Greek for the Rest of Us: Using Greek Tools without Mastering Biblical Greek [Paperback]

William D. Mounce (Author)

Book Description

Release date: August 7, 2007

You don't have to be a Greek student to understand biblical Greek. If you'd love to learn Greek so you can study your Bible better, but you can't spare two years for college or seminary courses, then Greek for the Rest of Us is for you. Developed by renowned Greek teacher William Mounce, this revolutionary crash-course on 'baby Greek' will acquaint you with the essentials of the language and deepen your understanding of God's Word. You'll gain a sound knowledge of basic Greek, and you'll learn how to use tools that will add muscle to your Bible studies. In six sections, Greek for the Rest of Us will help you: * Recite the Greek alphabet * Read and pronounce Greek words * Learn the Greek noun and verbal system * Conduct Greek word studies * Decipher why translations are different * Read better commentaries Greek for the Rest of Us broadens your knowledge still further with an appendix on biblical Hebrew.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

William D Mounce (Ph.D., Aberdeen University) lives as a writer in Washougal, Washington. He is the President of BiblicalTraining.org, a non-profit organization offering world-class educational resources for discipleship in the local church. See www.BillMounce.com for more information. Formerly he was a preaching pastor, and prior to that a professor of New Testament and director of the Greek Program at Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary. He is the author of the bestselling Greek textbook, Basics of Biblical Greek, and many other resources. He was the New Testament chair of the English Standard Version translation of the Bible, and is serving on the NIV translation committee. SPANISH BIO: William D. Mounce (PhD, Universidad de Aberdeen) reside como autor en Washougal, Washington. Es presidente de la organizacion sin animo de lucro, BiblicalTraining.org, la cual ofrece recursos educacionales de alta calidad para el discipulado en la iglesia local. El Dr. Munce fue pastor y anteriormente profesor del Nuevo Testamento y director del programa Griego en el Seminario Teologico Gordon-Conwell. Es autor del exitoso libro de texto Griego, Gramatica biblica griega y muchos otros recursos. Sirve en el comite de la version de la Biblia en ingles NIV.

Product Details

• Paperback: 320 pages
• Publisher: Zondervan (August 7, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0310282896
• ISBN-13: 978-0310282891
• Product Dimensions: 6.1 x 0.9 x 9.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (14 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #50,786 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #22 in Books > Religion & Spirituality > Religious Studies > Education

More About the Author

Bill lives as a writer in Washougal, Washington. He is the President of BiblicalTraining.org, a non-profit organization offering world-class educational resources for discipleship in the local church. He also runs Teknia.com, a site committed to helping people learn biblical Greek. And I author a series of blogs on this site.

Formerly he was a preaching pastor at a church in Spokane, WA, and prior to that a professor of New Testament and director of the Greek Program at Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary. He also taught at Azusa Pacific University for ten years.Bill is the author of the bestselling Greek textbook, Basics of Biblical Greek, and many other resources. He was the New Testament chair of the English Standard Version translation of the Bible, and is now serving on the NIV translation committee. Robin and Bill have been married since 1983 and have three children.

Education

Ph.D. 1981, in New Testament. Aberdeen University, Aberdeen, Scotland.
M.A. 1977, in Biblical Studies. Fuller Theological Seminary, Pasadena, California.
B.A. 1975, in Biblical Studies, minor in Greek. Bethel College, St. Paul, Minnesota; Western Kentucky University, Bowling Green, Kentucky, 1971-74.

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

35 of 36 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Practical level of Greek Understanding February 14, 2008

By G. Maxwell

Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase

William Mounce has provided a priceless tome that allows almost anyone who can read the ability to understand Greek.

I acknowledge at the outset that you will not become a Greek scholar by reading this book. Instead, this book allows one to leverage a basic understanding of Greek with Bible reference tools to gain a greater understanding and a more accurate understanding of God's Word.

This book is practical beyond words.

You see, I studied both Greek and Hebrew years ago. As I was working through my studies I got to a point where I wondered if what I was studying would ever come into play in my daily Bible study. In short, I questioned just how much I would use (and subsequently remember) of my studies. So, I eventually settled for a level of knowledge that this book provides. And if you are observant, you'll always see references to pastors and teachers being "rusty" in the biblical languages. Why are they rusty? Through lack of use. And it's no wonder: We have so much available to us by way of reference tools that even if you did spend two years in seminary in original language study you'd probably never use all of what you studied to begin with.

Keep in mind that there will never be a substitute for actually studying Greek and Hebrew. But for most of us, books like this when combined with the wealth of print and electronic reference works will unlock the Bible and provide us with more accurate exegesis than just an English translation alone.

Highly recommended for those who want to go deeper in their biblical studies yet want to do so in a practical manner.

20 of 21 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars Great for Those Who Want to Use Greek Without Learning Paradigms! February 10, 2009

By A. C. Parchen

Format:Paperback

I have taken three years of Koine Greek and recently taught a six week course at a local church with this book. Overall, I think it is a great resource. I think many Christians are interested in a deeper study of the Bible, but without a decent amount of time on your hands to learn and practice Greek vocab and paradigms, it's difficult to take the next step. This book allows you to understand how the Greek language works without actually learning it. Pairing this book with the Interlinear for the Rest of Us could really open up one's Bible study.

I have a few criticisms to consider, however. Mounce is coming from a fairly conservative, Protestant viewpoint. This really colors his work (although he points that out several times, which I really appreciate.) If you are not a conservative Protestant, you will just want to be aware of that going in, but I think it is still very useful for other less conservative branches of Christianity.

There was, unfortunately, no index or summaries at the end of the book for easy reference. This is a big disadvantage for using Greek for the Rest of Us as a resource. If I were to teach the class again, I would try to make one in advance to give out to the students.

The most disappointing part about the book to me is that the exercises are not keyed to an interlinear, and they don't even use interlinear verses at all (from what I can recall). Most of the exercises do not include any Greek whatsoever. Instead, they show different English translations, which, working backwards, the readers are expected to guess at what the Greek behind it is. I think this would be a difficult and potentially perilous exercise, and I also think it would be disappointing to someone interested in getting acquainted with "Baby Greek," as he calls it. If you do get the book, I highly recommend getting an interlinear (that has parsings for all the words) and use it as an answer key, at the very least.

Overall, this is a great idea and a very helpful resource. I really enjoyed teaching from it and would use it again in the future if it fit the needs of the class.

12 of 13 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Great book for bible study June 9, 2009

By G. L. Sinsley

Format:Paperback

Despite what the name implies this isn't so much a Greek textbook as it is a book about Bible study. You do learn the Greek alphabet and the forms of Greek verbs, but not with the goal of learning the language, so much as learning how to read good commentaries. Along the way you also learn a lot about English grammar and how to break a passage apart and find it's main ideas. So if you want to learn Greek, you should look elsewhere, but if you want to become a better student of God's Word, this is the book to read.