NT manuscriptNew Testament Greek
NT/BL1511  Bangor Theological Seminary
[David Trobisch] e-mail: DTrobisch@bts.edu

 Class Homepage: http://www.bts.edu/trobisch/Greek/greek.htm

Short description This one semester study of New Testament Greek is intended to furnish the rudiments of New Testament vocabulary and grammar for the lexical and exegetical purposes of the pastor and theologian. It may be taken as a stand-alone elective. The language requirement will only be satisfied by the completion of a second semester of reading New Testament texts.

3 elective credits. Cross listed as BL 1511 which will fulfill the language requirement only when BL1512 has been completed
Introduction Many seminary students admit that learning the Biblical languages was the biggest challenge they had to face during graduate studies. However, the same seminary students will often insist that learning the languages was the single most important tool to help them gain confidence in interpreting the Christian Bible. Many doctoral programs will require Biblical languages as a prerequisite. Language studies are very time consuming and there are no short cuts. Adult learners will have to be especially patient with themselves. In addition, it is a good cross cultural exercise – especially if you are taught by a native German (Greek was the fifth language I had to learn.)
Objectives At the end of the semester the student will
bulletbe able to read aloud any passage of the Greek New Testament
bulletpossess a working Greek vocabulary
bulletbe able to use state of the art scholarly tools such as dictionaries, concordances and grammars
bulletbe able to analyze the structure of Greek sentences
bulletbe able to parse nouns, adjectives and most verbs
bulletbe able to critique English translations of New Testament passages
bulletbe able to translate any passage of the Greek New Testament into English with the help of scholarly tools.
Method Class instruction will consist of brief explanations and group exercises (speaking and listening). Most work will be done in small groups.

Students should commit to six to nine hours, in addition to class time, for individual learning each week. Study groups are strongly encouraged.

The progress of each student will be monitored by the students themselves. Every effort will be made to allow participants to learn at their own pace.
Grading To avoid anxiety the first semester will be taught on a pass / fail basis.

Textbooks

 Required textbooks (prices may change, contact bookstore@bts.edu)
bulletBarbara Aland, Kurt Aland: Greek-English New Testament (Stuttgart: Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft, 1994). ISBN 3-438-05408-6 // $38.50.
bulletRay Summers (revised by Thomas Sawyer): Essentials of New Testament Greek (Nashville: Broadman & Holman, 1995) ISBN 0-8054-1001-5 // $25.00.
bulletBarclay M. Newman, Jr. (ed.): A Concise Greek-English Dictionary of the New Testament (United Bible Societies, 1993) ISBN 3-438-6008-6 // $8.50.
bulletRobert E. Van Voorst: Building Your New Testament Greek Vocabulary. Second Edition (Atlanta, GA: Scholars Press, 1999). // $6.40

Strongly suggested for those who prefer to walk at a slow but steady pace is the exercise book that comes with the text book:
bulletSteven L. Cox: Essential's of New Testament Greek: A Student's Guide (Nashville: Broadman & Holman, 1999) ISBN 0-8054-2029-0.

Not required for the course but recommended (contact bookstore@bts.edu):
bulletWilliam D. Mounce: The Analytical Lexicon to the Greek New Testament (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Zondervan Publishing, 1993) ISBN: 0310542103. // $36.55
bulletHenry George Liddell, Robert Scott (Editors): Intermediate Greek-English Lexicon 7th edition (Oxford Univ. Press, 1959) ISBN: 0199102066. // $39.95
bulletWalter Bauer, Frederick Danker: A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament and Other Early Christian Literature (University of Chicago Press, 1999) ISBN: 0226039331. Hardcover - 1000 pages. 4th revised edition will be published in April 2000.
bulletAlfred Schmoller: Pocket Concordance to the Greek New Testament (Stuttgart: Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft, 1994) ISBN: 0005231051. // $24.99
bulletGreek Tutor (interactive CD-ROM), Parsons Technology. // $39.20.

Dates
 

Bangor Campus (Monday 9-12)

1

9/10

2

9/17

3

9/24

4

10/1 Reading Week

5

10/15

6

10/22

7

10/29

8

11/5

9

11/12 Reading Week

10

11/26

11

12/3

12

12/10

13

12/17
Second Semester The second semester class will use passages from the Septuagint, Apostolic Fathers,  ancient novels, papyri etc. as the basic texts. Special attention will be given to the analysis of verbs and to developing reading skills that enable the student to cover large amounts of text. Students will receive a letter grade.

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