Customer Reviews

A Reader's Greek New Testament

5 star:		(19)
4 star:		(10)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

Having studied the bible in the original languages for 10 years now, and having owned over 10 different volumes of various critical editions of Hebrew, Greek, and Aramaic bibles, I have always been surprised that there have been no editions of the Greek New Testament available in a handy, portable, leatherbound edition intended just for reading and general use in Christian life. I am absolutely thrilled that this volume has appeared in the format that I have always wanted.

So first, a couple of notes on the physical book: The burgundy leather of the copy that I have is unusually soft for a $30 book. It is undoubtedly synthetic, but I couldn't find any specific reference to the material in the book or packaging, so I'll leave myself open to the possibility that it's incredibly high quality leather. The pages are gold trimmed, but there is no indexing. One disappointment with the book is that there is no bookmark thread included. Pretty much all bibles that are meant to be read include these bookmarks. I hope future printings include it. Overall, the volume is quite thin, and has the same breadth and height as most individual sized bibles, so it will fit in a standard bible carrying case along with one's normal, leather bible. The thing is extremely convenient to take to church. The font is an italic text, though. You can view it by clicking on the link Amazon provides. I really had wished they would have not used the italic type that is common in older editions of Greek material, but the font is sized well and readable.

Now for the text. Other reviewers have trashed it because it is reconstructed to fit the popular NIV bible. True, the text does not include a substantial apparatus for discussing textual variants, and it is not appropriate for researchers of graduate New Testament Studies, nor would it be suitable for a pastor checking the basis of his sermon's text in Greek. But these types have the standard critical editions in their offices and libraries for these purposes. As other reviewers have mentioned, it is intended for the seminarian or other classical learner to have a convenient New Testament to read from in order to gain vocabulary and familiarity with the Greek by reading large amounts of text. What they fail to mention, however, is that the readings that were selected in reconstructing the text here do indeed come from ancient manuscript witnesses to the New Testament. In other words, the text is not necessarily exactly the same as the text in the main body of the United Bible Society or Nestle-Aland editions, but they ARE found in the apparatuses of those editions as existing among manuscripts that have been found. In large part, the choices that have been made are, for example, the inclusion of John 7:53-8:11 in its traditional place and form, the inclusion of Mark 16:9-20, and other choices that have been made by the translators of basically every modern bible version. I have been using the English Standard Version lately, and this reader's Greek edition follows it pretty well. Their IS an apparatus in this edition, and though wholly inadequate for text critical study, it DOES give hints at readings from this text that are unique and not in common with other printed Greek texts. So while it is not an incredibly scholarly edition for advanced studies, it works great for going to church and telling your friends what the Greek says. If anyone it totally concerned about possible variant readings, you'll have to tell them to wait until you can get home to check your UBS4 or your NA27, but I've found it preferable just to give those types of people a valium and call it good.

I think this edition does a bit more than a lot of reviewers are giving it credit for. Along with them, I think it is a wonderful tool for a learner to get exposure to the Greek. But the text contained in it is a fair representative of the Alexandrian text type used in all modern translations. I don't presonally like the NIV, so for those of you who would be leery because the text conforms to the NIV, I just have to say that it is closer to the Alexandrian text of the UBS4/NA27 (Used by all modern English translations except the NKJV) than the Robinson-Pierpont Byzantine Text or the Textus Receptus of Stephanus or Scrivener. So unless you are using the KJV or NKJV, you will not have any problems with this text when using it as an exegetical tool. As I said above, the text works fine with my ESV, and should be a fine companion to an NASB, HCSB, NLT, NAB, or NRSV when wanting to bring the meaning of the Greek text to fellow Sunday School attendees, friends, etc.

This type of Greek New Testament is LONG overdue. I would also like to see this GNT bound together with an edition of the Septuagint Old Testament so that a student can have a readers edition of the entire bible in Biblical Greek. (with a bookmark, of course.) I would also love to see a reader's edition of Scrivener's Textus Receptus, which I understand to be the Textus Receptus that has been reworked from Codex Beza and the Latin Vulgate in order to conform to the King James Version (and also the New King James Version, which uses the same textual basis as the KJV and floows the KJV choices in doubtful readings).

So if you read this review, I'd like to ask you to buy this edition, even if you don't know any Greek, because I want it to sell well. I want the publisher to make lots of money off of it and print more readers editions of Greek biblical texts, and even the Hebrew Old Testament.

Simply put, if you're learning to read NT Greek, this volume will help. If you finish a book like the Mounce Grammar (full disclosure: I'm only halfway done with that volume right now), at the end of that process, you should be able to sit with this ONE volume and read the New Testament in Greek. You won't need a lexicon open next to you all the time, necessarily, and you'll be able to pick up some vocabulary quickly.

Some have asked why Zondervan didn't use NA27 or UBS4 for this, but it doesn't matter. Use this volume for your early Greek reading and, dare I say it, devotional reading, but by ALL MEANS get a REAL NA27 or UBS4 for serious study. This volume is NOT an authoritative text, it is a learning aid. Treat it like one. I say use it till you don't need it then give it away to help make somebody else smart!

The font isn't so bad once you get used to it. It's real portable and easy to use, and it'll make you look real smart in church. ;-) Just don't get a big head about it. Just because you can read a few dozen words in Greek, you still don't know more than the textual critics, translators, and, if you're lucky, your pastor. Stay humble! And remember, those definitions at the bottom of the page are just glosses, get a BDAG for serious study, and a little Kittel or something, too.

I give it 5 stars because it is exactly what it claims to be, and is very good at it, too.

As I read the reviews, it is evident that a correction is needed. The underlying text in this book _is_ trustworthy.

It varies from the Standard Text (UBS/NA) in 231 places, and has a footnote for each one of those as to the Standard Text's reading.

This implies that you can sit down with this resource, and know exactly where it differs from the Standard Text, without needing the Standard Text with you.

While I grant it was an odd selection to pick the text based on the preferred readings that went into the NIV, this is by no means a reverse-translated text.

Regardless, it has assisted my reading of the GNT greatly, and after going through a trial period of reading it side by side with my NA-27, I think I can move to just the RGNT.

Cheers,

This is a marvelous tool. The introduction is worth reading, noting the renaissance of people studying and wanting to read the New Testament in its orriginal language.

This Bible enables readers with limited vocabulary to read much more rapidly. Every word that is not used more than 50 times in the New Testament is listed at the bottom of each page with lexical form and brief definition.

I have taught several college N.T. Greek classes to groups of people who were interested in learning. Quite a few of my students wanted to continue regular reading in the Greek New Testament. But it proved too time consuming for students with only beginning Greek under their belts.

Those familiar with the UBS 4th edition will find the text interesting. It uses the text developed by Edward W. Goodrick and John R. Kohlenberger III in the Portland Index Project. They give the alternate reading in 231 places where the NIV committee favored a different reading noting the alternates used by the standard text. Of course most variants are insignificant and you can purchas a discussion by Aland and Aland and Metzger on each major variant in the Standard Text explaining the rarionale behind their choices. By using alternate variant readings this text brings a slightly different perspective on the orriginal manuscripts.

For dabbling in textual criticism I rely on UBS4 and NA27, of course, and the manuals (Metzger and Aland), but this dandy little Reader filled the gap between my desire to read the New Testament with a degree of comfort and my actual ability to do so.

I use it every day, and it is just what I was looking for. I couldn't believe it was actually out there, and that they were only asking $20 for it! This slim, portable Greek NT is a definite must for reinforcing the vocabulary you're trying to memorize with the Mounce cards, and for learning to recognize the non-lexical forms of those words.

The footnotes are English definitions keyed to the Greek words on the top of the page that occur in the NT text 30x or less. That's invaluable, because if you're not a pastor or a professional philologist, taking the time to consult a lexicon every time you encounter a word you either haven't memorized yet or--just as likely--one you memorized but have forgotten, is a disheartening and onerous disincentive to trying to read the NT text in Greek, which after toiling through an introductory Greek grammar you are desperate to be able to do. But with this little gem, you just look to the bottom of the page! (Of course, as everyone knows, skill with a lexicon must be acquired and maintained too, if one desires to master NT Greek--as I intend to. If you keep that in mind, and marry in-depth study, involving a lexicon, to the use of this casual reader, you will be attacking your ignorance from all directions, IMHO). All this being said, one should, as the experts say, continue to use flash cards--even while daily using a Reader like this one--to memorize down to 10 word occurrences.

Again, this Reader isn't for textual study; that's not what it was intended for. It's for that awkward transition period when you're trying to read the text after finishing your first grammar. It's a combat version for the raw recruit venturing from Mounce's boot camp and into the hostile country of non-Johannine NT books.

I just ordered my Zerwick pair, and I am excited about that, but I am confident that as time progresses, and I move from the more rustic writers into Paul and Luke and eventually Hebrews, that this Reader will be well used indeed. For even when I get to the point where I've memorized down to ten, and I don't want to lug a lexicon into bed or onto a plane, I won't have to, because this baby takes me down to one. You can work on your Greek even when you're feeling tired and lazy.

For heaven's sake, a pizza delivery costs 20 bucks. Buy the thing, already!

EDIT-14Nov07- NOTE!! UBS has just come out with a Reader that has not only 30x or less word occurrences footnoted, but also footnoted grammatical analyses and notes on idioms found in the text above. It also has an appendix in the back for 30x or more word occurences. I don't have mine yet, but it looks pretty good. It just costs twice as much, and is a hardcover. It can be found at scholarly-bibles dot com, or can be preordered here at Amazon. "The UBS Greek New Testament
A Reader's Edition." I actually ordered mine through Christian Book Distributors online. -

EDIT 26Nov07 - I received the UBS Reader. If you've got the money to spend, pre-order that UBS reader, or get it through CBD. Font is easier to read than the Zondervan, consulting the footnotes (which are much more distinct and clear) is much easier, and the text is the reliable GNT. It also has parsings for all the verbs/participles footnoted. I think it's great! But the Zondervan is good for the price, too.

As a busy pastor, I found myself losing my Greek skills. A Reader's Greek New Testament has been a lifesaver! It has helped me to keep my vocabulary skills fresh while encouraging me to spend time in the Greek text itself. And best of all, this tool allows me to carry just one book with me (instead of both a Greek New Testament and a lexicon). It's so nice to be able to pick up this New Testament and check on passages I'm studying in my English Bible. The only thing that would make this product more useful is if it had an appendix in the back citing the vocabulary words found 30 times or more (similar to Sakae Kubo's A Reader's Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament, pp. 274-277).

Outside of a good grammar, this is probably the best single resource for someone learning New Testament Greek. Once the grammar and basic vocabulary words are learned, there is no substitute for reading large blocks of the Greek text, and this book helps one do this as does no other. The advantage of not having to flip through a dictionary or refer to another book cannot be overstated. This allows one to read on the go easily and with enjoyment. I agree with other reviewers that I don't like the font type, but the size is good and I like the binding and size and feel of the book. The Amazon price is incredibly cheap for such a great tool. If you know about 500 Greek words buy this book immediately. If you don't, buy this book immediatly and then learn the 500 words and start reading God's inspired word in its original language!
I wanted to address some of the snobbish academic criticisms that have been levelled against this book here and elswhere (e.g. b-Greek reading list.) Some have argued using this book harms one's Greek because it replaces looking up words in a dictionary. This is a foolish criticism. First of all, the definitions printed on the bottom of each page IS a dictionary, taken from the Trenchard's wonderful work and improved here. What this book does is concisely list every meaning of each Greek word, including, of course, the one that applies to the given passage. This seems to me much more helpful than having to slog through BDAG. Secondly, when doing rapid reading, most people use a small dictionary like the one at the back of UBS and this is no better than the meanings printed here. Third, if you want to later look up a word in BDAG, or TDNT for that matter, you can, but the time you have saved in doing this allows you to read MORE Greek NT, which is always the goal. Fourth, in using this book, you are going to learn more Greek words, making a dictionay less and less needed.
As to the text used here, I agree that using the standard text of NA/UBS would have advantages, but the text used here is valuable in its own right. This book gives footnotes on deviations from the NA/UBS text, so it actually addresses issues of textual criticism MORE than does reading the NA/UBS, the footnotes of which are cumbersome and hard to decode. This book breaks the textual monopoly which NA/UBS has. I am no fan of the NIV, so I'm unsure of this text, but I think it is nice to have an alternative. This book does not replace a critical text any more than it replaces the dictionary, but for someone still learing Greek, this is a better, cheaper, and more handy text than Nestle-Alland or UBS 4, which does not even have a dictionary.
I do hope and expect that a second edition of this book will be published, which should be even better. My biggest suggestion for this will be to include in the footnotes the number of times each word appears in the NT, so one can decide right away whether to memorize a new word.
Botom line: unless your Greek is perfect, this book will help you learn Greek better than anything available, and at a great price. Buy it NOW!

First, I love this book. Second, I am probably not adding much new information to previous reviews, but I think that it is worth reiterating what they have said.

THE GOOD: The Reader's Greek New Testament makes it possible for anyone with a working knowledge of Hellenistic Greek grammar to read the Greek New Testament without recourse to other books. Every word that occurs 30 times or less is footnoted with a definition on the page. The back of the book has a mini-lexicon with a gloss for every word that occurs more than 30 times. If you've completed a beginning Greek course, you probably know all of the words in the mini-lexicon, but it is reassuring to have them in hand, just in case.

(Need to acquire Greek vocabulary? I suggest Jonathan Pennington's New Testament Greek Vocabulary CDs.)

A Reader's Greek New Testament is also a beautiful book. The soft, almost sueded leather cover, the gilt-edge pages, the thin, opaque paper make this book a pleasure to see and hold. All books should feel as good in the hand as this one.

A quibble: A book this nice should have a sewn-in ribbon marker. Zondervan?

THE BAD: This is not the authoritative UBS4/NA27 text. The eclectic text of this Greek NT was compiled by Goodrick and Kohlenberger and underlies the New International Version (the best-selling Bible in English). Some of its readings and punctuation are different than the UBS4/NA27.

How bad is this? Not very. The places where the text varies are marked by brackets and footnoted.

There is no critical apparatus. Serious students of textual criticism will need a UBS4 or NA27 Greek NT. This is not meant to be a critical edition, however. It is A Reader's Greek New Testament, just like the title says.

THE UGLY: They Greek typeface, while readable, is unattractive.

Bottom line: I love this book. I am studying Greek with the goal of sight-reading the New Testament. A Reader's Greek New Testament is a healthy step toward that goal. If you know the basics of Greek Grammar and have a vocabulary down to words that occur thirty times or more, you, too, may benefit from this book.

While the editors have greatly added to the ease of picking up more vocabulary than is learned in Mounce's course, there are two major drawbacks to this Greek New Testatment. First, is the use of a somewhat italic Greek font that results in some characters differing considerably from other Greek fonts. In particular are the characters for rho (which looks like an omicron with some form of subscript) and the kappa which looks like a lower case English "x"). The second, and more critical drawback, is that this is a reverse engineered text based on the selections made by the NIV translation committee (per the editors description in the introduction).

At least the latter of these should be made clear in the book's description and the editors should certainly consider a more standard font in future editions.

It's not that I will pitch this volume out, it is that I wish it could have been better than it is.

If you have taken a course on Biblical Greek or have studied yourself you probably have taken the standard route of memorizing all the words that occur 50 times or more in the New Testament. This is great and represents a pretty substantial vocabulary however, it is still annoying to have to stop every few words and look one up. That is where this book comes in handy.

It is a standard Greek New Testament except for one thing. Each word that occurs less than 50 times is footnoted at the bottom of the page. As appropriate the footnoted word may indicate case, idiomatic use, voice, figurative use, or other information to help the reader understand how the word was used. This ability to read the text without having to continuously refer to another book makes reading a pleasure again instead of a chore. "A Reader's Greek New Testament" is highly recommended for anyone who already has a basic understanding of Biblical Greek.