If I may offer a "shameless plug,"Unfortunately, there is not much else I have seen has vocabulary and grammatical explanations as you go along (ie, a reader format).

Kregel, 2007, ISBN: 9780825424427
If I may offer a "shameless plug,"Unfortunately, there is not much else I have seen has vocabulary and grammatical explanations as you go along (ie, a reader format).
I have had a lot of success doing exactly this, and it sounds like you probably have a few good years of Greek on me. I started with Ignatius because since he wrote all 7 letters around the same time he uses fairly consistent vocabulary, so once you read one of his letters it get's progressively easier to read on. My primary tool is BDAG, and for unfamiliar constructions I simply refer to the same grammars I use for NT studies.RickBrannan wrote:Since you're starting from NT Greek, I second this recommendation. Whitacre's stuff is good and helpful, and the writings of the Apostolic Fathers are the logical next step, both chronologically and in similarity to the NT, if you're progressing into Patristic stuff. Start with Polycarp and some Ignatius, when you're feeling good hit 1 Clement (though it's 65 chapters, so have realistic expectations). Stay away from Diognetus for awhile. I think Hermas' Shepherd is some of the easier Greek in the corpus, but it is long, so don't feel bad about hitting selections from it instead of reading the whole thing.James Ernest wrote:Also, Charlie, where are you going to start? Rod Whitacre's Patristic Greek Reader (published by Hendrickson, now with Baker Academic [disclaimer (or would it be "claimer"): I work for Baker] gives an excellent set of selections with notes to help you through them. Or you could start with the Apostolic Fathers.
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Overall, if you're comfy with the Greek in the NT, I'd say just start reading something and use grammars as reference along the way. Note BDF cites Apostolic Fathers, as does BDAG, so reference searches of those in software packages that include them can be very helpful.
Of course not. From Lampe's introduction:Charlie Johnson wrote:Lampe's Patristic Greek Lexicon includes only words not found in LSJ. It's 1600 pages. Really, Church Fathers?