Introducing Biblical Hebrew (Hardcover)

by Allen P. Ross (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description
This first-year grammar has grown out of the author's experience in teaching Hebrew to seminary students for over thirty years. Through those many years of classroom use, Dr. Ross has developed and refined his explanations, exercises, and examples to provide students with an effective introduction to Biblical Hebrew.

In addition to traditional deductive methods and exercises, Introducing Biblical Hebrew includes inductive sections that provide practical translation experience as the student works through passages from the Book of Genesis. In addition, there are well-paced vocabulary and grammar exercises and practical guides to the more technical features of the Hebrew Bible.

First year Hebrew students in Bible college, seminary, christian college, or a university setting will find Introducing Biblical Hebrew to be one of the most useful and balanced textbooks available.

From the Back Cover
"An absolutely superb textbook introducing Biblical Hebrew grammar. The grammar is crystal clear, paradoxically concise and copious, and most helpfully creative."-Bruce Waltke, Regent College

"The clear, simple presentation in each chapter, the consistent and early use of biblical examples in the exercises, and an approach that combines the best in modern linguistics with older philological traditions reveals a pedagogical art seldom seen. Ross provides copious helps to jump-start the student in reading narrative and offers intermediate level information for the keen learner. I have used earlier versions of Ross's grammar over the past sixteen years with great success and highly recommend this text to others."-Peter J. Gentry, Southern Baptist Theological Seminary

"Introducing Biblical Hebrew more than satisfies a one-year curriculum and may function especially well as a preparatory step for advanced studies. It is the best introductory volume available."-Ken Mathews, Beeson Divinity School, Samford University

"Tested for years in the classroom, this is a welcome addition to our resources for teaching and learning Biblical Hebrew."-Richard E. Averbeck, Trinity Evangelical Divinity School

Allen P. Ross (Ph.D., University of Cambridge) is the director of the Christian Leadership Center in Tallahassee, Florida, and the author of several books. He taught Hebrew at Dallas Theological Seminary and Trinity Episcopal School of Ministry for more than thirty years.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 576 pages
• Publisher: Baker Academic (November 1, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0801021472
• ISBN-13: 978-0801021473
• Product Dimensions: 10.1 x 7 x 1.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.5 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (10 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #28,647 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

23 of 25 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An excellent introductory grammar, November 11, 2001

By	Stephen Marler (Casselberry, FL USA) - See all my reviews

This introductory grammar is one of the best yet written for Biblical Hebrew. It is more of traditional textbook in the sense of size and layout than most Hebrew Grammars. Overall it is well written, easy to understand, and for a introduction, it has a lot of useful information. His explanation of the rare stems (Poel, Poal, etc.) deserves praise as it is one of the best descriptions of the rare stems in any English Hebrew Grammar. The ending chapters also walk students through the use of the BHS, while analyzing sentences, thus teaching both intermediate grammar and also how to use the BHS apparatus. There are a few drawbacks to the book, it lacks any aesthetic value as there are no pictures or graphics, thus it is quite bland. Also, since it is a brand new book, inevitably there will be minor errors which will be corrected in later editions. Overall however, this book clearly raises the standard by which future Hebrew Grammars will be judged. For use within a classroom, it is a great choice and its readability makes it useful for independent study as well.

13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars quick review, March 31, 2003

By	Garrett Tyson (Pasadena, CA United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

The book is clearly written and seems to contain all of the information necessary for a first-year grammar. My only complaint is that, to the best of my knowledge, there is no answer key for the book. So if you are planning on self-study, this would not be a good choice.

10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Good Concise Introductory Grammar, December 13, 2004

By	N Suen (Vancouver, British Columbia Canada) - See all my reviews

This is an excellent grammar if you are after conciseness but enough depth to have a good grasp of the language.

The weakness is not enough exercises and no answer key (not in back of the book and no one has published one as yet).

A good compromise for those learning Hebrew on their own is to supplement with Page Kelley's Biblical Hebrew which has plenty of exercises and is very verbose.

If you intend to use this book for self-learning, it is best to have some previous experience in some other anicent language (e.g. Greek); this will reduce the steepness of the learning curve especially in dealing with grammatical terminology. If you have no previous experience there are books which are more 'user friendly' like Mansoor or Pratico. But of course you sacrifice depth for user-friendliness.