A Primer of Biblical Greek

by N. Clayton Croy

Extensively tested in classrooms around the country, this text offers quick yet solid instruction in Biblical Greek. Designed with the needs of today's hurried college and seminary curriculums in mind, this new textbook offers a succinct, single-volume introduction to Biblical Greek that has already been proven in classroom settings. Divided into 32 lessons, Croy's grammar uses a primarily deductive approach that quickly yet effectively teaches new students the skills necessary to handle Biblical Greek. Loaded with special features that separate it from other works currently on the market, this book will become the text of choice for teachers and students of Biblical Greek.

Genres: Language, Christianity, Reference, Biblical Studies, Nonfiction, Textbooks, Academic

288 pages, Paperback

First published July 31, 1999

Reviews

[Addie A]

It's all Greek to me. But less now?

[Kaleb]

Made it through my first year of Biblical Greek.

[David · Rating 4 out of 5]

Well organized, easy to understand, good exercises from both the NT and LXX. You could actually use this grammar to teach yourself NT Greek.

[Landon Jones · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a solid resource for any first year koine greek student. I think this book, accompanied by a teacher, will be great. However, it is not good for anyone wanting to tackle greek on their own.

[Jacob Vander Ploeg · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was really helpful that he didn't just give us Bible to translate so that we would learn things separate from what we had memorized in Scripture making us think harder through the translating. However it did find it difficult to interact with the exercises as there was no ability to have the answers available to know if you did it right.

[Hunter Hebenstreit · Rating 4 out of 5]

A good textbook for understanding the basics of Greek grammar and syntax. This was my textbook for two and a half semesters of Biblical greek, and I feel like it prepared me well for further studies.

[Evan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Κροιος ἐστιν ἀγαθον βιβλιον. και καλος ἐστιν μεριθεντες του λογου, δε το βιβλιον φαινει ἐν τοἱς φεροντοις αὐτου των λογων ἐν τῳ τελοντι του ἐκαστου λογου.

[Zack Hudson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Pretty good. Lots of exercises for each chapter. Needs an answer key. Also, the deponent does not exist.

[Abby Simmons · Rating 5 out of 5]

This absolutely counts

And I told Dr. Loney I’d give it 5 stars

[Brad Atchison · Rating 3 out of 5]

Croy has its uses. I have heard it is great for classes where you have a lot of interaction. However, if you were like me, who had to learn the language in 10 weeks on an online course, this is not a good book to use.

Pros:
-Assignments come in with the book
-Considerable interaction with the New Testament right away, which is a plus
-Great for class room interaction when used supplemental material.
-Free access to Review Guide at the end of each chapter at Eerdemas.

Cons:
-I'm not the biggest fan of the structure of how he teaches. He does well at the start but having to learn a few different stems in one chapter is quite challenging (especially if you have to do 3-4 chapters a week), along with learning the vocab.
-I don't think he did the best job with teaching how to parse well. If he include specific parsing exercises, it would have made learning much easier when it comes to learning my vocab words.
-Trying to jam in numerous types of participles in a chapter seems challenging too. Perhaps it was also due to having to learn this in ten weeks.

Concerns on product (non-bearing on review):
- The book has really poor binding and is very flimsy.
- This book was promised a CD with it. I never received a CD. From what I understand though, what was on the CD is now what is assessable online.

Overall: If you are taking classes where you will have interaction with your professor and other materials, Croy is great. But from my experience, this is a poor book to use when trying to learn Greek on your own. I would have given it a 2 star but I realize that some of my bias is due to the time frame of the course I had to take, not the book. So overall, I am giving this book 3 stars. It definitely has its uses and is helpful, it just wasn't that helpful for my situation.

[Karla Renee Goforth Abreu · Rating 2 out of 5]

Although the basics are covered, the explanations are very difficult to understand and the exercises within the chapters are too far advanced. The translation, from the beginning, is preposterous for a beginner. To the author's credit, there are other exercises which one can access online and print out, that are easier.

[Joshua · Rating 3 out of 5]

For all my complaining about him, Croy has actually written a good introduction to Biblical Greek. If this is the text you're using, rest assured that you'll be given ample opportunities to try out what you learn with each lesson. The practice/review sentences are very helpful.

[Karen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Truth, I am reading this cover to cover. From it I am learning biblical Greek, sort of... sort of again. It is listed here simply so I can get credit for the fact that I am actually reading the entire thing, as is required of me.

[Matthew · Rating 4 out of 5]

Read this back in the fall during Elementary Greek, but reading through again to review during Exegesis class now. Thought it was pretty good the first time through, and execellent as a resource for review.

[Larry Taylor · Rating 2 out of 5]

good greek text book

[Emma Morgan]

This is a great book to use to learn Biblical Greek. Fairly easy to understand and read.

[Franklin · Rating 4 out of 5]

I like Croy's method a lot. Not for a learn it yourself person however.

[Danielle Renee · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great for classroom learning

[Mother Melania · Rating 3 out of 5]

The book itself is very good. But the Kindle edition is hard to use. It would be nice if the "Go To" bar allowed me to go immediately to a particular chapter.

[Lauren · Rating 4 out of 5]

It is easy to read and understand which is great for online students who have to do a lot of self teaching. The book also has some online supplements that are helpful as well.

[Benjamin Aurich · Rating 3 out of 5]

Much more accessible than Lambdin's book for Hebrew, but better geared for aided learning, rather than independent study. Can be overly technical at times.

[Ben · Rating 2 out of 5]

Its strength is also its weakness: brevity.