[B-Greek] Fw: B-Greek Digest, Vol 100, Issue 8 - review of Machen
Barry H.
nebarry at verizon.net
Sat Apr 16 10:45:08 EDT 2011
----- Original Message -----
From: Mark Lightman
To: Barry H. ; Shirley Rollinson ; b-greek at lists.ibiblio.org
Sent: Saturday, April 16, 2011 9:52 AM
Subject: Re: [B-Greek] Fw: B-Greek Digest, Vol 100, Issue 8 - review of
Machen
>I've read his review twice, and each time, since I know that DOKEW is a
>contract verb, I read his sentence as "doesn't inform people that DOKEW IS
>a contract verb." But you are right, he writes "that DOKEW is not a
>contract verb" It appears to be a typo.
Ok, let he who is without typos cast the first keyboard... :)
>An irony, in a review which, in my opinion, nitpicks about the few mistakes
>in Machen. If this is what Vance means, it's funny, because lots of the
>more inductive text books which are preferred by some to Machen use
>contract verbs before even telling you what a contract verb is. Machen is
>actually very good at telling you everything you HAVE to know to read the
>Greek NT.
If Machen hadn't had certain strengths, it would not have been used.
Personally, I would have liked to see the exercises seriously revamped and a
bit more on aspect and other grammatical features, with clearer
explanations, and see below. However, my problem with Machen's explanations
of the participles was that it was too fulsome. Compare Crosby & Schaeffer,
or Chase & Phillips, standard classical grammars (C&S was published in '29,
I think, don't have my copy here). Simple explanations, along with some
examples. However, I found that I could fill in the gaps, often with
printed supplements (I finally had an inkjet printer that could handle
beautifully the proprietary Greek fonts I used with Word Perfect at that
time).
>I also think that a review like this is less relevant in an age where you
>can read dozens of positive reviews of Machen by students on Amazon and
>elsewhere on line. (Usually, you can read these reviews long before a
>review comes out on SBL.) Students, not all, but some, have always liked
>Machen and always will. For what he does, present the basics of NT Greek
>is a concise, organized way, and give lots of simple exercises that drill
>the basics, he is unsurpassed. This does not mean that other texts can't
>do other things.
More connected prose, sentences in a style from the get-go better adapted
from the originals, challenging exercises that are not NT but have good
syntax, style and content...
N.E. Barry Hofstetter, semper melius Latine sonat...
Classics and Bible Instructor, TAA
http://www.theamericanacademy.net
(2010 Salvatori Excellence in Education Winner)
V-P of Academic Affairs, TNARS
bhofstetter at tnars.net
http://www.tnars.net
http://my.opera.com/barryhofstetter/blog
http://mysite.verizon.net/nebarry
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