Customer Reviews

A Grammar of Greek New Testament in the Light of Historical Research

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Very seldom in my life have I used the word genius about anyone, but if anyone deserves the title it is Robertson. This is not a book for beginners, Robertson does not translate his examples, which, by the way are elegant. I can tell from his references to him that Wallace respects his prowess in the Greek language to a great extent. His historical comments are clear, concise, and very infomative. This book is a treasure trove of information about greek and how to fine tune your understanding of every asoect of it. It's a good addition to your library, if for nothing else but to push you to keep learning more.

KIM M. RUSHTON

This massive yellow tome contains lots of New Testament examples to illustrate every grammatical principal, and the index of scripture citations seems to list a citation for the majority of verses in the New Testament. I strongly prefer this to any other New Testament grammar, but it is easier to read if I look at the shorter, more systematic explanations in Smyth's Greek Grammar first. Robertson is quirky at times, but very rich. See "http://www.mindspring.com/~jwrobie/littleGreek.html" for a fuller review of this grammar and other grammars.

don't drop this book on your foot! its about 1500 pages of advanced, sometimes arcane info. in short, this is NOT an introductory grammar, or even an intermediate one. this text assumes working knowledge of grammar AND syntax. it deals more with historical development of koine greek, the dialect in which the new testament was written. in it you will find out why greek no longer has an ablative case (as latin and sanskrit did), what the significance of second aorists, perfects, and futures etc. so, if you are a linguistic theologian or teacher, you need this book - if you are interested only in using greek in sermon preparation or for word studies, it's a waste of money.

A.T. Robertson's Grammar is not designed for an introductory study of Koine Greek, rather as an advanced forum for hermeneutics requiring a solid background in NT Greek. The work is insightful and it is important to keep in mind that even Robinson's advanced propositions are often shaded by his own viewpoints. In all fairness ATR does an excellent job and his work has certainly been used and referred to for many decades. It is a must in the library of every graduate student.

There are a lot of opinions on A.T.Robertson's massive Grammar. Let me say that I read every main Greek grammar there is about. I read D.Wallace's Greek Grammar 8 times through and studied thorougly. Dana and Mantey? About 15 times. E.D. Burton's moods and tenses- 9 times. I could go on but I would like to state that I read Robertson's massaive grammar through 5 times in the past 12 years as well as translating his examples. This grammar is not for the average Pastor but belongs to the teacher of advanced greek grammar as well as the scholar. This grammar takes a back seat to Blass's grammar yet I find it far better. D.Wallace often referred to Robertson in his excellent grammar but often does not give Robertson the proper credit. Once one has mastered the vocab of the Greek NT and worked through the basic grammars followed by Dana and Mantey then Richard Young then Wallace and the other intermediate works out there, then they will find Robertson's short grammar a help. This should be followed by the thorough reading of Robertson's large grammar. I think this book while somewhat dated still holds the field of the advanced Greek grammars of the NT. Any quest to master the Greek NT should take about 12 years of exacting work but it is well worth it. I do not see how this can be done without this valuable work of Robertson.

This book is recognized as a classic by Greek scholars the world over. This is not a book for someone who has no knoledge of Koine Greek, but is a valuable resource for understandling the grammar of the Koine Greek for those who know the difference between, say, the Present tense and the Aorist tense of a Greek verb. If you have a hankering to know how an infinitive might change a verb tense, then you will probably find it here. For those who do have some Greek background, it will enrich your research and may clarify many a difficult passage for you.

A.T. Robertson's Grammar is the book of last resort. After checking Dana and Mantey, and several others (which I also have and use), I finish with this one. I would not dare to exposit a verse without looking at the Scripture index, and checking all entries.

I remember reading through this grammar in my undergraduate years and looking forward to picking it up again each day. At over 1400 pages it's hard to imagine reading this like a novel but it reads beautifully. Each time I go back to this wonderful grammar I am forever finding something unique and useful especially in the historical underpinnings of Alexandrian Greek from classical Attic. Even after 97 years in publication this volume has stood the test of scholarly excellence.

If I were to choose the top three most useful reference books on the Greek New Testament, (aside from my NA-26), it would have to be:

"Grammar of the Greek New Testament in Light of Historical Research" - A.T. Robertson
"Concordance of Natural Language Patterns in the Greek New Testament" - M.P. Williams
"Concordance to the Greek Testament" - Moulton-Geden

Arrived very quickly in wonderful condition. My husband teaches a Greek class and he is happy with the book. I don't understand all this tagging and previewing that is taking up all kinds of my time to figure out. Just be happy that we were happy with the product, for goodness' sake.

Even after 71 years, this grammar remains to be very useful. Though many things are ready to be revised, it still is the most elaborated grammar of New Testament Greek. The book provides a large amount of information and examples, referring as well to other major works, such as Blass, Moulton, ...
I would not recommend this grammar to a student who starts learning New Testament Greek, since he will feel himself lost within the abiundance of material, but for the more experienced scholar, it still is a valuable tool.