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Wednesday, October 16, 2013

Greek for the Rest of Us (Second Edition)

Last fall, at the conclusion of the Gospel of John class I taught for the Trinity Institute at my church, I
remarked that I had often thought I would like to offer a class on Biblical Greek for any interested lay folk. To my surprise, those that were in a class of fifteen were all excited about the idea. I explained to them that the class would cover the essentials of Greek grammar and would be geared towards making them knowledgeable in doing word studies and also interacting with commentaries.

So, thanks to my friend, Emily Varner, I have recently had chance to revisit those very thoughts I expressed nearly a year ago. She has sent along a copy of William Mounce's Greek for the Rest of Us: The Essentials of Biblical Greek (Second Edition). Mounce's goals are spelled out in the Introduction entitled, "What Would it Look Like if You Knew a Little Greek?" (xi-xvii). Mounce's stated goals for those who work through Greek for the Rest of Us mirror most of what I envisioned teaching a potential class. First, would be learning how to use Bible software; second would to be to learn the meaning of the Greek words that underlie the English; third would be to learn the basics of exegesis; fourth would be to learn why English translations differ, and the last goal is to enable the student to learn how to read and interact with good commentaries.

I will post on this resource again as I get time to look it over. I am curious to see how Mounce, one of the most recognized authors and teachers of Biblical Greek, carries this agenda forward.

More anon...

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