Intermediate Greek Grammar: Syntax for Students of the New Testament

by David L. Mathewson; Elodie Ballantine Emig

Publisher:

Baker Academic

, 2019

Overview

This intermediate grammar for students of New Testament Greek incorporates the advances of recent linguistic research in an accessible and understandable way. Drawing on years of teaching experience at a leading seminary, David Mathewson and Elodie Ballantine Emig help students extend their grasp of Greek for reading and interpreting the New Testament and related writings. The authors make extensive use of New Testament texts to illustrate each grammatical category. They take into account the most significant advances in Greek language study (verbal aspect, discourse analysis, linguistics, the “death” of deponency) and focus on major and exegetically significant grammatical usages.

Long enough to provide substantial help yet concise enough for frequent practical use, this text is ideal for intermediate Greek and Greek exegesis classes. It is also a valuable resource for preachers and other interpreters.

Key Features

• Provides an accessible textbook for pastors, students, and professors
• Incorporates some of the most recent linguistic insights into the study of Koine Greek
• Addresses recent developments in verbal aspect theory, the voice system, conjunctions, and discourse studies

Contents

• The Cases
• Pronouns
• Adjectives and Adverbs
• The Article
• Prepositions
• The Greek Verb System
• Voice, Person, and Number
• Mood
• Infinitives
• Participles
• Clauses, Conditional Clauses, and Relative Clauses
• Dependent Clauses and Conjunctions
• Discourse Considerations

Top Highlights

“There are three fundamental aspects in Greek: perfective, imperfective, and stative.” (Page 113)

“According to aspect theory, the Greek verb tenses do not indicate the kind or even the time of action, but how the author chooses to conceive of or view the action. Aspect concerns the author’s perspective on an action.” (Page 112)

“It is best to understand the Greek middle voice semantically as expressing ‘more direct participation, specific involvement, or even some form of benefit of the subject doing the action.’” (Page 148)

“The genitive is most often employed in constructions in which one substantive (in the genitive, N_gen) particularizes, or restricts, another (the head noun, or substantive, N).” (Page 11)

“However, when the subject of the infinitive is not the same as that of the main verb, a very common phenomenon is to find the subject of the infinitive expressed in the accusative case.” (Page 193)

Praise for the Print Edition

This intermediate-level introduction to New Testament syntax is up to date on the most recent research and developments in the study of Greek and presents cutting-edge information with a rare combination of clarity and insight, reinforced by a number of clear examples from the New Testament. Mathewson and Emig are wise, experienced, and gifted teachers and have given students exactly what they need to build on a study of basic Greek. This book should be on the shelf of every student who is eager to grow in understanding the New Testament in Greek.

—Roy E. Ciampa, Nida Institute for Biblical Scholarship

When intermediate grammars present a more advanced view of Greek, they often compile ever more elaborate categories to classify the grammatical phenomena of the New Testament, presenting the Greek language like a patient etherized upon a table. The current authors are different. They invite their readers to see language as a living thing and to read Greek with sensitivity to shifting realities based on context and nuanced usages, and they show in each case how to do this. This book provides students with the solid food necessary to read Greek at a more mature level. I will use this book.

—George L. Parsenios, associate professor of New Testament, Princeton Theological Seminary

It is a pleasure to commend this intermediate Greek grammar. It is well informed about recent advances in the study of Greek while offering a concise and minimalist presentation of Greek syntax. By focusing on reading Greek in context, it encourages students to understand syntax in ways that make sense of the Greek language. The result is a clear, informed, and student-oriented tool for teaching and learning Greek at the next level.

—Constantine R. Campbell, associate professor of New Testament, Trinity Evangelical Divinity School

Product Details

• Title: Intermediate Greek Grammar: Syntax for Students of the New Testament
• Authors: David L. Mathewson and Elodie Ballantine Emig
• Publisher: Baker
• Publication Date: 2019
• Pages: 332
• Resource Type: Grammar
• Topic: Greek Resources

About the Authors

David L. Mathewson (PhD, University of Aberdeen) is associate professor of New Testament at Denver Seminary in Littleton, Colorado. He is the author of Verbal Aspect in the Book of Revelation and has written commentaries on Revelation and the Septuagint text of 1-2 Kings.

Elodie Ballantine Emig (MA, Denver Seminary) is instructor of New Testament Greek at Denver Seminary in Littleton, Colorado. In addition to various other endeavors in ministry, research, and writing, she has been helping seminary students learn Greek well for nearly three decades.