[b-greek] Re: Machen for the 3rd Millennium

From: Christopher Hutson (crhutson@salisbury.net)
Date: Thu Dec 07 2000 - 15:27:56 EST


Regarding Croy's Primer of Biblical Greek,

I have been using it this year and can offer the following assessments:

On the plus side,

1) The grammatical explanations are simple (light on grammatical jargon and
no comparisons to Latin--much simpler than Machen) and presented in
bite-sized portions that are easily digestible, one lesson at a time. We
covered lessons 1-16 in thirteen weeks, and I would project that it is quite
possible to cover the whole book in two semesters.

2) The inclusion of Septuagint material is a real help beyond common NT
Greek grammars. Students learn to think of word usage in a broader context,
while still reading passages that are somewhat familiar.

3) The price is low ($18.00).


On the minus side,

1) The main problem is that this is still basically a deductive approach to
language learning (as Croy said, "everything you hated about Machen"). It
would help if the practice sentences from the LXX and NT were whole
paragraphs instead of isolated sentences.

2) The charts in the back are pretty good, but there is not complete
regular verb paradigm all on one page (even though there are such for
contract verbs). I would like a regular verb chart on one page that shows
the big picture at a glance.

3) It would help if students could more easily find all the principal parts
of verbs they have learned. Some are included in the vocabulary list at the
back, but there is no comprehensive list of principal parts.

On the whole, this is a big improvement over other traditional, deductive
grammars (Machen, Hewett, etc.), but the best approach is still a blend of
deductive and inductive methods.

My favorite intro grammar is still Balme & Lawall, _Athenaze_ from Oxford
University Press. This is an Attic grammar, so it's the long way around to
come to NT studies. But _Athenaze_ is a fun book. Attic gives students a
broad literary foundation to build on, and _Athenaze_ doubles as a sort of
intro to classical Greek culture. There is a wealth of cultural background
on which one can draw for NT studies. Many students who never pursue Greek
beyond the first year will nevertheless benefit greatly from the cultural
material in _Athenaze_.

For those who steadfastly refuse to study Attic Greek, Croy is worth a look.

XPIC
______________________________
Christopher R. Hutson
    Hood Theological Seminary
    800 West Thomas Street
    Salisbury, NC 28144
crhutson@salisbury.net
______________________________




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