Using and Enjoying Biblical Greek: Reading the New Testament with Fluency and Devotion
Digital Verbum Edition
Overview
Many who study biblical Greek despair of being able to use it routinely, but veteran instructor Rodney A. Whitacre demonstrates how to overcome this obstacle. By learning to read Greek slowly, students can become fluent one passage at a time and grasp the New Testament in its original language. Whitacre explains how to practice meditation on Scripture (lectio divina) in Greek, presenting a workable way to make Greek useful in life and ministry. Ideal for classroom use and for group or individual study, this book helps students advance their knowledge of Greek and equips them to read the original texts with fluency and depth.
Delve further into Greek studies with the SCM New Testament Greek Collection (2 vols.).
Key Features
- Offers lessons suitable for classrooms and individuals
- Encourages Christians to study the New Testament in its original language
- Presents a way to incorporate Greek in ministry
Contents
- Building Vocabulary
- Essential Parsing
- Making Sense of Sentences
- Gaining Familiarity and Fluency
- Utilizing Greek in Meditation
- Practice Passages
Top Highlights
“‘Before we sip the Scriptures, we should guzzle them.’” (Page 2)
“Indeed, there are 1,932 words used only one time in the GNT—that is over a third—and another 832 that are used only twice.” (Page 10)
“‘How to become fluent one passage at a time’ is a major focus in this book.” (Page 4)
“Along with reading portions of text you also can benefit greatly from engaging specific passages in depth through meditation. By meditation I mean repeating a passage over and over, listening to its sounds and reflecting on its details. This ‘sipping’ exercise enables you to become intimately connected to the text so that, in a sense, you come to inhabit it and it becomes a living voice within you. Such reading of sacred texts is part of many religions, and, as we will see, professors of Classics sometimes recommend such an approach to passages from Greek and Latin authors.” (Page 6)
“William Grabe highlights four elements.7 A person who reads fluently is able to process the signals in a text rapidly, accurately, and automatically, that is, without needing to stop and analyze the form, function, or meaning of a word or expression. Such fluency also includes the ability to recognize the rhythmical flow of the structural units of a passage.8 Reading in this way, however, does not mean that there are no pauses, even for those reading their native language.” (Page 3)
Praise for the Print Edition
I have watched numerous seminary graduates let their Greek slip and then resolve to get back into it. They usually start, needlessly so, with lesson 1 of their first-year Greek grammar and never make it to the really useful material they ought to be reviewing. Whitacre’s book is the perfect one-stop shop for the kind of review they need. It also contains marvelous supplemental insights, especially simplified ways to diagram passages without analyzing every word. I am unaware of any resource like it.
—Craig L. Blomberg, Distinguished Professor of New Testament, Denver Seminary
Long known as a master in the essential profession of teaching Koine Greek, Whitacre has done what very few can. Here is a primer for reading Greek fluently that takes one from a review of the basic elements of the language . . . to the life-changing practice of meditating on the Greek text! The work is filled with helpful explanations of complex matters, useful examples, detailed application of the principles taught, and extensive footnotes with pathways to more advanced study.
—Scott Hafemann, reader in New Testament, University of St. Andrews
About Rodney A. Whitacre
Rodney A. Whitacre is professor emeritus of biblical studies at Trinity School for Ministry in Ambridge, Pennsylvania. He is the author of A Patristic Greek Reader and John in the The IVP New Testament Commentary Series (IVPNTC) (20 vols.).
