This book releases today:
Robert L. Plummer and Benjamin L. Merkle. Greek for Life: Strategies for Learning, Retaining, and Using New Testament Greek in Ministry. Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2017.
Here’s what I say about it in How to Understand and Apply the New Testament:
[It is a] motivating and practical help if you are learning Greek for the first time or relearning it decades later.
Some excerpts:
- [Quoting A. T. Robertson] Never say you are losing time by going to school. You are saving time, buying it up for the future and storing it away. Time used in storing power is not lost. (p. 7)
- Just because I know what a Greek tool can do doesn’t mean I will use it properly. Without a proper knowledge of the big picture (including Greek grammar and syntax), such tools will be of little value and might end up doing more harm than good. (p. 12)
- It is not possible to cram in Greek vocabulary and expect to retain it. Instead, it is best to have small blocks of time to study intensively followed by a break to allow your brain to relax and process the information. (p. 39)
- Avoid studying and memorizing while occasionally checking your email or social media accounts. … You must be able to concentrate on the task at hand. (p. 41)
- Memory experts always stress the importance of using as many senses as possible when learning new data. According to the William Glasser Institute (California), we retain only 10 percent of what we read, about 50 percent of information we see and hear, and about 80 percent of information we gain from personal experience. Furthermore, if we actively teach something, we have about a 95 percent retention rate. (pp. 43–44)
- Perhaps the most important practice for maintaining and increasing your facility in Koine Greek is reading it daily. (p. 66)
- Ideally, we want to get to the point where we can read the Greek New Testament much like we can read our English Bibles. (p. 77)
- Study Greek while you memorize English. (p. 77)
