[B-Greek] Ten Best Books for Studying New Testament Greek
Mark Lightman
lightmanmark at yahoo.com
Thu Nov 25 10:32:26 EST 2010
Carl egrapse
<I rather doubt there would be any full consensus
on any "ten best," but lists like this have at least some entertainment value.>
Hi, Carl,
I agree. The lack of consensus on these things is precisely what causes them to
be entertaining. A Cy Young Award to a pitcher who goes 13-12? Really? A
Nobel Prize to a President in office for four months? Titanic is the Best
Picture? Really? A Top Ten NT Greek Books List that includes Wallace but not
BDAG? Really?
I agree with four of Black's picks: Mounce, Robertson, Zerwick and Decker. I
don't know Funk, but I cannot disagree with this pick. I would replace his
other five with these.
1. Since vocabulary is the biggest obstacle to mastering the Greek NT, Warren
Trenchard, The Complete Vocabulary Guide to the Greek New Testament is
essential. Cognates may or may not help in understanding the meaning of Greek
words, but Trenchard's arrangement by cognates is very helpful in memorizing
vocab.
2. In addition to his grammar, I would include Zerwick's Grammatical
AnalysisThe best thing about it, is that his analysis is, even if at times nasty
and brutish, always short.
3. Nothing is more helpful in learning the forms than Mounce's Morphology of
Biblical Greek, except that all that information is included in Smyth's Greek
Grammar . Mounce is more user friendly, but Smyth is more complete, so take
your pick.
4. This is cheating a little bit, because it is really the audio that is great,
but Christophe Rico's Polis MUST make the list. I find that again and again
when I read the Greek NT, I read a word or a phrase and I hear the voice of
Rico or one of his readers in my mind, making the text come more alive. His
short book and audio cover an amazing number of NT words, and I hope he will do
even more in his much anticipated sequel.
5. I have to include a Reader's Greek NT here. Zondervan's First Edition is
still my favorite because it is so lightweight and portable, but the most
helpful, since it's glosses are the most complete and since it provides full
parsing info, is
The Greek New Testament for Beginning Readers: The Byzantine Greek Text & Verb
ParsingNote that my list still does not include the excellent but slightly
over-rated BDAG. Really?
I second your prayer for a great Holiday PASIN, and please be careful out there.
Mark L
Φωσφως
FWSFOROS MARKOS
________________________________
From: cwconrad2 <cwconrad2 at mac.com>
To: B-Greek <b-greek at lists.ibiblio.org>
Sent: Thu, November 25, 2010 5:27:11 AM
Subject: [B-Greek] Ten Best Books for Studying New Testament Greek
Here's a list to break Phospho's heart! -- except that it isn't really funny or
clever. Dave Black has
posted on his blog a list rubric'd as indicated in the subject-header above. You
may access it at:
http://www.daveblackonline.com/ten_best_books_for_studying_new.htm
The books are not listed in any order of preference. Some of my favorites are
included, but I
have my reservations about some of them. I rather doubt there would be any full
consensus
on any "ten best," but lists like this have at least some entertainment value.
I hope that North American list-members will have a blessed Thanksgiving Day
today, and
hopefully decent weather -- we're expecting some freezing rain in the St. Louis
area today --
with a 35-mile drive to our place of assignation.
Carl W. Conrad
Department of Classics, Washington University (ret)
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