Intermediate New Testament Greek: A Linguistic and Exegetical Approach

by Richard A. Young

Publisher:

B&H

, 1994

Overview

Intermediate New Testament Greek is an excellent resource for the second-year Greek student, and for the minister wanting to use Greek more effectively in his teaching.

Beyond merely presenting New Testament Greek grammar, the author focuses on helping students learn to use their knowledge of Greek in the exegesis of the New Testament. Moving past the surface structure of the language, Dr. Young introduces students to a number of modern linguistic models. These include a modified transformational grammar, propositional analysis, genre criticism, semantic structural analysis, pragmatics (what the speaker meant by the words), speech act theory, and discourse analysis.

Young presents a broader picture of communication that examines both the language of the Greek New Testament and how its meaning is influenced by its literary and situational context. Avoiding the risk in interpreting isolated sentences, this book helps teach the student to see how the context of a sentence determines its meaning, and then links the meaning of a text to the intent of the author. This aids the student to connect the author's intent to the author's purpose, which is to communicate certain ideas to his audience in a specific situation.

Most chapters end with exercises the student will find helpful. The Appendix offers a summary of the semantic relations presented in the text. A bibliography, a scripture index and subject index completes the resource.

Key Features

• Improving abilities in exegesis of the Greek New Testament
• Applying contemporary linguistic concepts in developing a better understanding of Koine Greek
• Understanding exegetical debates in commentaries, journals, monographs
• Demonstrating the relevance of Greek grammar in current issues in New Testament interpretation

Contents

Top Highlights

“There are three types of referential cohesion. (a) Anaphora is a referential link to a prior element in the text.” (Page 255)

“(b) Cataphora is a coreferential link to a subsequent element in the text.” (Page 255)

“(c) Exophora is a referential link to some element outside the text.” (Page 255)

“The term deep structure refers in general to that which underlies the surface structure.” (Page 5)

“We will recognize two deep structures. First, the conceptual deep structure refers to the total meaning of the communication act.” (Page 5)

Praise for the Print Edition

As a former undergraduate student of Dr. Young's in my early years, I found this volume a good representation of his cognitive style. He is foremost a remarkable Scholar. He is also a remarkable pragmatist. His text illustrates a caveat in Western thinking between traditional grammarians and those who spoke vulgar Greek in daily life. After Hebrew, Aramaic, Syriac and two ancient north Egyptian dialects, (Sahidic and Coptic), I have come to many of the principle conclusions of his book, (albeit 20 years later). To divorce the force of "meaning" from its internal idiomatic and external forms of expression is to miss the force of a language altogether. Why do ALL modern Greek grammars do this? Simply put, it is a fear of crossing traditional lines. Dr. Young never cared so much for tradition as he did for an accurate representation of fact. Whether Dr. Young cites the Sharp rule on anarthrous nominatives on the Johannan paradox misses the point of linguistic-historical harmony of meaning in a most narrow view. It also utterly missed the point of this book. Had I used this volume in my graduate studies at Oxford, I would have "stood close shoulders" with most of my lecturers. This volume should be on every shelf in every Greek professor’s library in the world. Failing this, a great volume of meaning shall be lost by even the most astute Greek students/scholars of vulgar Greek.

— M. P. Williams

Product Details

• Title: Intermediate New Testament Greek
• Author: Richard A. Young
• Publisher: B&H
• Publication Date: 1994
• Pages: 308

About Richard A. Young

Richard A. Young is a graduate of Arizona State University (B.S.) and Bob Jones University (Ph.D.). He is the author of Healing the Earth.

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