R.D. Kunjummen - New Testament Greek: A Whole Language Approach

R. D. Kunjummen, one of my colleagues at MTS, recently published a Greek textbook entitled New Testament Greek: A Whole Language Approach. Well, I’m not a paid endorser but if you are looking for a great book to refresh your Greek skills that are somewhat rusty, then look no further. Professor Kunjummen provides an exegetically-oriented and linguistically-aware approach to NT Greek that will offer those who have already studied the language a refresher that will remind you why you studied Greek in the first place.

The book uses an semi-inductive approach that provides textual examples from the beginning of the work. It introduces verbless clauses quite early and thus has beginning students translating Greek from the NT by the third lesson. I’ve been using earlier forms of this material to teach Greek for the past few years and like the way that the lesson sentences reinforce the grammatical points, while the exercises reinforce previous learning and provide a way for the student to determine his or her level of apprehension of the material introduced. The book is a combination workbook and reference grammar and would be a reference work that one will go back to quite often.

The book is a little under 450 pages and is a great deal at $62. It contains the expected appendices including a cumulative vocabulary list that serves as a great way to learn or review vocabulary. The text is oriented towards those using the Greek text in the exposition of the scriptures in faith communities; however, those needing to pass Greek proficiency exams will find this work quite useful. Professor Kunjummen, my former Greek professor, has written a thorough introductory and intermediate Greek textbook that is highly recommended and should receive wide use in both undergraduate and seminary Greek courses. If you can't purchase the book from Amazon, you can purchase it directly from Michigan Theological Seminary.