Happy Birthday Alexander Cruden
(May 31, 1699 - November 1, 1770)
Alexander Cruden's place in Church history is his contribution to
Bible scholarship. A Bible concordance is a dictionary that lists the words
that appear in the Bible and shows in what verses they can be found. When you
consider how long the Bible is, you can easily see how useful such a dictionary
must be.
The best concordance of Cruden's day listed the words with the
verse numbers under them. As many as five hundred men had worked at preparing
it. Cruden saw that he could make a much more useful version. Working all alone
with scarcely a break for eighteen months, he wrote a new concordance. His
great innovation was to quote a bit of verse around each word.
The first edition did not sell well. Cruden became depressed. Later
editions of the concordance did much better. The famous preacher Charles
Spurgeon said that the concordance was as necessary to a preacher "as a
plane to the carpenter, or a plough to the husbandman."
Cruden died at 71. He was found kneeling by his bed with a Bible
open in front of him.
Do any of you use a
Cruden’s Concordance?
Is so, is your
version software or the good ole book form?
When I was in Bible College, the joke was:
Strong’s (Concordance) for the strong…
Young’s (Concordance) for the young…
Cruden’s (Concordance) for the crude…
8 comments:
i would like to see this--thanks!
Brings back memories Doug. Let my paper concordances go (along with my Greek Interlinear, commentaries and the such) a few years ago when we downsized. Have not missed them. Most everything I seem to need is either on the net or in some other electronic form.
Doug?? Sorry Gregg!! Must have been a senior moment??
I had not heard of Alexander Cruden. I have always used Young's Concordance. No particular reason. Its just what I use. But thanks for introducing me to Alexander Cruden.
I have a Young's and Strong's but have heard of Cruden's. It's pretty amazing that these brothers wrote these concordances without the aid of modern technology.
This is the first time I have heard of him as well. Interesting story.
Encouraging Thoughts for Life
That's funny Gregg - I remember that little saying (you can tell we've got the same background. lol). I didn't realize Cruden lived so long ago though.
Interesting thoughts of life,
Yvonne.
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