Free Downloads A Primer Of Biblical Greek
Though there are currently a number of texts for teaching biblical Greek, most of them are plagued by various deficiencies. Written with these flaws in mind, this new primer by N. Clayton Croy offers an effective, single-volume introduction to biblical Greek that has proven successful in classrooms around the country.This volume takes a primarily deductive approach to teaching biblical Greek and assumes that students have no prior knowledge of the language. Divided into 32 separate lessons, each containing a generous number of exercises, the text leads students from the Greek alphabet to a working understanding of the language of the Septuagint and the New Testament.Special features of A Primer of Biblical Greek:An abundance of exercisesEach lesson includes practice sentences taken from the Septuagint and the New Testament as well as Greek sentences composed by the author. Exercises in English-to-Greek translation are also included.Concise but accurate grammatical explanationsGreat care has been taken to insure that grammatical explanations are clear, correct, and succinct. In particular, the Greek participle receives a fuller-than-usual treatment.A natural order of presentationMaterial is presented according to the natural structure of Greek and the traditional terminology of grammarians. Declensions and principal parts, for example, are presented in numerical order.Inclusive languageThe book uses inclusive language for human beings throughout.Helpful appendixes for quick referenceIncluded at the back of the book are the Greek paradigms, Greek-to-English vocabulary, English-to-Greek vocabulary, and a bibliography for further study.
Paperback: 288 pages
Publisher: Eerdmans (August 5, 2011)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0802867332
ISBN-13: 978-0802867339
Product Dimensions: 7 x 0.7 x 9.2 inches
Shipping Weight: 1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars See all reviews (58 customer reviews)
Best Sellers Rank: #39,845 in Books (See Top 100 in Books) #21 in Books > Christian Books & Bibles > Bible Study & Reference > Language Studies #87 in Books > Reference > Foreign Language Study & Reference > Instruction #474 in Books > Christian Books & Bibles > Bible Study & Reference > Bible Study
The person who wants to read the New Testament in its original language is faced with dozens of possible textbooks on the market. Some will inundate him or her with needless technical information; others will barely give enough information to scratch the surface of the language. Clayton Croy, an assistant professor of New Testament at Trinity Lutheran Seminary, has provided a textbook that at last hits the right balance.The Primer presents the full spectrum of Greek grammar, with clear yet concise discussions of each grammatical concept, in just over thirty lessons. Each concept is illustrated with examples in Greek and English, and the student will have plenty of opportunity to practice Greek through the exercises that Croy has either written himself or selected from the New Testament and the Septuagint (the Old Testament translated into Greek, as it was read by most Jews outside of Palestine in the Greco-Roman world). The inclusion of exercises from both the New Testament and Septuagint makes this book all the more attractive, as the student is able from early on to begin working with the scriptures themselves. The use of the Septuagint in this text makes it stand out as unique among all available textbooks, encouraging students to pursue not only the study of the New Testament in Greek but to delve more fully into the Jewish Bible as it was known to the majority of Jews at the turn of the era (and as it came to be used in the early church).I highly recommend this book as a textbook for all who teach Biblical Greek in bible colleges and seminaries.
I studied biblical Greek years ago in seminary. For a year now, I have been working on my own to renew my ability with the language. I worked my way through "Basics of Biblical Greek" before buying A Primer of Biblical Greek. I love both books. Of the two, I like the approach here of having the three types of exercises: author generated sentences, readings from the LXX and NT. My only suggestion would be to include practice in reading extended passages. As it is, each sentence is a new beginning rather than a continuous flow of language. A short narrative or passage at the end of each chapter or extended readings as a companion (graded) reader would offer the language in context rather than as isolated examples. As someone working alone without a teacher, I did find this book user friendly!
I have used a couple of different texts in seminary to learn (or try to learn) Greek. This is the best, most user friendly text I have found. It exceeds Mounce in that it doesn't get so focused on the minutia. It's in modern language (unlike Machen). The exercises are appropriate yet remain challenging throughout. There are a few places Croy does things I might have chosen differently (different order, or different examples for exercises) but those are incredibly small nit-picks. If you are teaching yourself this is the place to start. As you progress, there are others that will futher your education, but start here.
As my title indicates, this is a solid book to be used as a text for a high school or college class on Biblical Greek. I doubt that it would be a useful tool for learning Greek on one's own; it will likely require further instruction and explication to be meaningful. A CD-ROM is included, with some useful material on it.The information is presented simply and systematically. The content of the book is on par with other first-year Greek textbooks, and this may be the simplest one of them all that is suitable for higher education.The book has been effective in teaching Biblical Greek to me, a native English speaker, and to my classmates as well. I came in with rudimentary understanding of languages and some experience learning language in high school and college, but I am far from being a language scholar. The material was reasonably easy to comprehend. There is no way for the student to escape a bit of memorization and drilling. Again, it will likely be necessary to seek instruction and guidance, especially for pronunciation and for drawing the student's focus to the most important material.Here is the major negative aspect of Croy's Primer: The book itself is a piece of junk. It is a poorly-bound paperback with a cheap plastic-coated cover. I take great care in breaking the spine of new books, but this book started coming unglued immediately despite my best efforts. The font is generally readable, although the breathing marks and accents are difficult for those with poor vision to read. A large print edition is probably not necessary, but I would prefer it to the current version for legibility.If the material in this primer were bound instead into an elegant hardcover edition, I would not hesitate to give the book 4.5 stars. As it is, the poor paperback quality reflects the carelessness of the publisher. My recommendation to those considering buying the book is to find the best price possible and protect the book well enough to get through your first year of Greek. Perhaps an acceptable hardcover edition will be available at a reasonable price in the future. I recommend staying away from used paperback editions of this book, since I cannot imagine them being in good shape by the time they reach the purchaser.
Croy's book not only is extremely useful but manifests a latent charm and humor (in the exercises). I have taught NT Greek for over 30 years and this is the best primer on the market. It gets students right into the biblical texts with sentences from the LXX and the NT. The exercises are pertinent, challenging, and able to be accomplished by the students even on their own. Croy does not fuss with syntactical or grammatical issues that lie beyond the ken of the NT. At the same time he presents material at an appropriate pace and builds in a rather straighforward manner. I very much appreciate the layout of the book -- the wide margins give a spacious impression; very important for beginning students who feel the optical issue of "different letters" and the psychological intimidation of a book that crams so much into so little space. It is, in short, a remarkable book.
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