A Summer Greek Reader

by Richard J. Goodrich

A Summer Greek Reader is the first practical text specifically designed to help students of introductory Greek strengthen their grasp of the essentials over the summer. By spending just twenty minutes a day, students not only maintain what they've learned in their first-year class, but will also build their working vocabulary and gain practice with extended Greek New Testament passages. This volume is perfect for students who want to begin reading complete passages of the Greek New Testament while avoiding the complexities encountered in intermediate and advanced studies. A Summer Greek Reader encourages readers to memorize new words while applying the essentials of Greek to translating larger blocks of the New Testament text. Self-contained and easy to use, A Summer Greek Reader is a rewarding means of strengthening the knowledge first-year Greek students have worked so hard to acquire. By eliminating the need to rebuild old foundations and by minimizing the mad dash for a bigger vocabulary during the first weeks of second-year Greek, this book will quickly prove its worth to students and educators alike.

Genres: Reference, Language

112 pages, Paperback

First published March 1, 2001

Reviews

[Martijn Vsho · Rating 5 out of 5]

As a student who took beginner Greek last school year and is taking intermediate Greek this coming school year, I found this to be a wonderful resource. I am not yet skilled enough to translate every passage in the New Testament, and this book provided easy to translate passages for to me practice my Greek and get ahead on the vocab. This is a must-have for every Greek student. Even if you are not taking second-year Greek, this workbook will help you keep your Greek so that you do not lose it.

[Andrew Tucker · Rating 4 out of 5]

Helpful

[Teresa · Rating 3 out of 5]

Readings taken from the Gospels of John, Matthew, and Mark along with one from 1 John are arranged in this workbook across twelve weeks, broken into six days per week. The readings did not appear to me to be graded. I did not find the latter selections any more difficult than the former. Each day offers five to six Greek New Testament verses in continuity from the day prior for translation. Three words are identified for parsing, often verbs and participles but sometimes nouns and adjectives. There’s nothing to keep the student from simply parsing everything in the passage, so long as one has a reference for checking accuracy. I used BlueLetterBible, both the app and the website. Answers in the back of the book provide fairly literal English translations of the passage and the results of the three parsings. I kept my beginning Koine Greek textbook handy to review areas that turned up weak in my work. Demonstrative pronouns will be drilled by the Johannine passages for sure! I’ve had this workbook on my shelf for almost twenty years so I’m very pleased to have worked through it to my own satisfaction. Honestly, I found the vocabulary lists unhelpful, too compact with the definitions too close to cover over and check one’s memory. Use another book for maintaining and expanding your vocabulary, this workbook isn’t for that.

[Matthew Rawlings · Rating 3 out of 5]

Helpful for the Greek student right after his or her first year.

[Preston Kelso · Rating 4 out of 5]

As a Biblical Studies student, pastor, and writer, I spend a great deal of time translating the New Testament. A Summer Greek Reader: A Workbook for Maintaining Your Biblical Greek is a useful tool for maintaining skill in translating the Greek of the New Testament.

The purpose of this workbook is important when evaluating its quality. It is not designed to handle text critical issues, develop skill in exegesis or expose the reader to major grammatical or syntactical issues. It is simply a series of passages, mostly from the Gospels, arranged in a format of progressive difficulty for the reader to translate through portions of the New Testament. Additionally, it has a built-in component for vocabulary building and each passage includes a selection of words to parse (verbs and verbals) or decline (nouns). Unfamiliar vocabulary is defined in the footnotes and there are a few grammatical notes that are made along the way.

I found it useful for some guided reading to refine my Greek skills and to get exposure to different elements of Greek contained in the Gospels (some passages are didactic, some narrative).

This workbook would be particularly useful for a student looking to bridge the gap between Greek grammar courses and intermediate/exegesis courses which require more proficiency in the languages. Any student looking to get into Greek exegesis should consider reading through this volume to expose themselves to more vocabulary acquisition and to develop speed and skill in translating the New Testament without the encumbrances of grammatical/syntactical issues found in other readers for which they may not be ready.

On a final note, the Graded Reader also includes translations for each passage, as well as elaborations on some grammatical notes in the back of the workbook.

[Benjamin · Rating 4 out of 5]

So thankful I had this book to just keep me in my Greek this Summer!