Basic Greek in Thirty Minutes a Day (New Testament Greek Workbook for Laymen)

Rating:
Summary: A Test Book for NT Greek Students
Review: I've taught 1st-year NT Greek to church members/students on 3 or 4 occasions. Despite repeated ahead-of-time explanations to them that they MUST spend 30-45 minutes per day, 5 days a week, in addition to the weekly class to master the material, many don't do it and consequently either drop out or fail to master the material.

The next time I teach such a course, I am going to weed out the finishers from the dropouts BEFORE the class starts. This book has 50 or so lessons, i.e., 5 lessons a week for 10 weeks. I will require prospective students for the class to buy this book and complete it in NO MORE THAN 3 months' time and hand it to me complete before I will allow them to be in the class. That will prove to me and to themselves that they have the desire and the discipline to learn and study REAL 1st-year NT Greek, because over a 2-3 month period, they will have set aside 30 minutes a day, 5 days a week, to do this -- just like they're going to have to be doing for the 6 months I will be teaching them NT Greek.

For that reason, this book serves a very worthwhile purpose, which no other in-print book does, to my knowledge. I might also require them to buy and read and do the Greek part of Goodrick's DO IT YOURSELF HEBREW AND GREEK.

If they won't do this, they aren't disciplined or desiring enough to learn NT Greek. NT Greek is not a course you pass -- it is a tool you master and continually master as part of one's lifetime devotion to reading the New Testament.

Rating:
Summary: A Great Start to Learning Greek
Review: One of the best kept secrets today is that the scholarly Biblical reference works that were once the domain of the language lawyers, are now made accesible to the Christian layman if they are willing to learn the basics of the language -- the alphabet, prepositions and a basic vocabulary.

This book teaches the Greek alphabet along with the basic skills needed to use the more scholarly works available to the laymen. One word of caution: This is a primer only. It will not replace 2 or more years of studying Greek. It will, however, introduce you to the basics and all you need to know to use the scholarly tools.

Rating:
Summary: Not for the beginner
Review: The beginning of the book was great, but it got a tad difficult after that.

This is not a book for the beginner, but for the one who already knows the basics and is ready for a first year college-level Greek book.