Learning Biblical Greek

[JustinMartyr100]

Does anybody here know any Biblical Greek, had any formal training, or read a book? This is an undertaking I would like to pursue and I was wondering if anyone had any advice.

Are there any good books that start at the absolute beginning and are easy? Any that may come with a CD so I can hear the pronunciations to make sure I am saying the words correctly?

In regards to taking a class, if the only class I could find were in the local protestant seminary, would that be okay, or would that hurt me? I ask because, for example, there is the debate between Catholic’s and Protestant’s on the Greek word for “full of Grace” in Luke 1:28. Obviously there is some bias in the translation of the word, and I tend to agree with the Catholic side, of course. Would taking a few Greek classes at a protestant seminary hurt my learning because it is possibly biased in the wrong way? Or would the Greek class be more neutral since it’s a Greek class and not a theology class?

Thanks!

 

[Harmony1988]

I misread that for biblical geek

 

[mathematician]

In the UK J W Wenham’s “Elements of New Testament Greek” is something of a standard text. It is published by Cambridge University Press, and can optionally be bought with a CD.

 

[COPLAND_3]

Here is the best on the market that I am aware of, teknia.com/index.php?page=bbgtextbook

It comes with a CD ROM too. William Mounce did a wonderful job to make learning Greek easier and efficient. I took a number of first year greek grammar courses, but this one is the best by far. Most Christian Universities go with this grammar.

Flash card are very helpful, here is a link to purchase those. teknia.com/index.php?page=detail&pnum=19

The Text Book that I gave you a link to also makes availible a workbook, it is good too. teknia.com/index.php?page=bbgworkbook

Here is a free online Greek course, it is very good to get you started, but I would still atleast get the text book and CD that I gave the links to. ibiblio.org/koine/greek/lessons/

If you have any questions or need any help getting started, you can contact me anytime. litteralchristianlibrary.wetpaint.com/page/Contact+me

 

[JustinMartyr100]

Here is the best on the market that I am aware of, teknia.com/index.php?page=bbgtextbook

It comes with a CD ROM too. William Mounce did a wonderful job to make learning Greek easier and efficient. I took a number of first year greek grammar courses, but this one is the best by far. Most Christian Universities go with this grammar.

Flash card are very helpful, here is a link to purchase those. teknia.com/index.php?page=detail&pnum=19

The Text Book that I gave you a link to also makes availible a workbook, it is good too. teknia.com/index.php?page=bbgworkbook

Here is a free online Greek course, it is very good to get you started, but I would still atleast get the text book and CD that I gave the links to. ibiblio.org/koine/greek/lessons/

If you have any questions or need any help getting started, you can contact me anytime. litteralchristianlibrary.wetpaint.com/page/Contact+me

Thanks, I just read a blog post by James Akin on this subject and he recommended William Mounce too, looks like that’s what I’m going with.

My question now is, is it hard to learn the proper pronounciation without a class? I know the books tell you how to pronounce, but is that actually effective when you don’t have someone there to correct you? For example, Chinese can be very difficult to pronounce. I have had people in the past try to teach me to say certain Chinese words and I could never get them right…Even when I heard them say it, so I’m thinking a CD might not even do the trick. Is a book really sufficient for this?

I know that proper pronounciation isn’t extremely important in this case, but it would help me have an intelligent discussion about the Bible with other Greek speakers, and I don’t want to pick up any bad habits when I am learning on my own.

What are your thoughts?

 

[COPLAND_3]

JustinMartyr100,

That is a limitation for anyone who is self taught, which has been an obstacle for myself, who is self taught in most things. The book does teach you the diphthongs and other things such as breathing marks and so on. And, as I have learned from using different grammar books, not all grammar books teach exactly the same pronunciations, and there are different schools of thought concerning how it was originally pronounced.

If this is something that you are very concerned about, you will have to put forth that much more effort. There is a wonderful mail list that you can join free, that has many wonderful Greek scholars who can assist you will any question about Greek, these are the pros! They have helped me for years, here is the link to join it lists.ibiblio.org/mailman/listinfo/b-greek

The moderator Carl Conrad, who I wish I had just a fraction of his knowledge in Greek, he is a stickler for following the rules of the subscription, such as the guidelines of transliterating words, and ending an email with your name and email address, those details he expects, but he and all the others are quick to reply with expert answers. I have rarely ever stumped them with any question, and I have sent tons of questions when I was translating the Old Greek Version of Daniel.

Here is another option, this is helpful for those who begin Greek. textkit.com/ It is a discussion forum and sort of a tutor. They can assit you in many questions as well.

 

[Gottle_of_Geer]

Does anybody here know any Biblical Greek, had any formal training, or read a book? This is an undertaking I would like to pursue and I was wondering if anyone had any advice.

Are there any good books that start at the absolute beginning and are easy? Any that may come with a CD so I can hear the pronunciations to make sure I am saying the words correctly?

In regards to taking a class, if the only class I could find were in the local protestant seminary, would that be okay, or would that hurt me? I ask because, for example, there is the debate between Catholic’s and Protestant’s on the Greek word for “full of Grace” in Luke 1:28. Obviously there is some bias in the translation of the word, and I tend to agree with the Catholic side, of course. Would taking a few Greek classes at a protestant seminary hurt my learning because it is possibly biased in the wrong way? Or would the Greek class be more neutral since it’s a Greek class and not a theology class?

Thanks!

**Are you thinking of studying Koine Greek only for the NT only, or do you want to study the Greek of the Septuagint as well ? **​

---

 

[JustinMartyr100]

**Are you thinking of studying Koine Greek only for the NT only, or do you want to study the Greek of the Septuagint as well ? **​

---

Definitely Koine. It would be nice to be able to read the Septuagint as well, but my first goal is definitely the New Testament. That said, the Septuagint was translated around 250 BC or so, wouldn’t that still be Koine Greek?

 

[pnewton]

I do not think you need worry about taking a class, or using books, from other denominations. Greek is pretty nondenominational. I got to take in in college and seminary (3 years), so I never had to learn on my own.

 

[Huiou_Theou]

Definitely Koine. It would be nice to be able to read the Septuagint as well, but my first goal is definitely the New Testament. That said, the Septuagint was translated around 250 BC or so, wouldn’t that still be Koine Greek?

Yes, most all of it is compatible with simple Κοινή Greek. The vocabulary is the main problem with the Septuagint – lexicons such as LSJ, etc, aren’t exhaustive and I suspect a few theologically biased definitions have crept into them…
Many of the protestant writers are so focused on the NT that they pulled their historical garbage without checking if it matches with the usage in the Septuagint and elsewhere – so I have found the LXX invaluable in studying vocabulary and usage of Greek words.

I have been building a lexicon as I go, comparing all instances of words that I can find along with non-biblical Greek texts as cross checks against the way the words are used, and cross checking lexicons. Its been a real eye opener to the looseness of some definitions, and the problem with differentiating between shades of meaning and nuances in the texts.

I can’t pronounce a bit of Greek but being able to at least read and parse it has been a real help to understanding some of the issues in translation, and what to look out for.

 

[COPLAND_3]

The Septuagint Greek is Koine as well. As Huiou Theou pointed out, there are obviously more words that are found in the LXX that you will not find in the NT. There are some ways to cover that, such as, the Apostolic Bible, which is on the market, it is a LXX and Greek NT interlinear, it has a lexicon to every word in it. And I bought a Oxford Greek Dictionary years ago for classical Greek words, it has provided me with definitions to just about every word that I have ever needed to find. When I translated the Old Greek Version of Daniel, I ran onto some words that are not found anywhere in LXX or NT. The only problem with the Apostolic Bible is that it does not have the Deuterocanonicals, but it does serve a good purpose as a tool. The LSJ Lexicon online archimedes.fas.harvard.edu/pollux/

Here is a link to my website, I have all the online tools that I use on it. litteralchristianlibrary.wetpaint.com/page/Bible+Tools