Courses

Today, it is possible for preachers and teachers to examine the Greek New Testament using many different resources (including commercial software, free websites, AI models, written commentaries, etc.). Yet responsible users of these tools still need an understanding of Greek grammar, including not just the morphology of individual words but also the syntax that makes entire Greek sentences meaningful. Ultimately, then, responsible interpretation of both primary and secondary texts requires the ability to evaluate syntactic claims responsibly. And for those who do hope to sight-read Greek, learning common syntactic constructions is the next step once the individual words can be recognized.

The course is structured as a sequence of asynchronous online modules to be completed within Avenue to Learn (A2L). Each module will begin with an intro video and some assigned reading. These will describe and explain the syntax of Greek. You will then complete some exercises on A2L. These will review your introductory Greek (i.e. vocabulary and parsing) and your emerging understanding of Greek syntax. They will also force you to find and discuss some examples from the NT, so that you can practice learning to recognize and interpret actual wordings.

Knowing

• Know some of the most frequent inflections in the New Testament;
• Know how individual words combine in order to make meaningful units;
• Know the main grammatical choices that enable the construction of Greek wordings;

Being

• Become self-aware as a modern reader of the Bible, recognizing the antiquity of the texts;
• Dispense with over-confidence (or lack of confidence) concerning knowledge of the biblical languages, adopting instead an attitude of life-long learning;

Doing

• Be able to talk intelligently about the structure of a specific wording by invoking alternative wordings (i.e. explain both what the wording means and how it means what it means);
• Be able to move cautiously from an analysis of Greek grammar to a preliminary understanding of an actual passage of scripture.