A Primer of Biblical Greek with CD by N. Clayton Croy
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Book Reviews of A Primer of Biblical Greek with CD
Book Review: Reliable, Clean, Broadly Based Koine Greek Primer
Summary: 4 Stars
A Primer of Biblical Greek by N. Clayton Croy is, as several other reviewers have said, a superior Primer, a first book, on Koine Greek as used in both the New Testament and the Septuagint. If I could give half stars, I would give this book 4 1/2 stars, but I steeled for 4 since there were so many 5 star reviews.
I would pay attention to the warning about the Kindle version of the book, since that version probably does not contain the material in the accompanying CD, which doubles the value of the book, especially for those who teach themselves. I would agree with the reviewer who rated this higher than Mounce's Basics of Biblical Greek. Croy is exceptionally clever in introducing just the right amount of vocabulary and grammar to be able to form sentences after the second lesson. He does not, for example, do like my old German texts, put things like numbers, days of the week, or months of the year in the vocabulary. We went through an entire semester and I still don't know how to count to 10 in Greek.
My primary concern with the book is that 2/3 of the exercizes at the end of each chapter are based on sentences from either the Septuagint or the NT, and in order to understand them, you need a long list of supplementary vocabulary, but who would go through that trouble, if you could just look them up in an interlinear translation. I would have preferred more sentences base on what was taught to that point. My biggest problem in taking quizzes and tests is that we didn't get enough exercize in translating 'in vivo'. You can memorize from flash cards all you want, but that's worthless in making sense of all the different uses for that pronoun 'autos'.
But, for the 'original' Greek sentences, Croy is very clever in constructing Biblical sounding sentences from a limited vocabulary. And, you will be surprised to find that even after getting half way through the book, you still have a long way to go to be able to read even the simplest passages in the NT.
Book Review: Decent Greek book
Summary: 4 Stars
So I used this for a summer greek course. No text book is perfect but I do like how they lay out vocab at the beginning of the chapter. The general logic of the order is ok. The lesson sentences are quite funny once they translated. Only recommendation is that it include more biblical text. But if you buy a greek new testament it should suffice.Book Review: Solid Greek Textbook
Summary: 3 Stars
As my title indicates, this is a solid book to be used as a text for a high school or college class on Biblical Greek. I doubt that it would be a useful tool for learning Greek on one's own; it will likely require further instruction and explication to be meaningful. A CD-ROM is included, with some useful material on it.
The information is presented simply and systematically. The content of the book is on par with other first-year Greek textbooks, and this may be the simplest one of them all that is suitable for higher education.
The book has been effective in teaching Biblical Greek to me, a native English speaker, and to my classmates as well. I came in with rudimentary understanding of languages and some experience learning language in high school and college, but I am far from being a language scholar. The material was reasonably easy to comprehend. There is no way for the student to escape a bit of memorization and drilling. Again, it will likely be necessary to seek instruction and guidance, especially for pronunciation and for drawing the student's focus to the most important material.
Here is the major negative aspect of Croy's Primer: The book itself is a piece of junk. It is a poorly-bound paperback with a cheap plastic-coated cover. I take great care in breaking the spine of new books, but this book started coming unglued immediately despite my best efforts. The font is generally readable, although the breathing marks and accents are difficult for those with poor vision to read. A large print edition is probably not necessary, but I would prefer it to the current version for legibility.
If the material in this primer were bound instead into an elegant hardcover edition, I would not hesitate to give the book 4.5 stars. As it is, the poor paperback quality reflects the carelessness of the publisher. My recommendation to those considering buying the book is to find the best price possible and protect the book well enough to get through your first year of Greek. Perhaps an acceptable hardcover edition will be available at a reasonable price in the future. I recommend staying away from used paperback editions of this book, since I cannot imagine them being in good shape by the time they reach the purchaser.
Book Review: A good primer
Summary: 3 Stars
In my opinion the 30lb gorilla in the beginners Greek Grammar market is Mounce's Basics of Biblical Greek Grammar. I've used it and now Croy's. I wanted to offer my quick contrast between the two. If you are learning completely on your own, I think Mounce's is easier and better geared to that (besides you can buy his course lectures from his website). Croy's on the other hand seems well suited for the classroom and those who know Greek but want to refresh. I say that because Croy's is straight to the point in most cases, it also doesn't contain the humor of Mounce (which is good or bad depending on your perspective).
Now to what's just good about Croy's? Like I said, it's to the point. You start off with Verbs and Nouns much faster than Mounces. Actually lesson 2 is verbs and lesson 3-4 are declensions.
Capricious amounts of examples! Not only do you have author created sentences, LXX, and NT as well as couple of English to Greek sets there is also a CD includes even more exercises (more akin to Tests) for each chapter (it also includes answers). It takes me a week or two to just complete one lesson with all the exercise (this is a good thing).
I also enjoy the technical explanation of different grammar principles as they relate to Greek. As an example: he goes in depth into the accents and how they work and function.
Then why just of 3 stars? I like the book and on its content alone it earns 4 stars. I enjoy Mounces better but this book is less expensive (you also don't have the by a separate work book and you have direct biblical exercises to do). The book is just cheap (even the 2nd edition). It's already about to split at its glued seems and all I do is try and prop it open while doing exercises. I'm not completely confidence how long this will last.
Book Review: Take care in handling this book
Summary: 3 Stars
Since I am only a first term Greek student, I don't have much to compare with Croy, but I am doing fairly well in my class. The CD is of some help as it provides answers to some (but not all) of the homework exercises. Croy's composed exercises (based on vocab and grammar given to that point) are much more helpful than the LXX and NT exercises that he includes because the scripture includes many words not yet taught. Because he has to provide those words, there's less opportunity to practice skills. Took off one star for this.
The cover and binding on this volume are not of top quality. A 60 page chunk has fallen out of mine and the clear veneer is peeling off of the cover. Other students in my class are also noticing deterioration of their copies. Those who are unusually gentle with their textbooks may not have a problem. However, Greek requires a lot of study time which does translate to more use for the textbook. Took off another star for this.