Customer Reviews

Basics of Biblical Greek Grammar

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Dr. William Mounce has continued to improve his textbook on the Basics of Biblical Greek. Having read all three editions, the third edition is by far the best. Some of the most notable changes are Chapter 20, a newly written and clearly organized discussion on Verbal Roots and Tense Stems in his presentation of the future tense; a new discussion on the middle voice in Chapter 25; and the addition of a new Chapter 36 on the -mi verbs, which spreads out the material over 3 chapters to make them more understandable. In addition he has added 15 theological vocabulary words, which gives the student who has completed this first year Greek textbook the ability to read over 80% of the New Testament of the Bible! Perhaps the best new feature is a new section called Exegesis, which discusses the different approaches to translation of each tense at the end of each chapter.

The third edition of the workbook is essential to the new book, as the exercises polish one's learning ability. The grammar and workbook together provide an unbeatable combination for independent study of Biblical Greek.

Zondervan has made a handsome presentation of the material in an attractive format. While one may consider the professor's extraneous comments unnecessary fluff, some of them are quite useful, such as the Greek names of the 27 books of the New Testament, the Greek text of John 3:16, the Apostles' Creed, and practical aids such as numbers 1-20, the days of the week, and other simple expressions which might be helpful on a trip to Greece.

Professor Mounce is quite innovative, and he likes to develop his own nomenclature for different terms: for example, he likes to call the Principal Parts of a verb 'tense forms,' distinct from 'tenses' and 'tense stems.' While that is his prerogative, the expression Principle Parts is almost universal, such as in the gold standard by Herbert Weir Smyth, and it could be confusing for a beginning student to redefine a tradition that has been passed down for decades.

His user-friendly book is the most preferred Biblical Greek text in the nation, and has become a standard in its own right. Northwestern College in St. Paul (Billy Graham once served as Dean), Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary in Boston, and Reformed Theological Seminary in Charlotte are but three institutions that have adopted this text.

Thank you, Dr. Mounce, for such a wonderful textbook!

Mounce's second edition had three great characteristics: 1- Smaller in size; 2 - Direct to the point; 3 - It had a Cd with audio summary lectures. The third edition has none of it. (I have both of them!)

After you read Mounce two or three times, get a copy of Learn New Testament Greek third edition by John H. Dobson. You will see in practice what you learnt from Mounce. It will help you a lot in your reading.

For homework, I preferred the following two books: Learn to Read New Testament Greek, Third edition, by David Alan Black and Learn to Read New Testament Greek - Workbook: Supplemental Exercises for Greek Grammar Students by Ben Gutierrez , Cara L. Murphy and David A. Croteau.

I found three other very important materials as helpers: 1- The Complete Vocabulary Guide to the Greek New Testament by Warren C. Trenchard; 2 - Sing and Learn New Testament Greek: The Easiest Way to Learn Greek Grammar [Audio CD] by Kenneth Berding (Great!); 3 - Biblical Greek Survival Kit by William D. Mounce (it includes Basics of Biblical Greek Vocabulary Cards + Basics of Biblical Greek Vocabulary Audio CD (also in mp3 format) + Biblical Greek Laminated Sheet Zondervan Get an A! Study Guides).

For your reading on NTG, get a copy of: A Reader's Greek New Testament: 2nd Edition [Leather Bound] by Richard J. Goodrich and Albert L. Lukaszewski. This is for building vocabulary, not to know the "correct" reading of the text.

The three important New Testament texts are: 1- The Greek New Testament with Greek-English Dictionary, 4th Revised edition, Edited By: Barbara Aland, Kurt Aland, Bruce M. Metzger, etc.; 2- Novum Testamentum Graece 27, Edited By: E. Nestle, Barbara Aland, Kurt Aland; 3- The New Testament in the Original Greek (Greek Edition) by Maurice A. Robinson and William G. Pierpont.

If you have no idea what Textual Criticism is, get a copy of: New Testament Textual Criticism: A Concise Guide by David Alan Black.

After Mounce, Dobson and Black, look for two other books: Greek Grammar Beyond the Basics by Daniel B. Wallace and A Workbook for Intermediate Greek: Grammar, Exegesis, and Commentary on 1-3 John (Wood Sermon Outline) by Herbert Bateman IV.

Remember, there is a great difference between learning NTG and translating it. Do not confuse them!

About a dictionary, you do not need something fancy in the beginning, but this is the big deal: A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament and Other Early Christian Literature, 3rd Edition by Walter Bauer and Frederick William Danker. - If you can find a good used copy of the second edition, it will be great.

There are a lot of materials out there to learn NTG, but if you cannot buy all of this, do not worry, get Basics of Biblical Greek Grammar by William D. Mounce.

Do not give up!

charis humin kai eirene apo theou patros hemon kai kuriou Iesou Christou.

I can't recommend this Grammar highly enough for students of the Greek New Testament who are attempting to learn Koine on their own as I did. Outside of the structure of a seminary course, with the attention of a professor and a community of fellow students to keep a student on track, it can be very difficult to learn the languages with any kind of confidence. Mounce's textbook provides that structure, and when used with the accompanying workbook the solo-learner should have all the guidance they need to get them into the language and prepare them for more intermediate and advanced studies.

This textbook is not without it's flaws, however. Once the student has gotten through this book they will certainly be well equipped to recognize the forms necessary for reading the New Testament, but they will not necessarily have a solid grasp of ancient Greek. There are no English-Greek exercises, or any time spent on how to form sentences or emulate common grammatical formulas, or even to use the declensions in writing. This might not seem important when your goal is simply to learn to read the Greek New Testament, but it is vital for truly understanding the language.

Dr. Mounce really has thoroughly thought through what an individual would need and has arranged the material so that you systematically learn grammar and vocabulary together. If you haven't studied Greek and want to go over the first and second declensions, you might want to add the 2nd year of Koine Greek for Beginners textbook, workbook and audio. You don't need the flashcards to benefit from the audio as it goes through the text. This is just to get used to the declensions and beginning material prior to the third declensions, i.e. just to have exercises. Dr. Mounce supposes you are taking classes somewhere. The back of the book has all the paradigms and the rules so you don't have to memorize all of them. There are some that absolutely must be memorized. It is a great manual if you are taking classes and want the material organized and taught in a more in-depth manner. He gives the material on accents and other more advanced material that the Koine Greek for Beginners does not give. The text has an audio version on-line that you can download for about $80.00. I listen to it on my IPod when I am too tired to read so I have more input. Hearing it also adds a learning dimension that reading alone does not.

This is the best beginning grammar I've found. I use it in my classes at Quartz Hill School of Theology (theology.edu). Mounce makes good use of modern linguistic methods and explains everything really well. I would not call it an easy book per se, as the study of Koine cannot be considered easy. But Mounce does a lot to make the study palatable and understandable.

If you want a practical Greek language learning tool then you want this as well as the text book that accompanies it. Mounce makes learning NT Greek doable not difficult.

I'm only in chapter 7, but I am enjoying this book. I am in the process of teaching myself greek with the help of the TEKNIA website and other helps that are available with and for this volume (workbook, vocabulary cards, web-support). I took greek in bible college 30 years ago and need to re-learn evrything. I remembered a few things from college greek but I really wanted to learn more this time through so that I can enjoy reading God's word in the original language.

There really is no better textbook than Mounce's Basics of Biblical Greek. That is a given, but what I do not like is the size and distracting items that the third edition has. I constantly return back to the first edition as it is free from all the clutter and frivilous items that as far as I can tell serve no purpose other than to make this book bigger than it needs to be.

Bottom line: get a second edition textbook and the third edition workbook and you will be fine! Or buy my third edition - it is sitting on my shelf gathering dust.

Although this book contains a lot of interesting side notes about the language, the topics are not organized in the most logical sequence, which makes it difficult for the student to get a good feel for the language until very late in the textbook. I would recommend the book by Dr. Jeremy Duff instead.

This workbook is a must in learning Biblical Greek. It aids in learning and reinforcing new material while reviewing old. Footnotes are extremely helpful as well. Highly recommended.