Customer Reviews

The Elements of New Testament Greek

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I'd like to be able to give this grammar a '5' rating, but that may have to wait until after the next printing. I have studied and taught foreign languages, and so I feel qualified to say that Duff's approach to teaching Koine Greek is sound. He presents the grammar in a logical order and builds concepts one upon another as a good grammar should do for the beginning student. Unfortunately, there are several problems with the book: 1) There are far too many errors, even for a first printing; vital items are at times omitted from some of the grammar charts, which obviously makes learning those concepts correctly a difficult task. I'm not saying that Duff is incorrect, but that the book was carelessly edited. 2) There are some things to which Duff does give short shrift (for example, he mentions 'attraction' with relative pronouns in a small footnote as if it were unusual; however, 'attraction' is actually the norm in such cases and is an important concept to understand). 3)the website with "useful helps" seems to have been abandoned; there are some useful PowerPoint slides which can be downloaded (and some links to other sites are given), but there are no additional exercises or other materials as promised on the back cover of the book. I can only assume that this book was rushed to print since there are so many editing errors and the website is incomplete. Still, in spite of my criticisms, I believe this could be a good beginning grammar; I hope to see the errors corrected and the website completed so that it will become just that.

Addendum: The accompanying CD's are excellent helps for the beginning student of Koine Greek; for any student who does purchase this book, I highly recommend buying the version of the book that comes with the CD's.

(I cannot comment on the CD because I have not heard it; my review is on only the textbook)
Jeremy Duff's book is a good review for for people with some experience in reading Koiné Greek. But it would be somewhat terse for the absolute beginner. His method of presenting concepts in complete categories is quite engaging. For example, In his chapter on the subjunctive mood, he gives this overview with examples of the instances when Koiné writers used the subjunctive mood:

* Indefinite clauses: whoever, wherever, whenever...
* Purpose clauses: in order that...
* Exhortations: Let's...
* Deliberations: What shall I...?
* Prohibitions: Don't...!
* Emphatic negative future: I will never...

He discusses in a similar way participles, complex sentences, conjunctions, prepositions, the perfect tenses, and so forth. This is a smooth way of reviewing these topics. This book also offers copious sentence exercises for practicing these constructions.

The only part of his book that I do not approve of is the lack of written accents. In spite of the attractive way that this book presents Greek, A learner will have difficulty in pronouncing words because they carry no accent marks. Mr. Duff states that "the accents are not taught in this book for three important reasons:

* Accents were not present in written Greek in the New Testament period.
* The rules of accentuation are complicated, and you have enough to learn.
* Accents don't help you translate or understand Greek."

The accents are helpful to me personally for memorizing vocabulary because they indicate which syllable to stress. Knowing where to put the stress on a word is an aid to memorization because it helps me to give a rhythm and a pronunciation to the word. Knowing the stress is also important for conjugating verbs and for declining nouns because all verbs and many nouns change their stress as they are inflected. Moreover, I have never seen a Greek bible text without accents. New Testament and Septuagint texts always indicate accents. So also do the writings of the Christian fathers. I imagine that a neophyte to Koiné Greek may well experience some frustration while trying to learn Greek words without the accents.

Otherwise, Elements of New Testament Greek is an engaging read.

As stated in the book on page 1, the aim of the book is "To help you learn enough Greek to read the New Testament." Without a teacher, I worked through the chapters and did the all of the "A" exercises at the end of each chapter. After completing all of the chapters, I am happy to say I can read the New Testament, not perfectly, mind you, but with the help of a dictionary and Duff's book I can get through just about any passage.

I found the explanations clear and consise and I never felt overwhelmed or lost as I have with some other texts.

Thanks, Jeremy

I've been on a self study course for about a year now to teach myself N.T. Greek. I have two grammar books and a handful of reference books, it's no doubt a very difficult language to learn, but I am determined even at age 71. A few months ago I bought "The elements of New Testament Greek" written by Jeremy Duff that was originally conceived by H.P. Nunn back in 1914. I studied Nunn's book also. Duff did not write a GRAMMAR BOOK, instead it is truly a TEXT BOOK that only focuses on the grammar and vocabulary needed to read the N.T. Greek. Grammar books present you with everything the author knows about the subject. Duff's textbook gave me those shortcuts and helpful tips to become fairly proficient in understanding how to translate the Greek text. However I realize this is only a beginning step but it certainly has been a helpful boost in the leap toward my goal. Tony

This is a very good Greek grammar, but it is not better than the second edition. The second edition is visually laid out better. The second edition noun and verb chart layouts at the end of the book are visually easier to read.

The third edtion should have followed the second edition layout and outline more closely.

The practise exercises and examples are excellent in the third edition.

The vocabulary layout in the back of the third edition is better than the second edition.

I would say that the third edition may need the help of a teacher more than the second edition.

I learned from the second edition and may be prejudiced.

Conclusion: The new third edition is better than any other grammar I have read but it is not better than the second edition. They are both excellent.

Combine the best features of both editions and you would have a five star book.

(...)

When faced with teaching myself Greek, I sought out many different books on the subject and found this to be the most concise, well laid out, and easiest to understand. Duff did a fantastic job re-organizing this book from its first edition by another author (which was dismal) into the fine study course it is today. I am still somewhat disappointed that all editions of this book still refuse to cover accents, which I think are important (and deserve a little more time). Other than this one wart, the book is superb, and can have any intelligent individual up and reading Greek within the first few lessons. It has opened many doors for me to read scans of various manuscripts and codices, and opened my eyes to understanding the Word of God better. I strongly advise complementing this book, however, with any other book that covers accents.

The title says it all. This book helped me learn NT Greek quite quickly. It isn't perfect, but it's doable and very easy to understand.

This book is much more straightforward and easier to use than the more common textbook by Mounce. It is presented in a well-organized fashion, starting with simple sentences, and gradually adding cases, declensions, conjugations and other difficulties. Every new topic is accompanied by practice problems, many of which are simplified (or non-simplified) sentences taken from the New Testament.
The CDs are not useful; the book stands on its own without them.

This text is an excellent introduction to New Testament Greek for the complete beginner! It is very straightforward in nature and full of helpful examples and exercises! I appreciate the way each new skill is broken down for the reader: it is clear and easy to understand. Would be helpful for someone trying to learn Greek on their own.

In the description of the book, it says "A vocabulary audio CD is also available to accompany this book." What does it mean? Amazon sent it to me super fast but there is no CD in the package! Please let me know to whom I should contact over the website?