I want to learn greek

  • Thread starter Thread starter Mojoforyeshua
  • Start date Start date
Status
Not open for further replies.
M

Mojoforyeshua

Guest
Hey folks!

Recently my brother in law has been having bible studies with Jahovah’s witnesses. He was taken in by some of their stuff but I think that by the power of the Holy Spirit I was able to bring him out of that muck. It has however given me a desire to learn Greek because much of the argument was over what such and such Greek word means and which way is the best way to translate. I know it is a difficult task but I have done this before, I have learned some beginner level Hebrew in the past and I have a talent for foreign languages. So the question is, Does anyone know any good books for learning Koine Greek?

Thank you for your suggestions! Shalom

John
 
Cool Fact:
Shalom means hello, goodbye, and all of God’s blessings combined. (My brother is learning hebrew and goes to bible study, so it rubs of:):D)
 
I suggest Bruce Metzger’s remarkable little book, Lexical Aids for Students of New Testament Greek (amazon.com/Lexical-Aids-Students-Testament-Greek/dp/0801021804/). It presents the vocabulary of the NT in decreasing order of frequency, then again in order of root, and rounds it all out with a thorough exposition of prepositions and correlatives. For the nuts and bolts of declensions, conjugations, and other grammatical issues, however, any old grammar or textbook does the job. Just make sure you have a handle on how the JWs are using their sources, because I know they have, for example, a peculiar approach to the grammar of John 1:1 (καὶ θεὸς ἦν ὁ λόγος).
 
I learnt Greek using the Cambridge University books but they can be very hard going. You might want to try Basics of Biblical Greek Grammar by William D. Mounce. The classics website Textkit has a forum to support users of it. textkit.com/
 
I’ll definitely be checking those out! I do wonder though if there are any schools or personal tutors in the area that teach Koine greek. Hmmm…
 
which area would that b?

If I were interested in such a thing, I’d check with the local Byzantine or GO churches.
 
I live in Minnesota, the Twin Cities area. I called a Byzantine Church today and they said I should contact the GO churches around the area. He did say that they may only teach modern Greek but I’ll give them a call and see if they teach Koine. I also found a few protestant places that teach Biblical Greek and that may help.
 
You might check up on the local university classics (greek and latin) department. They teach classical Greek, and more often than not they’ll also specifically teach classes in koine; classical and koine aren’t really that different at all. Even if they don’t, they will probably know someone who does or have grad students that could tutor it. 🙂
 
+1 on Mounce. He has a whole kit and nice website where you can listen to the lessons he teaches in class.
 
I’m with Eurydice on this.

I learned to read Koine Greek at a local Presbyterian-based college. Learning on your own is fun, but it’s too easy to miss important stuff and/or develop bad habits; and nothing beats class discussion and the immediate feedback from someone with the proper knowledge.

The class I took was focused on reading only, which in my view made it much easier to grasp. In two semesters, I had a good working knowledge of Koine and could debate any Jehovah’s Witness until they begged for mercy.

Of course, now that I’m a nonbeliever, I use my NT Greek powers for evil instead of good ;)>
 
Mojo, if you know scripture well, the Interlinear Scripture Analyzer 2 (ISA2 Basic) is a good resource, a free download, and is directly related to one’s areas of concern and interest. . It will not, of course, replace actually learning Greek in any of the ways suggested, but I find it a useful stopgap, and very enlightening besides.
 
I have been taking Greek and Hebrew classes with a local Messianic Jewish group. We use Machen’s classic book, which is still good but really is not designed to be used for self-study.

The class is open to all, and you can watch it online, but the instructor is not teaching the beginning class this year. I think he probably will start a new beginning class in the fall. Feel free to ask him! He is extremely knowledgeable about scripture and history (from a Protestant perspective). He has many erroneous ideas about Catholics (which I try to correct from time to time), but he does make an effort to be fair.

That brings up a point: a Catholic needs to be very aware of the dangers inherent in taking classes like these with non-Catholic groups. I do not mean that we should be afraid to hear other perspectives. There is great value in that. But non-Catholics will only tell you their side of it, and they will say many things about Catholics that may sound reasonable but are completely false. If a Catholic doesn’t know their faith backwards and forwards they will not know how to determine what is true and what is not. Protestant congregations are full of former Catholics who did not know their faith.

Unfortunately there are very few options for Catholics who want to learn the Biblical languages. I am hoping I can share what I have learned with my own Parish.

Here is their website:

torahresource.com/Greek.html

-Tony
 
Tony,

Given what I’ve experienced from those groups, I’m surprised you were even tolerated there. The links I’ve been given, the words I’ve seen and heard are…well, less than tolerant of Catholics. I agree that you have to be very very well versed to be there. I’m not even sure it would be worth it. It’s not that there is no value there, only that it is so mixed with thing that are not valuable, to put it charitably.

Saul delTarso
 
In relation to what Tony said, your goal is to know what the original Greek meant in order to be well informed. If the original dispute between your Catholic brother and the protestant Witnesses was over the translation of a word in original Greek, maybe you should be consulting an Academic Catholic expert rather than a protestant expert, especially since they would translate the bible differently which is the stem (maybe) of their of their doctrinal differences. I only say this because I got into a debate with a Baptist friend of mine whose pastor claimed to be an expert in ancient Greek and was therefore able to tell her definitively that the bible said baptism could only be done through immersion (which is of course wrong, according to the bible, evidenced by the simultaneous use of the same word to describe both immersion and the washing of hands)… They will just teach you the protestant translation.
 
Mojoforyeshua said:
Hey folks!

Recently my brother in law has been having bible studies with Jahovah’s witnesses. He was taken in by some of their stuff but I think that by the power of the Holy Spirit I was able to bring him out of that muck. It has however given me a desire to learn Greek because much of the argument was over what such and such Greek word means and which way is the best way to translate. I know it is a difficult task but I have done this before, I have learned some beginner level Hebrew in the past and I have a talent for foreign languages. So the question is, Does anyone know any good books for learning Koine Greek?

Thank you for your suggestions! Shalom

John
Click to expand...
Yes. Jehovah’s Witnesses come to our door with reading material, but they are barely acquainted with the Bible in their won language, let alone the original. Once they tried to convince me that the soul was annihilated upon death, using select verses from the Psalms. I asked them about the Sadducees. They had no idea who ‘those dudes’ were:p
 
I don’t see any problem taken a language class in a Protestant setting, as long as they are not anticatholic. Koine Greek is Koine Greek. While some professors may wander off on tangents, it should be obvious when they do so. In my Greek classes, it was all about the language, and I had two learned men teaching. It was academic all the way.
 
You can get lots of free worksheets to go with Mounce, and also annotated Greek text of New Testament books here:

rpeurifoy.com/Greek.aspx

Peurifoy is a professor at Fuller Theological Seminary. I have never found a Protestant text either, just Protestants! The only problem is, the usual Catholic/Protestant contretemps: the particular tradition of interpretation of scripture, while denying that there is a tradition; etc etc.
 
The best textbook on the market is Jeremy Duff’s revision of The Elements of New Testament Greek. I’d recommend it, but, obviously, it isn’t perfect. I’d buy a dictionary/lexicon too.
 
ora_pro_nobis said:
I learnt Greek using the Cambridge University books but they can be very hard going. You might want to try Basics of Biblical Greek Grammar by William D. Mounce. The classics website Textkit has a forum to support users of it. textkit.com/
Click to expand...
I second that! Bill Mounce’s book for learning Greek are very good.
Find a retired college biblical studies teacher in your area. He or she may teach you for coffee! I would - er. good coffee.
:)Tom
 
Most Lutheran seminaries teach both Koine Greek and Biblical Hebrew. However, you’re wasting your time with the Witnesses. Their attitude is: “My mind is made up. Don’t confuse me with the truth.” You don’t even need to know Biblical languages to confront them. Just know your Bible. They usually quote verses out of context and bounce all over the place to try to make their point. You just need to read the verses before and after the ones they quote. Oh, and by the way, they use their own translation, which is sometimes waaay off the mark!
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top