Greek is Good Grief: Laying the Foundation for Exegesis and Exposition

by John D. Harvey

Designed as a textbook for teaching introductory Greek grammar and syntax, Greek Is Good Grief uses a graded database, beginning with the simpler Greek of John 1, moving to Mark 8 as an example of middle level Greek, and concluding with 1 Thessalonia-ns 1-2 as representative of Paul's style. Working from that database, the chapters introduce first those forms which occur most frequently. Translation of the Greek New Testament itself can begin as early as Chapter 5 because translation helps are provided for those words and forms not yet encountered. The practice sentences in each chapter are, to the greatest degree possible, based on sentences taken directly from the Greek New Testament. Form identification exercises afford students the opportunity to drill on forms specific to the content of each chapter. Each new grammatical concept is introduced by a discussion of English grammar and each chapter begins with a "Grammar Grabber" which highlights an aspect of the chapter's content by explaining how that aspect of grammar is important for understanding a portion of the Greek text of the New Testament. Field tested in both face-to-face and distance learning course formats, Greek Is Good Grief lays the foundation for a smooth transition to the study of Greek exegesis and exposition.

332 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2007

About the author

Dr. John D. Harvey is Dean and Professor of New Testament at Columbia International University Seminary & School of Ministry in Columbia, SC. He earned his Doctor of Theology degree from Wycliffe College at the University of Toronto. His previous books include Listening to the Text: Oral Patterning in Paul’s Letters, Greek is Good Grief: Laying the Foundation for Exegesis and Exposition, and Anointed with the Spirit and Power: A biblical theology of Holy Spirit Empowerment. He is an ordained teaching elder in the Presbyterian Church in America and is actively involved in pulpit supply. He has served cross-culturally in Europe and Africa.

Reviews

[Michael Schmid · Rating 3 out of 5]

A good introductory NT Greek grammar with helpful excercises and appendices. One thing that I found frustrating that there were numerous typos in the Greek vocabulary sections in the Logos edition of the book. It wouldn't have been so bad if the typos had been in the English words, but it is certainly a problem when the typos are in the Greek that the student is supposed to learn...

[Phil · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed working through this Greek grammar. Perhaps what sets it apart from other approaches I’ve seen is that it drives the student almost immediately into the text. The unit-by-unit vocabulary revolves around the passage in question, and not so much the usual approach of most grammars, namely to focus on vocabulary that occurs most frequently in the entirety of the New Testament. The drawback with this approach is that sometimes students are interacting with concepts that they haven’t learned yet within the text (e.g., an infinitive in exercise 10 on page 182). But this can also be a boon because students are already somewhat aware of these concepts when they learn about them in more detail later in their studies. The only real negative that I have found with the work is that it is in definite need of an editorial revision. Here are a list of errors I’ve found:

147- “present active participle” should be “aorist active participle”
168 - “ton thelema” in exercise 5 should be “to thelema”
174 - “ou estin” in exercise 4 should be “ouk estin”
187 - misleading definition of “prin”
205 - exercise numbers 4&22, 9&15, 13&25 are all the same.
230 - “agape” is missing the smooth breathing mark
243 - “patros” in exercise 12 should be “pater”
245 - “tithesi” as the PAI-3S is missing the movable nu

I’m certain that there are probably a few more that could be found by better Greek students than myself. But overall, these errors are minimal. I would still recommend this work for anyone who wants a basic familiarity with the Greek text of the New Testament.

[Will · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fantastic approach in theory to learning Greek translation and the methodology is spot on (every step forward is logical). However, Greek is very difficult to learn without a tutor or discipline. This book serves well for reference and helps review grammatical concepts necessary for effective translation.

Beware! There are a few errors/typos in the book. The most glaring is on pg. 204: the Neuter Accusative Plural ending is incorrect.