A Primer of Biblical Greek

Rating:
Summary: Making a difficult language. . . less difficult
Review: Although I didn't realize it while I was using this book, now that I have learned two more languages I can look back in retrospect and realize just how good this book was. Although Croy does throw a few too many tenses right in the middle of the text (just in time for the first final if you are using it for a year course), the information is set out in a very clear manner and the combination of composed sentences and sentences from the NT and LXX makes for a perfect balance of using what you have learned and challenging you to learn more.

Rating:
Summary: Better than most.
Review: 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!

Rating:
Summary: Remarkable Greek Textbook
Review: 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.