My sources - Where is he learning this?

I know I've referred to it in my header, but I am studying Greek on my own. I'm not a Bible college student (though I'd probably like to be), and so I do not have the benefit of an instructor or someone with about 30-40 years of head knowledge. So you may be wondering, "Where is he getting his information?"

First of all, let me mention a brief website called Textkit.com. What I found here are sources on Greek and Latin which are out-of-print. These are old textbooks, and here you can find grammar books, beginning books, even composition books! These are all academic sources, and best of all they're free :) If it wasn't for this website, www.textkit.com, I doubt my learning would have taken off the way it has.

PS - I am not affiliated with textkit.com, so this blog is not necessarily a reflection of their own educational or academic standards. The above paragraph is simply my own private review, but I do love what I have found!

With that, here are my specific sources, starting with my most frequently used one.

"A Brief Introduction to New Testament Greek" by Samuel L. Green (http://www.textkit.com/)


Truth be told, this book feels anything but brief. It's about 120 pages in PDF, but I'm crawling through it quite slowly. The information is there; it's basic, as it goes for a new language, but accurate.

Advantages:

• First of all, it's free :) This edition of the textbook was printed in about 1911, and so the copyright is gone from it.


• It is what it says it is: An introduction. Nothing unnecessarily complicated, and if you take your time, you'll be able to digest it.


• It's downloadable. It's in PDF format, and so you can put this on your computer.


• Comes with an answer key, downloaded separately. The book contains exercises, and you have a resource for double-checking your answers. There's not a large number of exercises, but involve some real digestion, and are key to understanding the lessons.

Disadvantages:

• It's old. However (this is only my opinion), I imagine that this is not too material, as so far our information on Greek grammar has suited us very well for creating high-quality copies of the New Testament till this day. Do keep in mind though that as we study this ancient language that we do learn more about it, so there are resources with better information, but this book will take you a long ways.


• Non-indulgent. For me, this is a good thing, because I like things that are concise and to the point, but there's no eye appeal. No graphics, no pictures, coloring, etc. All the information is there, you should know, and puts it in chart format when helpful. I think you might have problems if you have never picked up a language outside of English, such as Spanish (which I know), German or French. Depending on experience, this could be a bigger hindrance to some than others.


• Professional language. The book uses a lot of grammar terms (yes, I know how you loved that class), and it expects you know what it's talking about, so you'll have to do a little grammar research to get the point at times (nothing Google or dictionary.com couldn't solve though).


• May be time-consuming. At least because of my own schedule, I've been stuck within the first 30-something pages for 2-3 months, but I do that because I'm also a college student and (at least until last Friday) have been working. This is not 21st century reading. I do not currently use any modern resources though, so I do not know whether I am behind or ahead of the curve in how I crawl through this book. But I am learning :)

Other thoughts: If you will take your time, you'll find it to be a good introductory resource. But you must be focused, as the book doesn't do the work for you. If you want to use this, I recommend taking your own notes, graphing things and laying them out as you see necessary. It's a thin book, but I am already doing some limited reading (and writing) in Greek because of it.

iTunes U "Elementary Greek" Podcast (Concordia Seminary)

There is nothing greater than podcasts to me :) I can find series on any number of things on iTunes, and any great number of resources on iTunes U! Actually, it was finding this that I believe got me jump-started into Greek. After using the podcasts a bit (not as much as the book mentioned above), here are the thoughts.



Advantages:

• More "personal" than the textbook mentioned above. You have the advice, recommendations and teachings of an actual instructor, so you will better get the sense of what he believes needs to be done.


• The topics are easily located and found among episodes. There are a large number of episodes in this podcast, and so you won't have much trouble finding an episode on what you want to learn about.


• Comes in audio and video. You may not feel like watching, so you may just want to listen. Well, it comes with both opportunities, with a chance to download video episodes, or audio-only episodes.


• Includes pronunciation helps. Pronunciation for Koine Greek isn't too complicated, but knowing and having a consistent way of pronouncing something is helpful in learning any language.

Disadvantage:

• Goes along with a textbook you must purchase. Perhaps you could pick up without the textbook, but for the most effective results, you need the one he recommends. Of course, if the textbook should ever become outdated, you may have trouble locating it. You could probably find it on Amazon.com in that case.
  

"Pocket Lexicon of the Greek New Testament" by Alexander Souter (http://www.textkit.com/)

Simply, a Greek-English dictionary. It's the same story as the Brief Introduction to the New Testament by Green; it's old, no copyright.

Advantage:

• It's free :)


• It's a downloadable PDF

Disadvantages:

• It's old. This item was printed in 1917, and from what I understand, older theories of extracting meanings of words may not be suitable. Could I afford it, I would actually get a more complete and updates lexicon, but there are many other resources you can double-check against. Doesn't mean it's unsuitable though.

(This is the one I'm the most proud of...)

"The New Testament in the Original Greek" by Maurice A. Robinson and William G. Pierpont

This is by far my favorite among the resources. I mentioned that my goal is to read and memorize the entire Bible in its original languages, so this has been instrumental so far. This is the book that I'm using. I'll give you some highlights:

• Includes accents. Some works may exclude accents and diadactic marks for the sake of ease, but at least for me, I want them. They can be worked around, but for me they are a preference.


• Gives information on variations. This is a splendid thing for it, for anyone who knows about textual criticism knows that during the transmission of text, variations inevitably occur. This translation includes common variations in the footnotes.


• Gives information on textual criticism. This could be an advantage and disadvantage, depending on how you look at it. The textform is Byzantine, and some may find odds with that as opposed to Alexandrian, Wescott-Hort or the Textus Receptus, but it makes for interesting--yet technical--learning. There's probably about 60-70 pages worth of reading on this, but if you want their defense for their methods of criticism, it's there for you.


• Doesn't include non-Canonical works. For the sake of book size, this is good. No Shepherd of Hermas or Gospel of Barnabas. No doubt that some of the non-Canonical works may actually be very good (I have not read those ones yet), for practical purposes they are not included.


• Larger print. This would depend on how you look at it, but for me it makes simpler reading. I don't like looking at PDFs and seeing the text so small that I can't discern the accents.


• Books are listed in Byzantine priority. The books aren't in the order that our Bible have today. Here, they are the Gospels, Acts, James, 1-2 Peter, 1-3 John, Jude, Romans, 1-2 Corinthians, Galatians, Ephesians, Phillipians, Colossians, 1-2 Thessalonians, Hebrews, 1-2 Timothy, Titus, Philemon, Revelation. Little different, but dissected another way, Gospels/Acts/Letters of the Apostles/Letters of Paul the Apostle/The Apocalypse of John.

Academically, this probably isn't the ideal line-up. My textbook is just shy of 100 years old, as well as my lexicon, and certainly we have learned more in the past 50 years alone than ever in the 6000 +/- before, but I also know that Koine Greek isn't changing any. I consider it a blessing that I can simply go on the internet and learn about what it is I need to learn about, that I can get just about any book I want, and there's so many things I can obtain for free. Right now I'm at the very beginning stages, and haven't been doing this longer than 3 months yet, so what I have now, I believe, is suitable. I also trust that the authors of my sources took due professional and academic care into their work. As time goes on, I'll update my library accordingly. For now, this is the blessing of God.

Sola Scriptura!

Jake

3rd John Memorized! Note on numbering, reflections

ΙΩΑΝΝΟΥ Φ

('α)Ο πρεσβυτερος Γαιω το αγαπητο, ον εγο αγαπω εν αληθεια.

('β)Αγαπητε, περι παντων ευχομαι σε ευοδουσθαι και υγιαινειν, καθως ευοδουται σου η ψυχη. ('γ)Εχαρην γαρ λιαν, ερχομενων αδελφων και μαρτυρουντων σου τη αλυθεια, καθως συ εν αληθεια περιπατεις. ('δ)Μειζοτεραν τουτων ουκ εχο χαραν, ινα ακουω τα εμα τεκνα εν αληθεια περιπατουντα.

('ε)Αγαπητε, πιστον ποιεις ο εαν εργαση εις τους αδελφους και εις τους ξενους - ('ς)οι εμαρτυρησαν σου τη αγαπη ενωπιον εκκλεσιας. Ους καλως ποισεις προπεμψας αξιως του θεου. ('ζ)Υπερ γαρ του ονοματος εξηλθον μηδεν λαμβανοντες απο των εθνον. ('η)Ημεις ουν οφειλομεν απολαμβανειν τοις τοιουτους, ινα συνεργοι γινωμεθα τη αληθεια.

('θ)Αγραψα τη εκκλεσια, αλλ' ο φιλοπρωτευων αυτον Διοτροφης ουκ επιδεχεται ημας. ('ι)Δια τουτο, εαν ελθω, υπομνησω αυτου τα εργα α ποιει, λογοις πονηροις φλυαρων ημας, και αρκουμενος επι τουτοις, ουτε αυτος επιδεχεται τους αδελφους, και τους βουλομενος κωλυει, και εκ της εκκλησιας εκβαλλει. ('ια)Αγαπητε, μη μιμου το κακον, αλλα το αγαθον. Ο αγαθοποιων εκ θεου εστιν -ο κακοποιων ουχ εορακεν τον θεον. ('ιβ)Δημητριω μεμαρτυρηται υπο παντων, και υπ' αυτης της αληθειας. Και ημεις δε μαρτυρουμεν, και οιδατε οτι η μαρτυρια ημων αληθης εστιν.

('ιγ)Πολλα ειχον γραφειν, αλλ' ου θελω δια μελανος και καλαμου σοι γραφαι. ('ιδ)Ελπιζω δε ευθεως ιδειν σε, και στομα προς στομα λαλησομεν. Ειρηνη σε. Ασπαζονται σε οι φιλοι. Ασπαζου τους φιλους κατ'ονομα.

Ok, that was typing by memory, made a few appendages. Those are where the boldfaces are, and consequently where I made mistakes. Missed one small two-word phrase, had the declension wrong in the last verse, and had some spelling errors, though other than that, rather decent :) I didn't bother with accents and other diadactic marks because they are a pain on the keyboard, and I cant' really fight them them right now.

Most frequent errors?
1. Typing θ instead of υ. On my keyboard, for the Greek Polytonic setting, the U key is the θ, and the Y key is the υ.
2. Using the wrong form of ου/ουκ/ουχ. The first comes right before a consontant word, the second before a soft-breathing vowel, and the last before a rough-breathing vowel.

You're probably wondering about the way I wrote out the verse numbers? Well in Greek, letters are used for numbers. The apostrophe usually is meant to indicate that it's a number.

'α (1)
'β (2)
'γ (3)
'δ (4)
'ε (5)
'ς (6)
'ζ (7)
'η (8)
'θ (9)
'ι (10).
For 11 through 19, just add one of the first nine listed to the "ι" ('ια, 'ιβ, 'ιγ, etc.). That's about as high as I can make it for now.

Strange that I'm even doing this. I've wanted to do this for so long, it's kind of funny to think of it actually happening now.

If there's something I'd hope you would learn, learn to get a passion for the Bible. It doesn't matter what language you do it in--I do it in Greek for my own particular reasons--but do get to know the Word of God. Write it on your heart everyday. Don't just take short bits of passages, but get entire chapters and books, and study them in and out. Dig into commentaries, theological textbooks, whatever it takes to understand. There is not a more important book on the face of the Earth than this one, because it is the only book by which you will know about, and know personally, the Supreme Author.

God bless you brothers and sisters. I hope that these articles and posts provide inspiration for you as you read.

Soli Deo Gloria,

Jake

John 1:1-18 - Got it! About memorization too

Ἐν τη φρήν εστίν ὁ εργος τοῦ Ἰωάννου ἡ μαθητής.

And yes, I understand what it says :)

And I tell you, that is not easy stuff :-S.

I'm working on the rest of John 1, got verse 19 down, but I'm taking a detour to ΙΩΑΝΝΟΥ Γ. That's 3rd John :). Four verses down there, but the way I'm going, I'm learning vocabulary and grammar as I go, so in a ways it's like learning your first language, and it's certainly interesting, but it takes a lot of focus, a lot of stamina, and a lot of time.

Speaking of which, why memorize the passages? Well, for one I want to have the Bible memorized, so there's one reason, and I decided that the original language would be best. Second, memorizing this early in my Greek study provides to be useful too, as I found that something is best remembered when it's in a particular context. Context gives meaning to something. Suppose I say, "Have you ever met Johnny?" you'd probably say, "Who's Johnny?" I would go onto say, "You know, the one who always sits in the back of the class in the far right corner in our Biblical Languages IV class?" You'd snap and say, "Oh yes, that Johnny! Yeah I've met him, he's a pretty cool guy, saw him at church yesterday morning." In the example, you know about Johnny, but you don't yet get what Johnny I'm talking about. However, when I provided details, you immediately knew which Johnny it was. Those details are called the context, from which you recognized immediately what Johnny I was talking about. It's the same with vocabulary, in my book; the verses they are found in provide the context.

For example, the word κράζω (krazo) means "to cry out." I remember this from verse 15, where is says that John the Baptist cried out about Jesus. There's another odd definition of it which means to croak, or cry like a raven, and so I know John as having been a bit different than others, it's a small trick that helps me remember it (although I am not asserting that this crow-related definition is what κράζω actually means in John 1:15; I have no such experience to say so, so don't worry, your translation's probably right there). But these facts help me remember it. Another, I'll always remember λόγος (logos) because of all I've learned in connection with it, but until then it seemed like little else than another word.

You want to know a secret to getting a language down good? Application. Extensive application. You might be learning Spanish, for example, so the best thing for you to do is start talking to people in Spanish, start writing in Spanish, reading, or perhaps translate Spanish into English and vice versa. Considering the church culture today, I imagine that much of what is taught in the four grueling semesters of Greek at seminaries is quick forgotten as church life gets complicated and busy, so for anyone wanting to master a language, remember...

TIME IS YOUR ENEMY!

That's not a suggestion, that's a command. that makes eleven, if ya count 'em ;) Even a few days of not studying or practicing, you feel like it falls out of your head, so reinforcement is your key.

Well, I'll put in a few more things on John 1:1-18 when I have time, including some verb dissection and perhaps a thing or two that could be learned from the Greek. Though John 1:1-18 is an all around piece of artwork in my book. A beautiful synapsis of the deity of Jesus Christ.

Soli Deo Gloria!

Jake