[B-Greek] Re: D. Black's "Its Still Greek to Me"
bgreek at ntresources.com
bgreek at ntresources.com
Mon Aug 16 07:36:58 EDT 2004
Black's grammar is helpful, but very much on the "light weight" end of the intermediate grammars. I use it as a transitional tool from first year into second year. It pulls some things together that Mounce (my 1st year text) doesn't handle systematically and then goes one step beyond some of the grammatical and syntactical discussion of 1st year. Students need to move beyond Black to work with more substantive intermediate grammars such as Richard Young, Stan Porter, and Dan Wallace. Young's is better designed as a textbook. Porter's strength is the verbal system. Wallace's forte is the noun and article. Of these 3, Wallace is far and away the largest and really serves the role of both grammar and exegetical commentary. It makes a very useful reference tool once the student understands enough Greek to be able to "dip in" a random and make sense of the discussion (the indices are a big help in that regard).
And then there's the role of the "high end" reference grammars: Blass-Debrunner, Robertson, Moulton-Howard-Turner, and Smyth. Your students in India will likely not have ready access to them (due to cost if nothing else), but they ought to be aware that such tools exist and the role they play.
I would encourage you to consider something other than Summers for first year. Especially since you are working in a context where English is often a second language, I think you'd find the English discussion and illustrations in Mounce far more helpful to your Indian students. Mounce also reflects more recent study of the language than Summers.
[And to address a question raised on another b-greek thread, I do *not* recommend the abridgement of Wallace--it's sole purpose of existence, so far as I can see, is to offer a digest that is less intimidating for textbook purposes. I've never understood the value or wisdom of systematically attempting to work through a large grammar page-by-page in the classroom; it's a tedious task that students tire of easily--better to read inductively and systematically and use the grammar for reference at 2d year and above, esp. when using Wallace. But if someone is working at their own pace, has the motivation, and is willing to take the time, working though Wallace after mastering one of the smaller intermediate grammars would certainly be a valuable education--albeit one that would likely take several years of study.]
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Rodney J. Decker, Th.D., Assoc. Professor/NT
Baptist Bible Seminary, Clarks Summit, PA, USA
URL: www.NTResources.com
PURL: purl.oclc.org/NT_Resources/
Email: <rdecker> at <NTResources.com>
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> -----Original Message-----
> >Who is using the subject text and at what levels. And for those who
> >may use it, what basic Greek text are they using.
> >
> >We're woefully outdated here and are using an old edition of Ray
> >Summers New Testament Greek. We use it for three semesters
> >(undergraduate), and are trying to settle on how to handle
> the fourth
> >semester. We have no ThDs here nor Greek/Hebrew experts, nor are
> >likely to ever have any. We're small and we're focused on preparing
> >preachers for ministry in India.
> >
> >We believe Black's book may work for us here in our third or fourth
> >semester. I thank you in advance for any advice you might offer.
> >
> >Sincerely,
> >
> >Mr. Lynn Jackson
> >Mysore, Karnataka, India
> >Bible, English, and Greek teacher
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