Abstract
This grammar, originally published by James Allen Hewett in 1986 and now revised by C. Michael Robbins (Claremont Graduate University/Azusa Pacific University) and Steven R. Johnson (Lycoming College), represents a somewhat more aggressive approach to learning New Testament Greek than is offered by many traditional grammars. Hewett’s goal in designing the grammar was to move students quickly toward both reading and exegeting the Greek NT. Its 25 chapters fit into a typical 30-week course structure, though Hewett also considered that a reader could ‘progress to competent exegetical studies without professional help’ (p. xvii). Additionally, Hewett believed that ‘students who have already studied Greek for a year or so’ will find the grammar useful in recovering their Greek and advancing to an intermediate skill level (p. xvii).
Chapters 1-2 (new to the revised edition) are a welcome addition to traditional grammar material: the first chapter surveys general grammatical principles (in English), progressing from phonemes and morphemes to types of sentences; and the second chapter introduces readers to semantic issues that will be key for interpretation. After introducing the Greek alphabet, orthography, and punctuation in Chapter 3, subsequent chapters begin with new vocabulary (approximately 475 total words), followed by grammatical material and exercises. Unlike the Gradus ad Parnassum of a grammar such as that of William Mounce, the topical progression resembles that of Machen’s Greek grammar or Wheelock’s Latin grammar: verb forms, noun forms, and other topics are intermingled from the start, sometimes in unexpected groupings. Many of the chapters are divided into beginning (‘The Basics’) and intermediate material (‘A Step Beyond’; e.g., the Granville Sharp Rule) topics. Exercises are comprised of (on average) 14-15 Greek sentences from the NT to be translated into English followed by a smaller number of English sentences to be translated into Greek. The volume ends with five appendices, including: (1) accenting rules; (2) useful grammatical tables, from noun/verb forms to conditional sentence identification; (3) Greek-English vocabulary; (4) English-Greek vocabulary; and (5) the principle parts of 67 common verbs.
Accompanying the textbook is a companion Windows/Mac OSX CD containing the Greek Tools software, a PDF of the ‘Key to Exercises’ (42 pages), and a PDF labeled ‘Word Charts’ with the contents of Appendices 2–5. The Greek Tools application contains programs for: vocalizing and writing the Greek alphabet and diphthongs; vocalizing first-year Greek vocabulary words; self-quizzing on Greek vocabulary; and decoding (parsing) Greek verbs. The ReadMe file states that a Cognates program is included, but it did not appear on the reviewer’s menu. These tools will be helpful to beginning students, though I did encounter some (non-fatal) errors while test-driving the Verb Decoder.
As Hewett suggested, many who studied Greek and then return to the language after a prolonged absence will likely find this text a great help as the quick progression from basic to intermediate concepts is ideal for their situation. Students without any prior foreign language study might find the full content of this grammar daunting, and instructors would need to consider that before adopting this text.