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(More customer reviews)This is an excellent NT Greek grammar. Unlike some Greek grammars (notably Hansen and Quinn's Attic grammar, one I have experience with), this is ideally suited for the self-learner. Here's why:
- Mounce tries to minimize the amount of memorization required. Greek is a difficult language, no two ways about it: but the way the material is presented can make learning easier or harder. For those of us who come at it as adults, memorization is difficult. Some grammars require massive amounts of rote memorization; Mounce takes instead the tack of giving you a number of rules to apply, then only requiring memorization where the rules don't apply. Using this method, the amount of memorization is cut dramatically, and the effort required is reduced accordingly.
- To ease the remaining memorization, Mounce includes lots of good vocabulary helps. Unfortunately, vocabulary acquisition is usually another rote memorization affair. Mounce includes either derivations or cognates in other languages (drawing in some cases on Metzger's "Lexical Aids for Students of New Testament Greek"), or silly little memorization aids. An example of the latter is Mounce's memorable word play on the word ELPIS (="hope"): "Some people HOPE that ELVIS did not die." I think I can safely say I will never forget the meaning of ELPIS.
- In many ways (including the previous two items) Mounce includes the fruit of his years of experience as a teacher of New Testament Greek. Many books that I'm sure would be just fine when learning from a professor completely fall apart when an autodidact (like myself) attempts to use them. With this book, it's almost as good as Mounce being right there.
- Although I would not have believed it, Mounce has successfully integrated devotional sections at the beginning of most chapters. A combination textbook/devotional? Yes, believe it or not. The section for chapter 10, for example, is simply amazing - building off John 1:14, KAI hO LOGOS SARX EGENETO ("And the Word became flesh.") This answers another big problem for autodidacts, which is that you don't have much of an inducement to continue when the going gets tough. These devotional sections (I am assuming a Christian student, of course) add greatly to your experience and make you look forward to new chapters.
The end result is that this book makes it possible to learn New Testament Greek on your own to just about the same depth as you would get at a seminary. That's an amazing feat in itself.
But be aware, this book has no exercises in it. Rather, you need to buy the companion workbook, which has all the exercises.
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New, updated editions of the best-selling and most widely accepted textbook and workbook for learning biblical GreekWilliam D. Mounce's Basics of Biblical Greek Grammar and its companion tool Basics of Biblical Greek Workbook are by far the best-selling and most widely accepted textbooks for learning New Testament Greek. These excellent tools for studying New Testament Greek are now even better. As a result of feedback from professors, the author has made adjustments to his material. For example, a chapter on clauses has been added at the end of the book. The CD-ROM is now easier to use and has even more information on it than the earlier edition. The workbook has been significantly rewritten. Nearly 50 percent of the verses are new. They are shorter and more focused on the grammar of the chapter.Features include:- Best-selling Greek language textbook- Changes from the first edition made in response to ten years of use- Grammar's CD-ROM is easier to navigate and now includes short audio summary lectures (7-9 minutes)- An appendix in the Grammar allows professors to introduce verbs earlier in the course- Two tracks in the workbook: track one allows you to go through the book in the normal order. Track two has totally different exercises that allow you to teach verbs earlier.- Workbook has 3-hole, perforated pages
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