Advances in the Study of Greek: New Insights for Reading the New Testament

by Constantine R. Campbell

Publisher:

Zondervan

, 2015

Overview

Advances in the Study of Greek offers an introduction to issues of interest in the current world of Greek scholarship. Those within Greek scholarship will welcome this book as a tool that puts students, pastors, professors, and commentators firmly in touch with what is going on in Greek studies. Those outside Greek scholarship will warmly receive Advances in the Study of Greek as a resource to get themselves up to speed in Greek studies. Free of technical linguistic jargon, the scholarship contained within is highly accessible to outsiders.

Advances in the Study of Greek provides an accessible introduction for students, pastors, professors, and commentators to understand the current issues of interest in this period of paradigm shift.

Key Features

• Introduces Greek students to various issues within cutting-edge Greek scholarship and linguistics
• Provides an accessible introduction for students, pastors, professors, and New Testament commentators
• Equips readers to handle Greek text with linguistic sophistication, both on a methodological and practical level

Contents

• Foreword by D. A. Carson
• A Short History of Greek Studies
• Linguistic Studies
• Lexical Semantics and Lexicography
• Deponency and Middle Voice
• Verbal Aspect and Aktionsart
• Idiolect, Genre, and Register
• Discourse Analysis: Part 1
• Discourse Analysis: Part 2
• Pronunciation
• Teaching and Learning Greek

Top Highlights

“Aktionsart refers to how an action actually takes place—what sort of action it is. Aspect refers to viewpoint—how the action is viewed. They are two different categories.” (Page 108)

“Generative linguistics is characterized by the core assumption that all languages are ultimately shaped by a universal grammar, or universals of linguistic structure.” (Pages 58–59)

“Linguists agree that the Greek aorist is perfective in aspect—it is used to convey actions as a whole, and it frequently presents them in a summary fashion. Linguists also agree that the Greek present and imperfect are imperfective in aspect—they are used to convey an action as unfolding, frequently in progress or as a state. There is, however, lively debate about the aspect of the Greek perfect, pluperfect, and future tense-forms.” (Page 107)

“it normally refers to grammatical temporal reference” (Page 107)

“The second is the relationship between the text and its external world—its context of situation and culture (usually referred to as ‘historical context’ or ‘background’ within New Testament studies).” (Page 153)

Praise for the Print Edition

The complexity, inaccessibility and even hostility of the debates within Greek studies have offered scholars a ready excuse for tuning out and waiting for something useful to come about. And although developments in the last decade have demonstrated potential payoff for exegetes, accessibility to this research in summary form has continued to be a vexing problem until now. Campbell’s Advances in the Study of Greek stands to deprive even the most cynical reader of the tired excuse that there is nothing new or useful to be learned about Greek. The sweeping overviews of recent discussions, combined with recommended readings at the end of each chapter, enable readers without substantial background to gain a meaningful understanding of the issues, what’s at stake, and potential ways forward.

— Steven E. Runge, Scholar-in-Residence, Logos Bible Software

Want to get up to speed on recent research in New Testament Greek? There is no better book (in fact, this is the only book!). Con Campbell leads you expertly through the complexities of advances in scholarship so you can be a better teacher, preacher, and student of the Word. Highly recommended!

—Andreas J. Köstenberger, Senior Research Professor of Biblical Theology and New Testament, Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary

Students—and even some professors—whose experience with Koine Greek has been limited primarily to standard elementary and intermediate textbooks, would be astounded to know the height and breadth and depth of work that has been accomplished on the original language of the New Testament in recent years. We live in a time in which great advances are taking place in a variety of directions, but both the specialized nature of the discussions and their relegation to stuffy conference rooms and technical journal articles, have limited the needed impact on frontline Greek pedagogy. Enter Con Campbell, who has provided us with a helpful overview of the history and most salient aspects of paradigm-shifting discussions

— George H. Guthrie, Benjamin W. Perry Professor of Bible, Union University

Product Details

• Title: Advances in the Study of Greek: New Insights for Reading the New Testament
• Author: Constantine R. Campbell
• Publisher: Zondervan
• Publication Date: 2015
• Pages: 256
• Resource Type: Introduction
• Topic: Greek Resources

About Constantine R. Campbell

Constantine R. Campbell (PhD, Macquarie University) is the author of several books on the New Testament and Ancient Greek, including Paul and Union with Christ—the 2014 Christianity Today Book of the Year in Biblical Studies. He is Professor and Associate Research Director at the Sydney College of Divinity, and was previously Professor of New Testament at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School (Illinois) and senior lecturer in New Testament at Moore Theological College (Sydney). Dr Campbell lives in Canberra, Australia. His website is found here.