The second Hendrickson book is another excellent Greek reader they put out. I’m even more excited about this one, as I’ve never read any of the patristic literature in Greek before.

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Rodney A. Whitacre
Hendrickson
279 Pages

Here is the TOC:

1. Introduction
2. The Didache
3. 1 Clement
4. Ignatius’s To The Romans
5. The Epistle to Diognetus
6. Martyrdom of Polycarp
7. Justin’s Martyr’s First Apology
8. Melito of Sardis’ On Pascha
9. Clement of Alexandria’s Miscellanies
10. Eusebius’ Ecclesiastical History and Life of Constantine
11. Athanasius’ On the Incarnation
12. Gregory of Nazianzus’ Orations
13. Desert Fathers and Mothers, Apophthegmata Patrum
14. Chrysostom’s Homiliae in Matthaeum
15. Hesychios the Priest’s on Watchfulness and Holiness
16. Symeon the New Theologian’s Hymns
17. PART 2 gives the translation of the above portions.

From the Back:
This is more than a book .It’s an opportunity to learn Greek from a superlative teacher and to learn Christianity from the greatest ancient masters. Dr. Whitacre’s anthology is unique, a model of both pedagogy and mystagogy. The Spirit has been leading the churches to “return to the sources” and A Patristic Greek Reader is a beautiful beginning for that journey. Very highly recommended. — Mike Aquilina

Many young theologians find themselves eager to read the Greek Fathers, but are hampered by their command of little more than elementary New Testament Greek . A Patristic Greek Reader is exactly what they need. It provides passages from the first millennium of varying difficulty, accompanied by commentary explaining point of grammar and syntax. On their own, or in classes, this book will enable such students to raise their sights to the sometimes rather difficult Greek of the Fathers. It is a thoroughly excellent initiative. — Andrew Louth

The book contains 3 appendixes: a vocab list, a principal parts chart, and a list of the selections arranged in order of difficulty.

This reader is presented a little differently than Hendrickson’s Philippians reader that I mentioned in my previous book blurb. The greek portions for reading do not give any translation — these are found in section 2. I like this presentation, as it forces the user to try a hand at translating themselves rather than relying on the given translation. The grammatical notes within the Greek sections are thorough, giving both parsing of difficult forms and lexical forms of difficult words as well.

This is another fine addition to Hendrickson’s expanding list of Greek readers. The one little nitpicky complaint I have is that the author recommends bible software in the introduction, and Whitacre is clearly a PC user as he neglects to mention Accordance. Readers may get the impression that you can only get Greek digital editions of the material on a PC, which is not the case. It is good for authors to hit both Mac and PC users when recommending software.

Another great book to add to my recommended list for the 2nd semester of my intro Greek class!

I received 2 fine books from Hendrickson that I have been looking over. As I am now teaching intro Greek, I am very interested in these books for recommended reading, or for encouraging students to continue with Greek once the year is done.

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Jerry L. Sumney
Hendrickson
161 Pages

Here is the TOC:

1. Philippians 1:1-2 Epistolary Greeting
2. Philippians 1:3-11 Thanksgiving and Prayer
3. Philippians 1:12-26 Report of Paul’s Circumstances with Related Examples to Imitate and to Avoid
4. Philippians 1:27-2:18 Exhortations to Conform Community Life to the Example of Christ
5. Philippians 2:19-3:16 Contrasting Examples of Responses to the Gospel
6. Philippians 3:17-4:9 Application of Examples of Living in Accord with the Gospel with Explicit Exhortations
7. Philippians 4:10-20 Paul’s Thanksgiving to the Philippians for Their Gift to Him
8. Philippians 4:21-23 Epistolary Closing

The book includes an overview of the syntactical structure of NT Greek, a glossary of other terms, resources for further study, and an index of subjects.

From the Back:
“Jerry Sumner provides exactly what is needed to help students learn the challenging art of Greek exegesis. Its exceptional clarity and practical usefulness make this an ideal textbook. Sumney enables students to see the unique potential of Greek exegesis for understanding the New Testament. This is the perfect book for those who have completed beginning Greek. And if I could, I would put it into the hands of every such student.” — Donald A. Hagner

“This handbook will not only help students to interpret Philippians, but will greatly facilitate their grasp of the many grammatical categories of an intermediate Greek grammar. The book would serve as an excellent supplement to a second-year course or as a great refresher for pastors and teachers who have let their Greek New Testament get a little dusty.” — Clinton E. Arnold

Each section is broken down into smaller pericopes, and from here each verse is tackled one at a time. Along the way the grammar is clearly explained, with exegetical nuggets along the way.

I’m very greatful for this coming across my desk. It will be going on to my recommended books for my Greek class. Its my hope that I will inspire a few students to purchase this and work through it on their own to keep up their Greek.