New Testament Greek Vocabulary | 
| Author: Jonathan T. Pennington
Publisher: Zondervan
Category: Book
List Price: $22.99
Buy New: $10.00
You Save: $12.99 (57%)
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Rating:  16 reviews
Sales Rank: 175309
Format: Unabridged, Audiobook
Media: Audio CD
Edition: Unabridged
Number Of Items: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.3
Dimensions (in): 5.8 x 5.7 x 0.9
ISBN: 0310243823
Dewey Decimal Number: 225
UPC: 025986243821
EAN: 9780310243823
ASIN: 0310243823
Publication Date: October 1, 2001
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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Product Description
These two CDs with booklet enable a person who is taking biblical Greek to work on, by ear as well as through the eyes, all vocabulary words that occur in the New Testament ten times or more. Read by Jonathan T. Pennington using the Erasmian pronunciation for New Testament Greek vocabulary.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 11 more reviews...
 Read and hear NT Greek vocabulary July 8, 2008
SLS
You get a booklet and two CDs. They cover the 170 words the NT uses ten times or more, in decreasing order of frequency. It claims these words comprise 70% of the NT, but over 5,200 words remain in the other 30%! Perhaps a follow-up CD is in order with (say) frequencies down to 5 times or more. I'd buy it.
 Good, but Not without Flaws August 28, 2007
Brandon Wason (Atlanta, Georgia)
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
Zondervan's The New Testament Greek Vocabulary package contains a vocabulary guide booklet and two audio CDs read by Jonathan T. Pennington. Its very simple, but effective, concept is to divide words into frequency groups of relatively the same size (about 40 words in each group). The booklet is a print version of the CD word lists, giving the Greek word and the English equivalent.
The obvious advantage of this tool is that one can work on their vocabulary under non-conventional circumstances. For example, many people have long commutes which make for a great opportunity to absorb new vocabulary words. Some types of work also allow for listening to CDs and not being distracted by them. Students can listen to the CDs while studying at home or in the library with headphones while following along with the booklet to complement what they hear with what they see. In the booklet is a large enough gap between the Greek and the English so that one can easily cover up the answers while trying to test themselves.
Unlike many of the popular language CDs available today, Pennington's work focuses strictly on vocabulary. There is no discussion of syntax, except in circumstances which distinguish a preposition's meaning based on its object's case. There are no situational, pre-constructed sentences to learn, such as, pothen ei su; ("Where are you from?"). A language's vocabulary words are the building blocks, and the mortar is its syntax. The mortar should be found in works like Mounce and Wallace, but one should not forsake the very important task of learning the vocabulary.
I presume that the majority of people using this tool are those first learning New Testament Greek. I found it odd that one of the first statements on the CD is, "This program is designed to help you master the vocabulary of Koine Greek." Learning all the words contained in this package would not make one a master of the Greek New Testament's vocabulary, let alone "Koine Greek" as the CD claims. It is important to make accurate claims about the language one is learning and the vocabulary in this program only focuses on the vocabulary of a collection of writings found within the wider body of Koine Greek.
Also, there are certain problems related to learning a language from a CD. The alpha and the omicron are often indistinguishable. When the author says "ay" is it referring to e? ("if") or ? ("or," "either")? Especially if the student is learning new words, the best thing to do is to listen to the audio while following along with the book--at least for the first time.
All in all, the work is well-created. It is intriguing, however, that Zondervan can take two CDs and a little booklet that take relatively a short amount of preparation work (compared to a book) and charge $22.99 for it. In a perfect world this type of a product would come standard with the introductory grammars, but now I am asking too much. What also would be helpful is if Pennington produced a version for the less-common words of the Greek New Testament. Nonetheless, I would recommend the current version to anyone desiring to solidify their vocabulary of the Greek New Testament.
Growing Consensus For Change December 23, 2006
David A. Bielby (Normal, IL USA)
9 out of 9 found this review helpful
There is a growing consensus for change in the field of biblical Greek vocabulary pronunciation. No one mentions that this product uses the Erasmian pronunciation. That method is not what biblical Greek era speakers spoke (no one knows what that sounds like)...and it sounds really funny to modern Greek speakers (I have seen eminent American scholars speak with this method in the hearing of modern Greeks who cringe when they hear it).
Of course this is not a problem if you only talk to English speaking bible students who talk about Greek with this pronunciation method. BUT-if you want to travel to Greece, or if you know any Greeks who speak modern Greek, you may find it interesting to know that the vocabulary of the Biblical Greek NT has about a 70% overlap with the vocabulary of Modern Greek version of the NT. (Based on my quick highlighting of the differences between the two version in my BW 7.0 recently).
Because there is a difference of opinion out there on which method is best to use, software products like BibleWorks 7.0 offer both the Erasmian AND the Modern Greek pronunciation.
In addition, a Greek scholar, named Spiros Zhodiates, has produced a NT recording using modern Greek pronunciation (done slowly) so that you can listen to a chapter of that with your Greek NT open and learn how modern Greeks read the Biblical Greek. With his product I like to hold my Greek NT in front of me and follow along as he reads it out loud.
I think some Greek teachers are completely unaware of these things and only consider the Erasmian method. But if you are an evangelical who is studying the bible in Greek because you want to spread the gospel to the world...then I appeal to you to consider building some pronunciation skill in Modern Greek while you are studying the Biblical Greek text.
So for the money, I would recommend you buy Spiros Zhodiates Greek NT recording on CD using the Modern Greek rather than this product.
If you never plan to interact with Greek speaking people...THEN Pennington's work is a five star work worthy of spending your time and money on. So because of that I give this a five star.
I hope this has added something to the well written reviews on this product that was not in the mix for you and that this has helped you see more options before you spend your money!
Learning New Testament Greek? September 21, 2006
B. Clements (USA)
3 out of 3 found this review helpful
Jonathan T. Pennington reads every word that occurs 10 times or more in the Greek New Testament. The words are arranged in 29 tracks, divided by frequency and presented alphabetically. (e.g. Disc 1, Track 3 contains words that occur 450 times or more in the Greek NT beginning with alla ("but") and ending with hos ("as, like, when, that"). Tracks range in length from 3 minutes 14 seconds to 8 minutes 32 seconds. In his gentle voice, Pennington reads each Greek word, pronouncing it clearly according to Erasmian convention. Then, after a pause for the listener to think of the word's meaning, he gives a gloss--a short English definition of the word. Coupled with a 48 page booklet, this 2-CD set provides a powerful tool for the acquisition of NT Greek Vocabulary.
Verbs are presented in their first principal part only. Nouns are given in the nominative and genitive. Adjectives and pronouns are given in the masculine, feminine and neuter.
Dump these tracks onto your MP3 player and listen to them while you do other things. Pop the disks into your car's CD player and learn while you drive.
A warning: taken in too large doses, these CDs are hypnotic. Listen to them a little at a time or you may find yourself sleep-learning.
If you are studying Greek under a teacher who uses reconstructionist or modern Greek pronunciation standards, these disks are not for you. If you are learning the more common Erasmian pronunciation (ask your instructor) they can be a great help for learning vocabulary.
Great Product for Getting Started July 25, 2006
P. C. Lindstrom (Arlington Heights, IL United States)
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
Jonathan T. Pennington is to be commended for his fine work on these vocabulary CDs. I have used them for the past four years, and they have helped me keep up my vocabulary. Probably the most helpful aspect is they help ensure a correct pronounciation. While listening to the CDs is helpful, to get the most benefit, I would recommend listening and using the included vocabulary booklet. Pennington also correctly recommends using the CDs for a short time each day rather than trying to use them for long periods at a time. As a student of NT Greek for several years, I realize that there are no shortcuts or alternatives to hard work. These CDs won't make you a master of the language, but they will give you a good start!
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