Using and Enjoying Biblical Greek: Reading the New Testament with Fluency and Devotion - Paperback

by Rodney A. Whitacre (Author)

Many who study biblical Greek despair of being able to use it routinely, but veteran instructor Rodney Whitacre says there is hope! By learning to read Greek slowly, students can become fluent one passage at a time and grasp the New Testament in its original language. Whitacre explains how to practice meditation on Scripture (lectio divina) in Greek, presenting a workable way to make Greek useful in life and ministry. Ideal for classroom use and for group or individual study, this book helps students advance their knowledge of Greek and equips them to read the original texts with fluency and depth.

Back Jacket

This is a book of strategies--strategies for increasing one's working vocabulary, strategies for developing fluency and even immediacy in reading the Greek text, strategies for analyzing sentences to understand their constituent parts and internal relations, strategies for overcoming (at last!) the divide between academic study of the Greek text and devotional appropriation. The person who employs these strategies, even selectively, will assuredly drink more deeply of what the biblical text has to offer those who read it in its own mother tongue.
--David A. deSilva, Ashland Theological Seminary

"I have watched numerous seminary graduates let their Greek slip and then resolve to get back into it. They usually start, needlessly so, with lesson 1 of their first-year Greek grammar and never make it to the really useful material they ought to be reviewing. Whitacre's book is the perfect one-stop shop for the kind of review they need. It also contains marvelous supplemental insights, especially simplified ways to diagram passages without analyzing every word. I am unaware of any resource like it."
--Craig L. Blomberg, Denver Seminary

"Long known as a master in the essential profession of teaching Koine Greek, Whitacre has done what very few can. Here is a primer for reading Greek fluently that takes one from a review of the basic elements of the language; through the most up-to-date linguistic analysis of sentence and discourse structure, verbal aspect, and the art of 'mapping' complex sentences; to the life-changing practice of meditating on the Greek text! The work is filled with helpful explanations of complex matters, useful examples, detailed application of the principles taught, and extensive footnotes with pathways to more advanced study. I will be using and recommending this pedagogical tour de force for years to come!"
--Scott Hafemann, University of St. Andrews

"Rodney Whitacre has put students of Greek in his debt once again! This uniquely useful text will not only help folks improve their knowledge of and pleasure in reading the New Testament in Greek but will also help them to see how it can enrich their devotional life as they learn how to meditate on the Scriptures as the church has done through the centuries. Highly recommended!"
--Roy E. Ciampa, Nida Institute for Biblical Scholarship

Author Biography

Rodney A. Whitacre (PhD, University of Cambridge) is professor emeritus of biblical studies at Trinity School for Ministry in Ambridge, Pennsylvania. He is the author of A Patristic Greek Reader and John in the IVP New Testament Commentary. Visit his website at whitacregreek.com.