Since the publication of the first volume of the German edition, the Theological Dictionary of the New Testament has secured for itself a solid and lasting place in biblical scholarship throughout the world. It has done this because it is a monumental reference work not only for theologians and students, but also for preachers and passtors. Today it stands almost above comparison with any other multiple-volume theological dictionary, being considered by a host of biblical scholars to be the best New Testament dictionary ever compiled. The purpose of the Theological Dictionary of the New Testament is to mediate between ordinary lexicography and the specific task of exposition, more particularly at the theological level. It therefore treats those New Testament words, including the more important prepositions and numbers, that are theologically significant. These words are dealt with in the order of the Greek alphabet. The usual procedure in the Dictionary is to present the word in its secular Greek background; to assess its role in the Old Testament, both in the Hebrew and teh Septuagint texts; next to discover its use in such sources as Philo, Josephus, the pseudepigraphal and rabbinical literature; then to see its varied uses in the New Testament, sometimes classified according to synoptic, Johannine, Petrine, adn Pauline usage. Where pertinent, a subsection on the Apostolic Fathers is included. The Theological Dictionary of the New Testament, complete in ten volumes, including indes, is the only English translation of this internationally famous reference work. A twelve volume companion series, the Theological Dictionalry of the Old Testament, is currently in production.