New Testament Greek for Beginners

Rating:
Summary: Simply the best.
Review: I studied Greek for over five years, but when I think Greek, the image of Machen's little blue book always comes to mind. It was as if our class lived and breathed with Machen, so much so that we called it "baby Greek."

Machen is simply the best place to start learning Greek. I would recommend no other.

Rating:
Summary: Great beginners book
Review: I took four years of high school Greek and we used this book all the way through. I am now taking Greek in College and we are using Croy's book: A Primer of Biblical Greek. After using Croy's book for two semester's, I can say that I prefer Machen. He is very thorough and yet very clear in his presentation of beginning concepts. Machen's dictionary in the back is also invaluable for the beginning student. It is truly a great work.

Rating:
Summary: Machen proven tried and true.
Review: It was strange to see the great Machen criticized by one reviewer as being behind the times when the reviewer himself didn't even spell Koine correctly! This should provide adequate warning as to the validity of this criticism of Machen. As well, merely because today's colleges and seminaries teach in a certain way is no indication of its superiority over Machen's, especially since today's education in general is also most demonstrably moving progressively more rapidly into a dark ages eclipse of illiteracy, though how thankful I am for the shining exceptions. Only a very few decades ago no one would have dreamed of considering one educated even to the bachelor's level without a proficiency in Latin and Greek and a foreign language or two, whereas today even Ph. D. professors can't communicate in, much less master English! How ironic that so many of them then turn 'round and criticize "religion" as a bastion for the ignorant! John Paul II's mastery of at least a dozen tongues rather, is typical of a true approach of wisdom in this arena. Inability to think in more than one language (or even in one language!) is really an inability to think at all about anything, at least not credibly, since ordinary children, even when little, are readily multilingual, mostly because of their blessed lack of adult pride and vanity so inhibiting to linguistic progress.

Machen supposedly being a hero to Evangelicals (whatever that is and whoever they are!) is scarcely relevant for those of us rather more interested in stemming the manifest woeful ignorance in Christ's Church, and then reaching out to minister in wisdom, understanding and love to those around us as was the case for the Church in the previous dark ages.

Of course such ignorance is as well related to the folly of the various styles of the antiscientific religion of Darwinism, so fantastically based on proven lack of evidence but as profoundly corrupting the thought processes throughout a culture so intimidated as to generally fail to challenge the ignorant and bigoted hegemony so entrenched in the halls of "education" and government. For multitudes of examples see works by Phillip E. Johnson & Michael J. Behe.

These comments in favor of Machen of course can in no way denigrate Mounce's manifestly invaluable scholarly work, however popularity is no valid measuring stick of a certain pedagogy's validity. Many tout the supposed superiority of the inductive approach to language (touted by most language tools today) versus the supposed exclusively deductive approach used by most language tools of yesteryear, including those of Machen and the great A. T. Robertson, but such thinking strangely fails to recognize the manifest inclusion of inductive method subsumed in the data under consideration by the deductive process. To turn the argument 'round, a form of the inductive method is as well popular in the notorious "whole language" absurdity in the "teaching" in today's government schools showing some of the limits of its usefulness. Indeed the incompetence resulting is well illustrated by the icons of illiteracy (pun intended) ubiquitously present on Windows and Macintosh computers!

The important matter at hand for a true teacher is not to bow to the idol of making things easier for students, but rather greatly to encourage these greatly beloved children of God that they nobly and heroically may rise to the challenge of great strides of learning of which they are no doubt eminently capable, and for whom Machen can certainly provide more than adequate equipping.

Rating:
Summary: A Classic Introduction to New Testament Greek
Review: J. Gresham Machen's introduction to NT Greek is still used in Seminaries today. Here is his own comments about this book:

"My schedule as a teacher at Princeton was rather a heavy one, and I do not regret the fact. There were some advanced courses to keep me alive, and I also had the job of teaching elementary Greek. This latter was never mere drudgery to me, as it is to some men. I have notions about it different from those that often prevail, and after fifteen years' experience I embodied them in my little textbook, New Testament Greek for Beginners. A teacher of language, it seems to me, or the writer of an elementary textbook, should never yield to the temptation of displaying his philological learning--I myself was greatly helped in my resistance to this temptation by having so little philological learning to display--but should ruthlessly sacrifice everything else to the impartation of a reading knowledge of the language. Philological discussion is very interesting and very important, but it should come later. It is not learning, but often mere pedantry, to discuss the detailed history of a language that one cannot read. The more general observance of that principle might have delayed, even if it could not have prevented, the sad disfavor into which the classics have fallen in our day."

Rating:
Summary: An excellent, no-nonsense, no-frills introduction to NT Gree
Review: Machen's book, though dated (c.1923) is still in use in leading theological seminaries and the text chosen by the Newark (NJ) School of Theology for its first and second year NT Greek courses. Machen is a no-nonsense, no frills, dead serious introductory text, but a student who has completed it will be able to read NT Greek. Each of the 33 lessons concludes with 20 Greek to English sentences and 16 English to Greek sentences to be translated. At the end of the first year of Machen, I discovered that Zodhiates (AMG Publishers, Chattanooga, TN) has published keys to these exercises, together with cassettes covering all 33 lessons, and a workbook with its own key booklet for each lesson. Gresham taught NT Greek at Princeton Theological Seminary in the early 20's and was a fundamentalist preacher there of considerable renown. I recommend Machen's text without reservation for serious students of NT Greek.

Rating:
Summary: Great exercises - Machen vs Mounce
Review: Machen's New Testament Greek for Beginners is concise and clear in what it teaches. It is no-nonsense and gets right to the point of each individual lesson. The chapters are fed to the student in small "bite-size" portions that are easily digested - not too much info in one sitting. The real benefit of this grammar, however, is in the exercises at the end of each chapter. The student is taught one or two new grammatical concepts per chapter, and then is asked to apply those concepts through numerous translations - first from Greek to English and then from English to Greek. It is the second set of exercises (English to Greek) that really cements the points of the lesson in one's mind - for one could scramble through translating from the Greek if they had to, but taking the English and writing the equivalent in Greek takes a clearer understanding of the concepts.

Another benefit of the excercises in Machen is the fact that the sentences to be translated are not directly from the Bible. I started out my trek through Koine Greek with Mounce's grammar. He does not have the student translate from English to Greek because he states (and I'm paraphrasing) that "we're not learning to write, we're learning to read". In addition, all of the exercises were passages from the Bible. If, as in my case, you have studied the Bible before moving on to Greek, many of the exercises to be translated will be familiar to you. It seemed that I could make it through the translation after the first few words because I had heard the English many times. This did not help because I was not forced to work through each word or phrase individually (because I knew what it said before I got to that point). Machen makes up his own sentences, having to do with the vocabulary words learned up to that point. There is no such thing as translating, "For God so loved the world..." and then not having to complete the exercise because you happen to know the rest of the verse. While Mounce provides much more explanation in his chapters, you can't beat Machen for practical exercises.

It should be noted that the style of Machen is more "academic", while Mounce is more "contemporary".

Rating:
Summary: Great exercises - Machen vs Mounce
Review: Machen's New Testament Greek for Beginners is concise and clear in what it teaches. It is no-nonsense and gets right to the point of each individual lesson. The chapters are fed to the student in small "bite-size" portions that are easily digested - not too much info in one sitting. The real benefit of this grammar, however, is in the exercises at the end of each chapter. The student is taught one or two new grammatical concepts per chapter, and then is asked to apply those concepts through numerous translations - first from Greek to English and then from English to Greek. It is the second set of exercises (English to Greek) that really cements the points of the lesson in one's mind - for one could scramble through translating from the Greek if they had to, but taking the English and writing the equivalent in Greek takes a clearer understanding of the concepts.

Another benefit of the excercises in Machen is the fact that the sentences to be translated are not directly from the Bible. I started out my trek through Koine Greek with Mounce's grammar. He does not have the student translate from English to Greek because he states (and I'm paraphrasing) that "we're not learning to write, we're learning to read". In addition, all of the exercises were passages from the Bible. If, as in my case, you have studied the Bible before moving on to Greek, many of the exercises to be translated will be familiar to you. It seemed that I could make it through the translation after the first few words because I had heard the English many times. This did not help because I was not forced to work through each word or phrase individually (because I knew what it said before I got to that point). Machen makes up his own sentences, having to do with the vocabulary words learned up to that point. There is no such thing as translating, "For God so loved the world..." and then not having to complete the exercise because you happen to know the rest of the verse. While Mounce provides much more explanation in his chapters, you can't beat Machen for practical exercises.

It should be noted that the style of Machen is more "academic", while Mounce is more "contemporary".

Rating:
Summary: Keeping mine!
Review: Machen's work is still used at many schools decades after its initial publication, and for good reason. Other reviewers have extolled the virtues of Machen in general, so I'll limit myself to one additional comment. Many other Greek grammars are massive, or require a separate 8.5" x 11" workbook. Machen's little black book, on the other hand, is wonderfully compact and portable. Students can take it anywhere in a coat pocket and study whenever the opportunity presents itself - on the bus, on their lunch break, etc. The book itself is very well made and should last indefinitely, but the price is still awfully high. Buy it used!

Rating:
Summary: Machen's Book is Still the Standard
Review: The long ago departed J. Gresham Machen provided the academic world with the standard text for teaching Koine (common) Greek, often called New Testament Greek. This book is extremely well done, and after viewing two three separate Greek texts, this is the most detailed. He covers all the rules in Greek such as declensions, Present Actives, Participles, aorists, imperfects, Perfect tenses, subjunctives, etc. His vocabulary section in the back is great for the student as a quick reference or study tool for memorization. Further, as another reviewer noted, one can practice what they have learned in each chapter with Greek to English and English to Greek exercises. This is more difficult book than Mounce's text if one was trying to learn Greek alone. With a minor in Greek, I suggests one seek a teacher or someone with at least two years of Greek if using a book to learn Greek anyway.

Rating:
Summary: Old is not always a bad thing!
Review: There are some modest problems with Machen's grammar, but age is not one of them. I learned with this grammar and I still use it to teach introductory Koine. It is not an accident that so many Greek teachers learned with this grammar -- it covers all the material needed to read the NT competently. I personally would like to see MI verbs covered earlier in the lessons but this is a small matter that can be corrected by the instructor if they are so inclined. The grammar is well thought out as well. Lessons that are heavy and require a lot of work are followed by lighter lessons so the student is not overwhelmed. The exercises, though not directly from the NT, cover the grammatical points of the lesson and help the student understand the rules of grammar.
My greatest trouble with Machen's grammar is that it assumes the student is well versed in English grammar. Sadly, most university students do not know what a subjunctive mood is or a superlative adjective etc. I am constantly needing to explain Machen's definitions to my students because they do not have the basic instruction in English to comprehend the Greek. This is not so much a fault of Machen's grammar as a telltale sign that classical learning is not valued in public education. My second problem is his constant use of archaic pronouns. Again, this is not so much about Machen being an 'archaic' book but that when the grammar was written, the KJV was pretty much the only version used in the churches. Ye, thee, thou, etc. would have seemed a very reasonable and dignified way of translating pronouns. Now it just sounds silly (for most of us anyway). Again, this can be corrected by the instructor.
All round, Machen is a good grammar that covers the material. It does not offer a magic pill solution to learning a foreign language. If you use Machen you will need to work; however, the pay off is knowing Greek well.