Some resources for learning Greek
A blog visitor has asked for ideas for getting starting in reading the Greek New Testament. Here are some ideas I gave him by email:
There are several good books. The textbook by John Dobson has been recommended by a number of people. Its title is Learn New Testament Greek. Also, the following textbook is used in a number of Greek classes:
Mounce, W. (2003). Basics of Biblical Greek Grammar (2nd ed.). Grand Rapids: Zondervan.
Most people find it difficult to learn a language by themselves from books. If at all possible, you should be part of a class, whether it is held at a church, local college, or wherever. Another possibility is to take one of the New Testament Greek correspondence courses, where you at least have a teacher interacting with you, which helps.
Here is a url for a Moody course:
http://www.logos.com/products/details/2196
For on-line Greek course, try this:
http://www.rtsvirtual.org/courses/nt/greek/greek1/greek1_new.html
You can also comb through the archives of the Biblical-Greek (B-Greek discussion list. They has some recent messages about resources for learning New Testament Greek:
http://lists.ibiblio.org/pipermail/b-greek/
You can even subscribe to the list and ask your questions there. There are a number of Greek teachers and others who are advanced on that list who could help you with information for getting started.
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Hopefully, others of you will add more ideas in the comments to this post.
Category: Greek
There are several good books. The textbook by John Dobson has been recommended by a number of people. Its title is Learn New Testament Greek. Also, the following textbook is used in a number of Greek classes:
Mounce, W. (2003). Basics of Biblical Greek Grammar (2nd ed.). Grand Rapids: Zondervan.
Most people find it difficult to learn a language by themselves from books. If at all possible, you should be part of a class, whether it is held at a church, local college, or wherever. Another possibility is to take one of the New Testament Greek correspondence courses, where you at least have a teacher interacting with you, which helps.
Here is a url for a Moody course:
http://www.logos.com/products/details/2196
For on-line Greek course, try this:
http://www.rtsvirtual.org/courses/nt/greek/greek1/greek1_new.html
You can also comb through the archives of the Biblical-Greek (B-Greek discussion list. They has some recent messages about resources for learning New Testament Greek:
http://lists.ibiblio.org/pipermail/b-greek/
You can even subscribe to the list and ask your questions there. There are a number of Greek teachers and others who are advanced on that list who could help you with information for getting started.
==================
Hopefully, others of you will add more ideas in the comments to this post.
Category: Greek
posted by Wayne Leman at 11:21 AM
3 Comments:
Wayne,
John Dobson's Learn NT Greek is a wonderful choice, especially for those learning by themselves. I really like his pedagogical method. The third edition now teaches accents and comes with a CD included, rather than a tape which you had to buy seperately before. A much improved product IMHO.
My favourite (having tried for several decades to use Wenham's "Elements of NT Greek" and Mounce's "Basics of Biblical Greek") is Ian Macnair's "Discovering New Testament Greek". Macnair takes several different routes to teaching the basics of the language: firstly, in tackling the task much like learning a modern language, and secondly, with humour. By the end of chapter one, which isn't very long, he already has you reading the NT text! By that time in Wenham all you can do is copy out the text of John 1. I've never progressed far enough with Mounce to discover when students are able to tackle even the smallest portions of the actual text on their own.
Macnair's book is entitled "Teach Yourself New Testament Greek" in the US. The difference is that we Brits have a long established "Teach Yourself" imprint. I should probably declare a personal interest here as Macnair was the associate pastor of a church I attended. Personal interest aside I like the style of his work and heartily recommend it to anyone wanting a solid yet enjoyable scheme for learning Greek. The book seems now to be out of print but it really is worth seeking out a copy.
I taught myself Greek using Machen's Grammar (I already had taken classes Latin, German, plus a year of Russian while in the Navy), and so I knew the structure of Indo-European languages and managed fairly well. When I was at seminary we used Molly Whitaker - which I think is an excellent book, and it solidified what I had learned in Machen.
I have taught Greek several times over the past 20 years using Whitaker's book most often. I didn't care for James Voelz's Fundamentals of Greek Grammar (even though he was my dissertation advisor!). Recently I was investigating an introductory Greek class and using Read It in Greek by L. William Countryman; but that opportunity to teach it never materialized.
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