Featured Greek Grammars

Some years ago I did a thread on Greek lexicons that was well received. So, I thought I'd do a thread on Greek grammars. I'll review basic grammars, then intermediate grammars, then advanced grammars. Feel free to contribute with your favorite (or most hated!) grammars.

First of all is that old classic, New Testament Greek for Beginners, by J. Gresham Machen, first published in 1923. Machen was a topnotch Presbyterian Greek scholar, and a leading fundamentalist. One reference work says, "An outstanding conservative apologist and theologian at Princeton Theological Seminary, but left because of modernism.... Charged with insubordination, tried, found guilty, and suspended from the Presbyterian ministry" (Who Was Who in Church History, by Elgin S. Moyer, p. 265). He and sixteen others withdrew from their denomination and formed the Orthodox Presbyterian Church in1936.

I was taught with his grammar as a Bible college student, and liked it, though I knew little about such things. Then in Japan I taught down in Tokyo from a Japanese translation of it. (That was the only choice then!) I found it all and all to be a good grammar. Unlike recent grammars, for homework it had English sentences to translate into Greek, as well as the usual Greek sentences to translate into English. Grammatically it is very good, and the vocabulary is good, so it was the best basic grammar back in the day.

Here is the disadvantage of Machen. There are 33 whole lessons, more than some grammars, so that makes it a little hard to get through in just two semesters if you add your own lessons on how to translate as I do. It has good λύω verb charts at the end, and the usual Greek-English and English-Greek dictionaries. The only lack is that discussion some of the more recent advances in Greek, such as in verbal aspect, is limited. All in all, it is a classic, so it's still in print!

 

Another basic grammar I was taught from was Beginner's Grammar of the Greek New Testament, by William Hersey Davis. It came out in 1923, the same as Machen's grammar, which put them somewhat in competition with each other.

Back in the day there was a controversy among Greek scholars about how many cases there are in koine Greek. Machen listed five: nominative, genitive, dative, accusative, and vocative. Davis and others added three more: ablative (same endings as the genitive), locative (same endings as the dative), and instrumental (same endings as the dative). the ablative is "origin or separation" in Davis; the locative is "the in case,", and the instrumental is "the case of means or association" (p. 29).

In this Davis was following the venerable A. T. Robertson, and the book is dedicated to him, "Incomparable master and teacher of the Greek New Testament." While I use old A. T.'s advanced grammar, I certainly disagree with him on this point.

Machen and others simply added usages to the five cases: the "instrumental case" becomes the instrumental dative, or dative of means, for example. This approach is far better to me. Why make the student memorize eight cases when you can get by with five and three more usages?

Another objection I have to Davis is that it has 49 lessons. Good grief! Just try to get through that in just two semesters!

 

Davis is a great basic grammar if the intermediate grammar in year two is one using the eight case system such as H. E. Dana, and Julius R. Mantey. A Manual Grammar of the Greek New Testament.

However, there are some areas in which Davis does not prepare the students for the more recent intermediate grammars. A lot of linguistic research has been done, and the more recent grammars tap into that. Have you read David Alan Black's Linguistics for Students of New Testament Greek or Biblical Words and their Meanings by Moises Silva?

I have a student in Greek 102 who was taught previously with Summers, an older grammar, but has been out for years so thought he should review with my class. He is a brilliant student, but has had some trouble getting verbal aspect, which is important in the grammar by David Alan Black that I teach from.

 

Essentials of New Testament Greek, by Ray Summers, originally came out in 1950, so it is quite dated. However, there is a 1995 revised version with Thomas Sawyer doing the revision. I'm sure it is a serviceable textbook, but it is in the eight case tradition of Davis and Robertson, so personally I would not use it.

I have a transfer student who was originally taught with this, and he does very well in my class. However, he had some trouble adapting to the linguistic approach of Black's textbook which I use. In particular, verbal aspect stumped him for a while--but then it stumps all of my students during the first semester. Now in Greek 102 most of them seem to have figured it out. I hope that means I'm getting better at teaching it!

 

Because of research done in modern linguistics, recent Greek grammars emphasize verbal aspect over time in the Greek tenses. In the indicative, time is important with aspect being more important, but especially in the participles and infinitives, the time element of the verbal fades to less importance, with these verbals following the time of the main verb.

Verbal aspect may be described as "kind of action," though purists will say that actually describes Aktionsart. (A. T. Robertson's big grammar talks about Aktionsart some, even back then.) Black defines verbal aspect as "the view of the action that the speaker chooses to present to the hearer" (David Alan Black, Learn to Read NT Greek, 3rd ed., 2009, p. 14).

There are three aspects in Greek: aoristic (looking at the action as a whole), perfective (action accomplished, but the results continue, as with τετέλεσται on the cross), and imperfective (continued action).

The older grammars do mention aspect, but don't seem to emphasize it. For example, the older grammars call imperfective action "continuative," and John R. Rice wrote his book on prayer based partly on the continuative aspect of Matthew 7:7-8. (He studied under H. E. Dana at Southwestern, who co-wrote that classic intermediate grammar with Mantey.)

Remember how the aorist used to be described as punctiliar or constative. Nowadays the aorist is thought of as more an action as a whole, rather than punctiliar.

There is actually quite a controversy in Greek scholarship about this. All admit that verbal aspect is more important than tense, but some go so far as to say that time means very little in a Greek tense. Stanley Porter leads that crowd. David Alan Black and William Mounce, not so much.

 

I was trained with Dana/Mantey also. Standard, well-received text back in the day.

If you're ever up here in Menomonee Falls, WI, drop by and I'll have you lecture for me.

 

I remember your stroke, old warrior. Good to have you back on the BB.

 

The modern science of linguistics began, some say, with the publication of Language, by Edward Sapir, in 1921. (Robertson wrote his big grammar in 1934.) Greek professors look at the language nowadays with linguistic eyes, rather than the old ideas of philology. Therefore, the two main areas of advance in Greek studies are:
1. The emphasis on verbal aspect over time.
2. The deemphasis on etymology (historical linguistics) for the meaning of individual words.

 

The textbook I have taught from for six years now is Learn to Read New Testament Greek (3rd ed.), by David Alan Black, an excellent Greek scholar who was my son’s mentor for his PhD at SEBTS. Other helpful books on Greek by Black are his intermediate grammar, It’s Still Greek to Me (Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 1998), and Linguistics for Students of New Testament Greek, 2nd ed. (Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 1988, 1995).

Black’s grammar is innovative in that he uses modern linguistics to help the student understand the ancient language. The student must learn some morphology and phonology, as well as verbal aspect and other concepts.

At 26 chapters in 215 pages, this grammar is quite short compared to some. However, Dr. Black has innovated in several ways that make sense and lessen the need for a long grammar. He combines some subjects in a way that makes one think, “Of course!” such as in Chapter 3, where he combines the present and future active indicatives. Well sure! The only difference between the two is the addition of the future morpheme sigma in the future tense! My students have no trouble figuring that out.

Also, at only 26 chapters, it is much easier to get through in two semesters (Greek 101 and 102) than most beginning grammars. That gives time for a very practical emphasis in the last couple of weeks or so in translating First John. In my classes, we do that by dividing into translation teams and simulating a missionary Bible translation effort. I’m hoping this approach will lead more young people to be missionary Bible translators, and besides, the students love doing this! I flit from table to table as the “translation consultant.”

No grammar is perfect, and Black’s has a couple of places that could use some revision. For example, in a couple of chapters he has a huge number of vocabulary words (54 in one). Again, the chapter on participles is quite long, so I have to divide it up into two lessons, and even then some students struggle.

Finally, consider Dr. Black’s character. With his great burden for worldwide missions, he has traveled to Africa and Asia many times, and as a former missionary I respect that highly. Also, he has a great sense of humor. All in all, this is my favorite beginning Greek grammar. It may be the best one for self-taught students of the language.

 

Well, it's old. I prefer other intermediate textbooks.