Greek For Life - A Review

Greek For Life

by

Benjamin L. MerkleRobert L. Plummer

A Review

The authors have created a “coach in a box” for the student of NT Greek. The book is not designed to teach Greek, but to, as the sub-title says, provide “Strategies for

Learning, Retaining, and Reviving New Testament Greek”.

The book is not written as a study book of Greek vocabulary or grammar. Rather it discusses a set of 8 general principles that can be used to enhance and retain the Greek a student has learned. The chapter titles sum up those principles.

1. Keep the End in Sight   
2. Go to the Ant, You Sluggard   
3. Review, Review, Review   
4. Use Your Memory Effectively   
5. Use Greek Daily   
6. Use Resources Wisely   
7. Don’t Waste Your Breaks   
8. How to Get It Back   

As one reads, the reader feels like he or she is working with a coach. The hints and principles are practical and will assist the student as he moves through his or her study of the Greek and prepares for life long Bible Study using the Greek text. I could wish that I had such a book or coach during my three-semester sequence of Greek.

I also wish I might have had a similar coach as I studied Pascal, Data Structures, and Database Development, later in my career. Thus, two comments seem appropriate. First, the same principles apply to the study of any topic - from History to Mathematics to Chemistry to Physics. Second, given the first comment, a publisher might take the time to share this material with other authors to create parallel books in other disciplines.  The examples given throughout the book are derived from a multi-semester course in New Testament Greek, but could easily be adapted for use with other disciplines.

This book needs to be assigned reading for every Greek student the summer before they begin their study of NT Greek. The book should sit on the coffee table in every Greek professor’s office - easily accessible for a referral to students as needed.

In summary, this book will not teach you Greek, but it will prepare you to learn Greek.

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This review is based on a free electronic copy provided by the publisher for the purpose of creating this review. The opinions are mine alone.

The Biblical Hebrew Companion - A Review

The Biblical Hebrew Companion

by

Michael Williams

A Review

It has been 40+ years since I sat in my first Hebrew language course. Since that time I have learned and used more Fortran, COBOL. Basic, Pascal, Lisp, Assembly Language, etc, than Hebrew. Now 40 years later, I have returned to the pulpit wishing I could remember some of that early Hebrew (and Greek) that I had learned years ago.

This reference book serves part of that purpose. In fact, I wish I had it by my side while learning Hebrew - as it takes each major part of speech, each verbal conjunction, each grammatical construction and gives insight to the reader on its role in the language. The entries try to address three questions:

1. What does it look like?
2. What does it do?
3. How it might effect the exegesis of the passage?

A number of appendices add value as they bring together lists of topics that don’t fit elsewhere: vowels, consonants, Syllables, Pronunciation, ect. Also included are a scripture index and  suggested bibliography for further study grouped by topic.

The book will not serve as a Hebrew textbook, but as a great reference tool to set on the desk of the student or pastor working with the original languages. I cannot  but hope that a similar volume will be forthcoming from the publisher for the Greek student.

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This review is based on a free electronic copy provided by the publisher for the purpose of creating this review. The opinion are mine alone.