who did not divorce his mind from his heart, but loved God with both fully.
If you could meet Robertson in person, what would you discuss?
I would want to know why he held so tenaciously to the eight-case system and his relationship with some of the great biblical scholars of his day. His correspondence is extensive with many of the world’s finest scholars. Did he know these men personally? What was Debrunner like? What about Deissman, Sanday and Headlam, Warfield, Moulton? The list goes on.
Finally, I would want to know what his time commitments looked like. How was he able to write so much, minister so much, know so many languages, and yet be a humble servant of Christ?
What are your favorite movies, TV shows, and non-academic books?
movies: The Untouchables; Raiders of the Lost Ark.
As for TV shows, I really don’t watch them that much. But the old Mission Impossible and the more recent Monk have been my favorites for a long time.
Frankly, I don’t read many non-academic books. But I enjoy, from time to time, biographies of movers and shakers (e.g., Malcolm X, Jean Paul Sartre, C. H. Dodd, Adolf Hitler) and histories — especially histories about World War II and the Civil War. I’m not a big fan of fiction, except for some of C. S. Lewis’s works (e.g., Screwtape Letters, The Great Divorce, The Chronicles of Narnia).
