What do you think?
Rate this book
Using and Enjoying Biblical Greek: Reading the New Testament with Fluency and Devotion
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.
- GenresLanguageBiblical Studies
272 pages, Paperback
First published December 1, 2015
About the author
Rodney A. Whitacre
8 books7 followersRodney A. Whitacre (PhD, University of Cambridge) is professor 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.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
January 5, 2016
Learning Greek can be a fun and rewarding exercise. While the work of memorizing vocabulary and paradigms can be tedious, the payoff is worthwhile and worth the effort it takes. But what about after you spent those many months memorizing vocabulary, case endings, and principal parts? How do you keep from losing the hours you spent learning Greek? This is where Rodney Whitacre’s Using and Enjoying Biblical Greek: Reading the New Testament with Fluency and Devotion (UEBG) comes in handy. Consisting of seven chapters and 5 appendices, UEBG is the just the resource needed for both the beginner and the rusty student of Biblical Greek.
In chapter one, Whitacre lays out his method and rationale for the work. He begins by encouraging readers of the GNT to do just that: read the GNT. Even if you read only a few passages of the NT at a time, it is vitally important that you start to become familiar and somewhat fluent in your understanding of the GNT. As you become more fluent, you will also start to understand and begin to think as the author of the NT thought. Alongside fluency comes an aspect that is rarely mentioned when learning Greek, it is the art and practice of meditation on what you are reading. As one who spent seven years learning Greek in undergraduate and graduate studies, the thought of meditating on the GNT never crossed my mind.
Chapters two and three serve as a good review on the basics learning vocabulary and essential parsings. In chapter, Whitacre provides some excellent steps in building vocabulary as you consistently read through the GNT. He reminds readers to pay close attention to things like suffixes, prefixes, semantic domains, and other lexical elements of the Greek. Chapter three provides the reader number of important charts on parsing that serve as a helpful reminder for the rusty student or helpful guide for the new student as he continues on his journey in learning Greek.
Chapter four is an excellent guide on how to break down sentences and identify key elements that the author uses. Beginning with the core elements of a sentence, Whitacre builds on them and guides the students through how sentences were constructed and the various elements that make up not only a sentence but also a discourse as well. At the close of the chapter he offers three methods that can be helpful when disambiguating a more complex passage of scripture: chunking, sentence scanning, and sentence mapping.
Moving on to chapter five, Whitacre provides some steps for the student of the GNT to use to begin to gain a familiarity with the GNT. The first step, what he calls puzzling, is to skim through a given portion of scripture to see what is familiar. This will give the reader an idea of what is needed in order to understand what the text says. The next step is what Whitacre calls scanning. As one’s knowledge of Greek increase, so too does his familiarity with certain aspects of the language. Scanning allows the reader to move more quickly through a text, moving beyond just basic parsing and vocabulary to looking for types or clauses, the use of infinitives and participles, prepositional phrases and other discourse features that are being utilized by the author in his text. Finally, after scanning the passage comes rereading the text over again. Nothing builds fluency like reading and rereading a text until the reader begins to think in Greek. Quite simply, the goal is not to be able to translate Greek into English but to be able to think in Greek. Whitacre concludes the chapter with a section on helpful aids in building fluency in Greek.
Chapter six is what I consider to be the best chapter of the book. Learning Greek is fun, and there is nothing more exciting than to be able to open up the GNT and begin to work through a passage of sacred scripture, noticing the unique style of a given author. But the end goal for Christians is not to be able to solve syntactic problems, it is to have the sacred scripture saturate our minds and transform our lives. In this chapter Whitacre lays out some practical methods for transforming your study of Greek into a time of worship and meditation. He discusses a few methods of meditation that one can use as they are reading through the GNT. Helpful is the brief history of meditation in the early church and how the ancient church defined the practice. At the conclusion of the chapter Whitacre provides some examples of how to utilize meditation in exegesis. I cannot say enough about how useful and needed this chapter is in one’s learning Greek. It is all too easy to get lost in the details of exegesis and syntax and neglect the message and author of sacred scripture.
The closing chapter offer some practice passages that the reader can work through and apply what he has been taught in the first six chapters. Following this chapter are five appendices: sentence mapping, labels for sentence maps, reader’s notes for John 3.16-18, core patterns for Greek morphology, and Greek verbs—two current topics. Each of the appendices are worth reading through, as they highlight certain aspects of what was discussed earlier in the book.
All in all, Whitacre’s UEBG is a valuable tool for anyone who has taken one year of Greek or one who is a little rusty and wants to return to his first love. The format is easy to follow and the examples are good at illustrating points discussed in the book. For someone who has kept their Greek and use it on a daily basis, I find the chapter six alone is worth the price of the book; in fact, this is initially attracted me UEBG. If you are learning Greek or use Greek daily, this is a book worth having on your shelf and working through.
In chapter one, Whitacre lays out his method and rationale for the work. He begins by encouraging readers of the GNT to do just that: read the GNT. Even if you read only a few passages of the NT at a time, it is vitally important that you start to become familiar and somewhat fluent in your understanding of the GNT. As you become more fluent, you will also start to understand and begin to think as the author of the NT thought. Alongside fluency comes an aspect that is rarely mentioned when learning Greek, it is the art and practice of meditation on what you are reading. As one who spent seven years learning Greek in undergraduate and graduate studies, the thought of meditating on the GNT never crossed my mind.
Chapters two and three serve as a good review on the basics learning vocabulary and essential parsings. In chapter, Whitacre provides some excellent steps in building vocabulary as you consistently read through the GNT. He reminds readers to pay close attention to things like suffixes, prefixes, semantic domains, and other lexical elements of the Greek. Chapter three provides the reader number of important charts on parsing that serve as a helpful reminder for the rusty student or helpful guide for the new student as he continues on his journey in learning Greek.
Chapter four is an excellent guide on how to break down sentences and identify key elements that the author uses. Beginning with the core elements of a sentence, Whitacre builds on them and guides the students through how sentences were constructed and the various elements that make up not only a sentence but also a discourse as well. At the close of the chapter he offers three methods that can be helpful when disambiguating a more complex passage of scripture: chunking, sentence scanning, and sentence mapping.
Moving on to chapter five, Whitacre provides some steps for the student of the GNT to use to begin to gain a familiarity with the GNT. The first step, what he calls puzzling, is to skim through a given portion of scripture to see what is familiar. This will give the reader an idea of what is needed in order to understand what the text says. The next step is what Whitacre calls scanning. As one’s knowledge of Greek increase, so too does his familiarity with certain aspects of the language. Scanning allows the reader to move more quickly through a text, moving beyond just basic parsing and vocabulary to looking for types or clauses, the use of infinitives and participles, prepositional phrases and other discourse features that are being utilized by the author in his text. Finally, after scanning the passage comes rereading the text over again. Nothing builds fluency like reading and rereading a text until the reader begins to think in Greek. Quite simply, the goal is not to be able to translate Greek into English but to be able to think in Greek. Whitacre concludes the chapter with a section on helpful aids in building fluency in Greek.
Chapter six is what I consider to be the best chapter of the book. Learning Greek is fun, and there is nothing more exciting than to be able to open up the GNT and begin to work through a passage of sacred scripture, noticing the unique style of a given author. But the end goal for Christians is not to be able to solve syntactic problems, it is to have the sacred scripture saturate our minds and transform our lives. In this chapter Whitacre lays out some practical methods for transforming your study of Greek into a time of worship and meditation. He discusses a few methods of meditation that one can use as they are reading through the GNT. Helpful is the brief history of meditation in the early church and how the ancient church defined the practice. At the conclusion of the chapter Whitacre provides some examples of how to utilize meditation in exegesis. I cannot say enough about how useful and needed this chapter is in one’s learning Greek. It is all too easy to get lost in the details of exegesis and syntax and neglect the message and author of sacred scripture.
The closing chapter offer some practice passages that the reader can work through and apply what he has been taught in the first six chapters. Following this chapter are five appendices: sentence mapping, labels for sentence maps, reader’s notes for John 3.16-18, core patterns for Greek morphology, and Greek verbs—two current topics. Each of the appendices are worth reading through, as they highlight certain aspects of what was discussed earlier in the book.
All in all, Whitacre’s UEBG is a valuable tool for anyone who has taken one year of Greek or one who is a little rusty and wants to return to his first love. The format is easy to follow and the examples are good at illustrating points discussed in the book. For someone who has kept their Greek and use it on a daily basis, I find the chapter six alone is worth the price of the book; in fact, this is initially attracted me UEBG. If you are learning Greek or use Greek daily, this is a book worth having on your shelf and working through.
December 10, 2023
The core idea of this book was encouraging to me, that our knowledge of original languages should not stop at translation, but continue into devotional fluency. That said, the book is an odd mixture of grammar, reading techniques, and devotional ideas.
The book is 200+ pages including appendices, but only ~50 of that is actually on fluency and devotion. The other ~150 is better read from a book devoted to grammar or morphology.
The devotional aspect of the book leans on medieval techniques, like lectio divina, to the point of recommending you seek out figural meanings that differ from the Bible's grammatical-historical context. It didn't feel related to the study and use of Greek, and it felt a little misleading at times, though he admitted it wouldn't be for everybody.
Nothing in this book was *bad*, but put up next to other books, this one felt lacking in multiple departments. It's an agreeable book, but you'd be better off reading something else.
The book is 200+ pages including appendices, but only ~50 of that is actually on fluency and devotion. The other ~150 is better read from a book devoted to grammar or morphology.
The devotional aspect of the book leans on medieval techniques, like lectio divina, to the point of recommending you seek out figural meanings that differ from the Bible's grammatical-historical context. It didn't feel related to the study and use of Greek, and it felt a little misleading at times, though he admitted it wouldn't be for everybody.
Nothing in this book was *bad*, but put up next to other books, this one felt lacking in multiple departments. It's an agreeable book, but you'd be better off reading something else.
August 28, 2017
Fantastic book to motivate me to grow in my daily greek endeavours. Helpful hints throughout to develop fluency in the language - beyond aimless trawling through grammars and lexions. However the section on meditation encouraged a "looking-beyond" the literal-historial meaning of the bible text. Often the author seemed to claim that authority lay outside a proper understanding of the text.This section just seemed a little irrelevant to the rest of the book and forced an uncomfortable meditation practice on the reader.
March 10, 2019
Second time reading this. Three stars because I didn't get as much out of it the second time, which may mean I'm progressing well or the book did the job the first time. Probably both. So I would recommend it for those who have basics. It shows ways you can help to remember the basics as well as understand how they help you to actually read the NT. I'm glad I read it again, mostly because the intro was a good motivator and the fifth appendix was a really good explanation of the importance of rethinking aspect and also the middle voice.
Read
September 27, 2023Great little book on how to joyfully aim for reading fluency in Greek. Lots of really helpful stuff here, and presented in a non-authoritarian or judgmental voice. Learning a second language is tough, and an ancient language is really tough; Whitacre is trying to give a variety of aids for the journey. Could see how this book could generally be applied to other languages as well.
The chapter on utilizing meditation, Lectio divina, and the fourfold sense in the Greek is worth the price of admission alone.
The chapter on utilizing meditation, Lectio divina, and the fourfold sense in the Greek is worth the price of admission alone.
February 10, 2019
This book has some excellent aspects in it. Whitacre has excellent expertise in developing reading fluency, which is good and this book doesn’t disappoint in that sense. My only concerns is with some of his approaches to meditation which don’t appear to take into account the philosophical milieu of some of the church fathers. However, this section has rich footnotes, which I look forward to exploring. The appendix on verbal aspect and despondency is a useful introduction to the topic.
July 25, 2016
Learning another language is rarely easy for people. Yes, there are some people who are naturals and simply excel at it, but for most of us it is a real challenge. It is an even bigger challenge when it is a language no one speaks anymore, like Latin or Biblical Greek. However, learning even the basics of these languages could prove infinitely useful and beneficial to your spiritual life. Today, I am going to tell you about the book Using and Enjoying Biblical Greek.
Using and Enjoying Biblical Greek begins with an introduction on why one should study Biblical Greek. Some of these reasons include slowing down when reading the Bible and noticing nuances you wouldn't get from the English language. The author, Dr. Rodney A. Whitacre, explains that two good ways to study Biblical Greek is by reading large passages (focusing more on fluency, than accuracy) and meditating on the Word. Chapter Two focuses on building a vocabulary. There are 5,393 lexemes in the Greek New Testament, but an introductory course will only teach you between 350 and 600. In this chapter, he teaches root words, word formation, etymology, and strategies for learning vocabulary. Chapter Three is by far the longest chapter, as it concerns parsing and endings. There are many helpful tables in this chapter, related to all the noun declensions. Dr. Whitacre recommends familiarity over rote memorization, but realizes that many people prefer the rote method, so he strongly encourages the reader to use all your senses when going that route. The remainder of the book continues to build on getting familiar with texts through sentences, passages, and meditation.
So who is this book for? If you have never attempted to learn Greek before, then you might be better off starting with Learn New Testament Greek and/or Basic Greek in 30 Minutes a Day. This book is better served if you have learned even the basics of Greek or are trying to reacquaint yourself with Greek. What I really liked about this book is that it places an emphasis on meditation like Lectio Divina. A lot of books are focused solely on learning Greek for academic purposes, but this author realizes that learning Greek will be good not just for your brain, but for your soul as well. For that reason, I highly recommend this book for seminarians, priests, teachers, and students. If you have ever had a Greek class (or tried to teach yourself Greek) and need some additional guidance, you should check this book out.
Using and Enjoying Biblical Greek begins with an introduction on why one should study Biblical Greek. Some of these reasons include slowing down when reading the Bible and noticing nuances you wouldn't get from the English language. The author, Dr. Rodney A. Whitacre, explains that two good ways to study Biblical Greek is by reading large passages (focusing more on fluency, than accuracy) and meditating on the Word. Chapter Two focuses on building a vocabulary. There are 5,393 lexemes in the Greek New Testament, but an introductory course will only teach you between 350 and 600. In this chapter, he teaches root words, word formation, etymology, and strategies for learning vocabulary. Chapter Three is by far the longest chapter, as it concerns parsing and endings. There are many helpful tables in this chapter, related to all the noun declensions. Dr. Whitacre recommends familiarity over rote memorization, but realizes that many people prefer the rote method, so he strongly encourages the reader to use all your senses when going that route. The remainder of the book continues to build on getting familiar with texts through sentences, passages, and meditation.
So who is this book for? If you have never attempted to learn Greek before, then you might be better off starting with Learn New Testament Greek and/or Basic Greek in 30 Minutes a Day. This book is better served if you have learned even the basics of Greek or are trying to reacquaint yourself with Greek. What I really liked about this book is that it places an emphasis on meditation like Lectio Divina. A lot of books are focused solely on learning Greek for academic purposes, but this author realizes that learning Greek will be good not just for your brain, but for your soul as well. For that reason, I highly recommend this book for seminarians, priests, teachers, and students. If you have ever had a Greek class (or tried to teach yourself Greek) and need some additional guidance, you should check this book out.
July 27, 2024
Some helpful pointers for reading Greek on a daily basis in devo time
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews