[B-Greek] Grammatical Concepts 101 for Biblical Greek

Jensen, Julian (Trawick) Julian.Jensen at USPTO.GOV
Tue Feb 20 19:10:44 EST 2007


Hi Jeffrey,
 
I am quite familiar with this book, having gone through it several times since I bought it. First of all, this is not really a book of grammar in the sense that we normally encounter the term. It is very much a book about syntax, a much neglected field of study, IMHO. 
 
The book is divided into three parts, Part I: Foundations, Part II: Building Blocks, and Part III: The Clause and Beyond, this last section being far too short and lacking, mostly because this is a topic not generally covered very well, although BDF takes a decent stab at it.
 
The organization and methodology of the book is excellent but unlikely to satisfy the needs of those who seek in-depth and potentially esoteric information, this is not a book for the expert. That being said, I would like point out the book's discussion about the tense and aspect system, which is not only very interesting and makes quite a bit of sense, but ought to serve to spark some interesting dialogue about a potential paradigm shift regarding how we deal with verbal systems. I have encountered quite a bit of resistance to the kind of view proposed by Dr. Long. Not because it is illogical (it isn't) but because it is unfamiliar and somewhat alien to the verbal system we are used to. Most grammarians tend to be traditionalists, it would seem. :) Dr. Long's approach is highly systematic, organized and valuable. I suspect that the kind of viewpoint he advocates would make learning a verbal system, like what we encounter in ancient Greek, much easier than what it is currently taught. Having studied and learnt around a dozen languages in my time, I have to say that this is one of the lightest and most informative books on grammar, syntax and language that I have ever read. I can honestly say that it was a joy to read.
 
The diagrams in the book are excellent and quite clear. Unfortunately, he doesn't cover a number of more specialized cases. What I would ideally like is a book like this with the in-depth analysis of, say, Wallace's 'Biblical Greek Beyond the Basics.' In other words, Long's book need far more coverage, it is just too superficial. This is a real shame because his presentation is the clearest I have ever encountered, his views and approaches are sound, and he provides a good idea of syntax. It is simply too short. At 239 pages, including the index, I would have been happy to see another 600 pages or so. :)
 
All in all, one of my better purchases when it comes to Greek grammar but I suspect that if you are already fluent and extremely knowledgable about Koine Greek this book would not add much if anything to your understanding. If you are still learning then this would rank very high on my list of must-buy books. At the price ($19.95) it is hard to beat.
 
Julian

________________________________

From: b-greek-bounces at lists.ibiblio.org on behalf of Jeffrey B. Gibson
Sent: Tue 2/20/2007 6:09 PM
To: Biblical Greek
Subject: [B-Greek] Grammatical Concepts 101 for Biblical Greek



Please forgive me if this question has been asked before, but has anyone
had any experience with Gary Long's _Grammatical Concepts 101 for
Biblical Greek_?

I saw it recently at an exhibition and was wondering if it is useful.

Yours,

Jeffrey

--
Jeffrey B. Gibson, D.Phil. (Oxon)
1500 W. Pratt Blvd.
Chicago, Illinois
e-mail jgibson000 at comcast.net


---
B-Greek home page: http://www.ibiblio.org/bgreek
B-Greek mailing list
B-Greek at lists.ibiblio.org
http://lists.ibiblio.org/mailman/listinfo/b-greek







More information about the B-Greek mailing list