2015 was a good year. We added many contributors, created 19 basic Greek videos (more to come), launched our first Greek reading series on Colossians (more to come), gained hundreds for our Basic Greek for the Week email, reviewed and highlighted tons of books, and connected with lots of new friends.
The best thing about 2015 is that we’ve found many people–students, pastors, and scholars–who are serious about the biblical languages and exegesis….
When I first started learning New Testament Greek during my early grad-school days, my second-hand copy of Bill Mounce’s classic grammar textbook was a constant companion. I deeply resonated with his morphological approach to learning Greek grammar in those early years, in large part because I recognized the wisdom of learning principles and patterns of word formation instead of memorizing paradigm after paradigm after paradigm. (For non-language nerds, “morphology” refers to how words are formed, often in relation to the way they are used in a particular sentence.)….
You’re sitting at home enjoying a nice show when your doorbell rings: it’s a Jehovah’s witness who wants to share with you about how Jesus is a god. How do you respond? Do you tell him you’re busy and shut the door? Do you engage in a debate with him? Do you pull out your Greek New Testament to discuss the grammatical complexities of John 1:2? There are many reasons we as Christians and academics should know Greek grammar solid, and this is only one of them. Of course each Christological passages in the Bible require careful exegesis and close attention to the language used, otherwise how would we know whether our theology of Christ is actually grounded in what the biblical authors wrote?….
We’re giving away two beautiful NIV-Greek (UBS5) Parallel Bibles in honor of the NIV 50th Anniversary Celebration. If you’re not familiar with the history or translation policy of the NIV, check out some of these links for fun.
–Made for You Introduction: A brief (but not short!) history of revisions made to the NIV….
Exegetical Tools’ main purpose is to equip students and pastors to rightly handle the Word of God in their original languages. Our long-term vision is to create resources to help you learn, retain, and improve your Greek, Hebrew, Aramaic, German, French, and Latin.
But we cannot fulfill this vision without your help!
Would you spend less than five minutes and NONE of your own money to help support us financially, so that we can continue to equip you with our unique resources?….
What is the best way to keep up with your vocabulary? Flashcards are definitely a big help, but there’s no substitute for simply immersing yourself in a language day after day. Goodrich and Lukaszewski understand this. As they note in the introduction, if you were to learn all the vocab words Mounce requires in his Basics of Biblical Greek, you would still be far from being able to sit down in your armchair….
One of the greatest benefits of learning Greek is being able to conduct word studies. One of the greatest dangers of learning Greek is being able to conduct word studies.
Sometimes simple discoveries can change significant things. One of our assignments for third semester Greek at Westminster was to scrutinize, translate, sentence flow, and perform a discourse analysis on Romans 1:15-17. This is a familiar passage for sure. I’ve worked for a parachurch missions agency. I listen to Christian rap. I know Romans 1:16. I have heard this passage preached from many times. I have heard missionary appeals given from this passage many times. I’ve heard this line sung many times. And I have seen “116” tattoos many times. It is familiar. Glorious. But familiar….
Earlier, we reviewed Joseph Hellerman’s Philippians volume in the Exegetical Guide to the Greek New Testament series from B&H Academic. Dr. Hellerman is Professor of New Testament Language and Literature at Talbot School of Theology. We tracked him down to interview him about his book because, as a site devoted to exegesis, we wanted to know from someone….
This handbook on the Greek text of Philippians is part of B&H Academic’s EGGNT series, several volumes of which we have reviewed. Each volume is aimed at intermediate Greek readers and focuses on syntax, vocabulary, and grammar. But each volume is also slightly distinctive, given an author’s chosen emphases.
Hellerman begins with a brief commentary introduction, concluding that Paul wrote the letter from Rome. He writes one long paragraph on aspect and Aktionsart….