Do any of you diagram or phrase (as William Mounce puts it) Scripture? (This is not grammatical diagramming.) In his book Greek for the Rest of Us he describes this and shows us how to do it. I find it extremely helpful. If any of you do this and would like to help me, I will post examples of my work and you can critique it. I’ll post my first one which I have been working on this weekend on and off. Let me know what you think. The first one I’ve done completely on my own is
Phrasing of 1 Corinthians 1:17-31 (PDF File), which is what we’re studying in our group Bible study. That may be a rather large one to start with.
He mentions that this is usually part of a commentator’s exegesis of a passage and this will help us to understand commentaries in addition to understanding Scripture itself.
I find this book fascinating. I’m taking the Greek part of it very seriously but the parts about Bible translation(s) and phrasing make it all the more worth it.
I’m pretty much through week two (of six) which means I know the Greek alphabet, pronunciation, basic translation philosophies and very basic phrasing.
I may or may not post more about this as time goes on.
I highly recommend this book to anyone who doesn’t have time to really learn Greek but wants to know the basic grammar and be able to (hopefully) understand what those commentators are saying when they talk about Greek and its grammar.
I had no idea it includes more than just basic Greek. Thanks goes to Esteban for recommending this to me and helping me out.
Unfortunately the paperback doesn’t include the CD of his lectures. My library system has the hardcover which seems to be out of print right now.
Edit: As per Nathan’s review, as of now there are two hardcovers available at Eisenbrauns.
Jeff
Not sure what lectures you were after, but you can purchase Mounce’s entire lecture series of Greek online for $74US. That’s a very good price considering how much it would cost to take the course anywhere.
I reviewed this excellent book on my blog last spring. The lectures were actually available online at this URL six months ago:<a href=”http://www.biblicaltraining.org/class.php?class=NT203″>http://www.biblicaltraining.org/class.php?class=NT203</a>However I just looked it up again to make this comment and the site appears to be dead. I managed to listen to quite a few of his lectures there, but not all of them. Hopefully the site comes back up soon and you can have a look.
Sorry, I thought you had HTML enabled, here’s the plain link so you can copy and paste it: http://www.biblicaltraining.org/class.php?class=NT203
I’m able to listen to the lectures from the CD that was included in the hardcover edition I got from the library that I still have checked out. I was just alerting people to the fact that the paperback doesn’t include the CD.
You can use the WYSIWYG buttons above the comment box for HTML. Otherwise I can always figure it out.
Nathan I added a link to your review and also Eisenbrauns which has two hardcovers still available as you mentioned. Thanks.
I’ll have to see if I want to go any further with Greek when I’m done with this book.
Jeff
In that case, just burn a copy of it… Maybe two, and I’ll send you my mailing address hint, hint. I knew I was missing out on the CD with my copy, and I didn’t locate a copy of the hardback edition until after I had already purchased my paperback copy. Thanks for the link love. Not much traffic on my site these days due to neglect on my part. I’m still reading your blog, just not commenting in general as much as I used to.
You’re welcome. Thanks for mentioning the review. I know you’ve been very busy with your new job. It’s nice to see you commenting.
I’ll be starting week three this week.
Let me know if anyone has any comments on my diagramming.
Jeff
My Favorit Blog. Very thanks and best regards from Germany. Thanks
Has anyone ‘phrased’ Romans 5:12-17? I’m trying to learn it and it’s killing me.John
Sorry I can’t help you there.
Jeff
Woah! I’m really digging the template/theme of this website. It’s simple, yet effective. A lot of times it’s challenging to get that “perfect balance” between superb usability and appearance. I must say you’ve done a very good job with this. In addition, the blog loads extremely quick for me on Internet explorer. Outstanding Blog!
Thank you.