Greek for the Rest of Us
Is it possible to engage in an in-depth word study of a New Testament passage without mastering the Greek language? Author William Mounce would answer that question in the affirmative and in his book "Greek for the Rest of Us" he proves his point. Many people know that with an Interlinear translation and a good concordance, Biblical Greek dictionary or similar tools they can see all the possible meanings of a particular word. However, just knowing the meaning of a particular one is only part of the puzzle of good Biblical exegesis. You also have to understand Greek syntax. It can make a big difference in the meaning of a passage to know whether something is an active or passive verb, a dependent clause or an independent clause, and whether words like "man" is inclusive of mankind or just "men". There are a lot of things to know when trying to understand a passage and the definitions of the words is only a small part of it.
The introductory material includes a section titled "What are translations?" that should be read by every serious student of the Bible. In it he points out the problems of translation, differences between literal and equivalent translations, problems of ambiguity, moving from implicit to explicit in order to fill out a passage, misunderstandings, sensitivity issues, and euphemisms. If you don't read Biblical Greek as a primary language and rely heavily on a translation of the Bible for your theology (as almost all of us do) then you have an obligation to at least understand these problems of translation.
The rest of the book deals primarily with understanding syntax and the significance and implications of whether a word is nominative, accusative, imperative, or dative form, active or passive, or whatever other form it might take. After reading through the book I would have to agree wholeheartedly with Mr. Mounce, you don't have to be able to speak and read Greek if you have an understanding of the language and the right tools. This is a very highly recommended book for anyone without the time to learn the Greek language but interested in deep scriptural study.
Author: William D. Mounce
Publisher: Zondervan Publishing
5300 Patterson SE
Grand Rapids, MI 49530
Copyright: 2003
ISBN: 0310234859