LG1200-50: New Testament Greek
Fall 2012 Syllabus
Getting Started

Which is the better understanding of what the risen Jesus says to Mary
Magdalene when she recognizes him in the garden (John 20:17): “Touch me not”
(KJV) or “Do not cling to me?” (ESV)—and why?

Is the devil asking Jesus to prove his identity when he says to him, “If you are the
Son of God…” in the temptation (Matthew 4), or is the argument not about
identity but about what kind of behavior befits the Son of God? How do you
know?

Is it accurate to use “brothers and sisters” to translate the Greek that used to be
translated with the English word, “brethren,” or is the addition of “and sisters” to
“brothers” a modern inclusion not represented in the original language? 1
The answers to these questions and hundreds of others about the scriptures require
knowledge of the language in which the New Testament was written, Greek. That
language is what this class is all about.
In this class, we will study what is known as koine Greek. “Koine” means “common,” and
it refers to the kind of Greek that people throughout the parts of the world conquered by
Alexander the Great spoke at the time of Christ. The New Testament was first written in
Greek and later translated into many languages, and eventually into English.
Most of what you need for the class is in our MyLutherNet web site. This syllabus will orient
you to my hope for your learning, the course requirements, and the schedule of activities
we have planned.
Contact Information
Instructor
Dr. Mary Hinkle Shore, Professor of New Testament
mshore@luthersem.edu
office, Bockman Hall 119, 651-641-3248
651-238-6391 (cell)
Contact times: Sign up for office hours here. (Links on MLN Course Home
page.) My usual office hours are Tuesday, 1:00-4:00 p.m. and Friday, 9:0010:45 a.m. For other times, send me an appointment request. You can see all
my free/busy times here.
1
I promise that you’ll be able to answer each of these questions by the end of the semester. If you
just can’t wait, let me know and I’ll give you hints.
2
“I have taught at Luther Seminary for 15 years; before that, I was a
parish pastor in eastern North Dakota for six years. My Ph. D. is from
Duke University in Durham, NC. I’ve taught online Greek about 4
years, but this is my first time with the Mounce textbook. I love
watching light bulbs go on for people (even when watching
happens over the phone during conference calls!) when I teach
Greek.”
Teaching Assistants
Jeff Brown
jbrown003@luthersem.edu
Contact times: Any contact times are good. I'm usually checking my email
every few hours.
“I’m a graduate of Concordia College—Moorhead, and an M. Div.
student at Luther. My interest in New Testament Greek stems from my
Lutheran core, to place utmost important on the Word. I have always
enjoyed languages, and Greek has been by far the most enjoyable.
It's incredible to be able to read and understand the New Testament
in the original. In reading the words of Christ as they were recorded
and understood, we get that much closer to the heart of God. New
Testament Greek can certainly be a devotional part of faith life.”
E. Keith Lankford
elankford001@luthersem.edu
706-207-0235
Contact times: generally in the evenings except Mondays. Weekend
afternoons also ok. Leave a message if I don't pick up.
“I am a graduate of the University of Georgia in History and an M.
Div. student at Luther. I have studied ancient and koine Greek, as
well as Latin and Hebrew—but my first love is Greek! I enjoy hanging
out with friends, and watching movies that are so bad they're good
(e.g., Birdemic).”
Beth Wartick
ewartick001@luthersem.edu
785 656 2348
Contact times: call anytime before 10:00 p.m.
“I am entering my Middler Year at Luther in the M. Div. program. My
husband and I are still adjusting to living in a big city after growing up
in rural areas. I graduated from Concordia University in Ann Arbor,
MI, in 2011, where I double-majored in Psychology and Social Work. I
first studied Greek in college when I decided to audit two semesters
of Koine Greek in preparation for seminary. Having studied German,
Arabic, and Latin before starting Greek, I enjoyed the challenge of a
new language (and alphabet!). Beyond that, I love the opportunity
to engage with the Biblical text in a different way with the help of
Greek.”
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Catalog Course Description
An introduction to Greek grammar and syntax. Reading and analysis of selected New
Testament texts explores the nature of translation and its relation to interpretation. Help is
given in effective use of resources such as grammars, lexicons, concordances, parsing
guides, and interlinears. Mastery of basic vocabulary is stressed. Prerequisite course for
Master of Divinity degree program.
Enduring Understandings
Our goals for the course are to get you familiar with the language, with the production of
the New Testament and translations of it, and to help you use books and computer helps
to learn more about any New Testament text.
Six weeks or six months after the class, what understandings will endure? Here’s what I’m
shooting for:
1.
Greek is a language, not a code, or (merely) a means of torturing 21st c.
seminarians. The Greek we are reading was the living means of communication
among many of the first Christians.
2. While Bible translation is art as well as science, requiring judgment calls and
educated guessing, it need not be thought of as either too mystical or technical
for you and others to understand and participate in.
3. Bible software, diglot texts, lexicons, and other helps for working with the New
Testament in Greek enhance the experience of reading the New Testament and
reflecting on its relevance for today.
4. You can do this. That is, you have what you need to glean insights from the Greek
text of the New Testament in order to enliven your study, teaching, and
preaching.
Key Knowledge
By the end of the course, you will:
1. Be able to translate the 300 most common Greek words in the New Testament
from Greek to English.
2. Grasp the fundamentals of English and Greek grammar.
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3. Recognize the basic principles of determining the reliability of manuscripts of the
Greek New Testament.
Key Skills
1. Use Bible study software, or online tools to glean data for interpreting New
Testament texts.
2. Analyze different translations of the same New Testament text and explain why
they differ.
3. Complete word studies informed by information in a lexicon as well as an
understanding of the multiple contexts in which a word is used.
4. Translate portions of the New Testament with the aid of references, such as
lexicons and grammatical helps.
Textbooks
Mounce, William D. Basics of Biblical Greek. 3rd edition. Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2009.
You need both the textbook and the workbook.
NET Bible Novum Testamentum Graece/ NET Bible New Testament.
If you have a UBS, 4th ed. or a Nestle-Aland, 26th or 27th edition, that’s fine. I like this
Bible because it has Greek on one side and English on the other, and it has tons
of notes from the translators.
Mounce, William. Biblical Greek: A Compact Guide.
This is a great miniature grammar. It fits into backpacks much more easily than
the textbook!
Mounce,William. Biblical Greek Laminated Sheet.
A legal “cheat sheet” for the stuff you’ll be learning!
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Course Elements
Here’s a thumbnail sketch of all the things you’ll be doing. Following the table, each
element is described more fully.
Element
Resources
Total for
Each
Element
Total
Books & Workbook.
Self Study
Weekly Assignments page in MyLutherNet (MLN)
Resources page in MLN.
TAs & Instructor.
Community
Conference Calls
(one call in week 1;
2 calls in remaining
weeks)
Grammar & Exegesis
Quizzes
Due by Mon. 7:00 a.m.
central time (wks 1-4, 6-8,
10-12).
Conference Line & Calendar. (You can make study group
time/spaces using MLN or the Conference Line.)
Adobe Connect & Conference Line.
TA or Instructor.
Small Group.
All resources except another person.
Graded by Instructor and TAs.
Week 1 is an oral quiz taken with Instructor.
25 calls @
6 points
each.
150
10 quizzes
@ 25
points
each.
250
120
Vocabulary Quizzes
Due by Thurs. 7:00 a.m.
central time (wks 2-11).
These cover the same vocabulary of the
chapters in Mounce assigned for the week. They
are cumulative. CLOSED BOOK.
12 quizzes
@ 10
points
each.
Final Vocabulary Exam
Due Mon. 12/10 by 7:00
a.m.
This is a cumulative test over all vocabulary
learned through the semester. CLOSED BOOK
1 exam @
60 points.
All resources except another person.
1 exam @
100 points.
100
All resources except another person.
1 exam @
100 points.
100
Exam on Nouns
Week 5
Exam on Verbs
Week 9
Weekly Materials on MLN.
Resources page in MLN.
Mini-Projects
One due each week
during weeks 10-13.
Final Project
Due Thurs. 12/13 by 7:00
a.m.
Mini-project topics:




Doing concordance searches.
Using a lexicon.
Using the critical apparatus.
Comparing translations.
All resources except another person.
Sample posted in MLN.
60
120
4 miniprojects @
30 points
each.
1 project
@ 100
points.
Total for
the Course
100
1000
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Self Study
You will be reading through web materials and the textbook on your own. Much of your
workbook study will be on your own as well. Each week, we will let you know the lesson
plan for the conference call. Please prepare for these calls so you can ask any questions
that have surfaced during your preparation.
Community
MyLutherNet has discussion board capability. We have set up three discussion forums for
the whole class.
ἐγώ εἰμι (“I am”)
Introduce yourself here during week 1. There are different threads for the different
conference call groups.
βοηθει μοι (“Help me.”)
Post a question and anyone else can post an answer. This might get you help
faster than writing to just one TA or to Mary.
ζωή (“Life.”)
Life happens, especially when you are trying to learn Greek. Share highs and lows
here, let us in on news and prayer requests.
We can also set up group forum space for individual conference call groups or study
groups. Let Mary know if you would like a space like this. You can use the conference
phone line that we use for conference calls, but there’s a limit to the number of lines it
can take, so please let us know if you plan to use it on a regular basis.
Conference Calls
You are required to participate in real time interaction with a tutor and a small group of
other students. Because we have had a lot of technical difficulty when we have tried to
have people connect with two-way audio in Adobe Connect, we now use that program
only for sharing the tutor’s computer screen and typed chat among the group. To hear
each other, you need to dial in to a conference call line.
The numbers you need and links are here, as well as on the course Home page in MLN.
Conference Call
Phone number: 651-523-1772
Information
Your conference number depends on the host of the call:
Mary: 248
Jeff: 689
Keith: 725
Beth: 785
Adobe Connect: http://luthersem.adobeconnect.com/lg1200
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Quizzes: Grammar & Exegesis
“Exegesis” is a word that means “to read out,” as when you read meaning from a text
(rather than reading meaning into it). It is seminary-speak for the work of biblical
interpretation.
The grammar and exegesis quizzes will include questions related to the new work for
each week. They are cumulative, but only like the workbook is. You’ll have to know some
old stuff to make sense of the sentences, but the focus of the questions will be the week’s
new stuff.
These are timed, open book quizzes. You will have 20 minutes to complete them. Do the
workbook material for the week first, and you will be well prepared for the week’s quiz.
Quizzes: Vocabulary
The only closed-book quizzes and exams in the course are over vocabulary. You just
cannot work with the language quickly enough not to get discouraged if you don’t
memorize about 300 words when you start studying Greek.
In addition to the books you have, there are several resources listed on MLN for help with
vocabulary acquisition. Two audio options are noteworthy here:

If you have BibleWorks, you can also use its flashcard module (complete with
audio) to study the Mounce vocabulary week by week. (Accordance and
BibleReader don’t have flashcard modules.)

Audio files for others are available online from Dr. Philip S. Marshall, Asst. Professor
of Biblical Languages at Houston Baptist University. (Link in MLN, too.)
Exams: Nouns & Verbs
These are basically mid-term exams. When we finish major portions of the textbook, we’ll
review what we have learned so far. Open book, timed.
Exam: Vocabulary
No matter who you take Greek with at Luther Seminary, you need to pass a test on the
325 most used words in New Testament. This is basically a cumulative vocabulary exam of
all the words you have committed to memory during the semester. It is closed-book and
timed.
Mini-Projects
The mini-projects introduce four elements of the final project so you can practice them
before you write your final project. The mini-projects will ask you to do some work with
reference books and/or computer programs at your disposal for:
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1. Doing concordance searches to find out where and how a particular word or
phrase is used.
2. Using a lexicon to study the range of meaning of a word.
3. Using the critical apparatus to decide among variant readings of a New
Testament verse.
4.
Comparing translations and discussing what Greek language issues are behind
their differences.
Final Project
For the final project, you put together the four skills you learned in the mini-projects with
your translation skills, and write a paper on your choice of a few different texts (I’ll
provide the text list by mid-term.) There is a sample final project posted in the Resources
area of MLN.
Frequently Asked Questions
How much time will this take?
As a 1.5 credit class, this course takes 12-15 hours a week. That is two hours every day!
When you introduce yourself to your group in Week 1, share with us when and where you
plan to study.
Do I need Greek fonts?
No, but you do need to be able to input Greek. All of the course materials are typed with
Unicode fonts, so you should be able to read them on any computer. And you should be
able to type in Greek on the quizzes when you need to, if you have keyboards installed.
On a Mac you can type in Greek by adding a Greek keyboard in System Preferences.
Choose Greek Polytonic. Then, in the menu bar at the top of your screen, click on the
American flag, and you’ll see a little Greek flag waving back at you. Choose it, and
voilà! (oh, wait, that’s French…), you can type in Greek.
On a PC, you can change in input language. Choose Greek Polytonic keyboard. Here is
a video from Microsoft: http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/windows7/Add-or-changean-input-language.
Write to helpdesk@luthersem.edu if you would like someone to talk you through getting
to a place where you can type Greek on your computer.
The Fine Print about Fonts
You don’t need a special font, but there are times when a special font may help. Read
on:
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When you type in Greek, you will sometimes need to type an accent mark and then a
letter that goes in the same space. With Unicode fonts, ideally, you can just change your
keyboard input and any font, like Times New Roman, shows up in Greek letters. If you are
not getting the result you want when typing, you may want to download Gentium plus
font and change both the keyboard input and the font when you type in Greek.
Gentium has all the squiggles you would ever desire. You can get Gentium plus at http://
scripts.sil.org.
Do we have assignments due every week?
Yes. This is not like an independent study where you can do a lot of assignments during
one week and none the next. There are calls, quizzes, tests, or mini-projects each week. If
you must be gone from class during a week, please let Mary and your conference call
tutor know ahead of time. We will work something out with you.
Are there specific times I need to be online?
Yes, but just two of your 12-15 hours a week are done in “real time” with others. You will
be in a group of five or six students, along with either Jeff, Keith, Beth, or Mary, and you
will “meet” over the phone/online for 50 minutes two times a week. Sign up for
conference call times on the Google Doc linked here and on the Weekly Assignments
page in MLN.
At this point, we plan that you will have the same conference call host during the whole
class, with the exception of a few weeks when schedules mean a different teacher will
appear. We hope the continuity and the small group atmosphere helps you to feel
camaraderie in work that could otherwise be lonely.
What’s with the 7:00 a.m. deadline for quizzes and assignments?
Years ago, a student said to me, “Why do you make everything due at midnight? If you
are not going to grade it at 1:00 a.m., then give me until the next morning to finish the
work.” I took this to heart. You may be in a different time zone or like working in the dark
of night when the house is quiet. Instead of a midnight deadline, you have a 7:00 a.m.
deadline.
Do you have any study tips?
The teaching team will all have study tips for different elements of the course along the
way. Here are some tips for staying current with the work required.
The Pomodoro Technique
Consider studying in 25-minute blocks, with a 5-minute break between. Don't study for
more than two hours before you take a longer break. Learn more about the Pomodoro
Technique at www.pomodorotechnique.com. My favorite Pomodoro app for iPhone is
now called wind-up timer.
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Body Language
Pronounce the language. Speak out loud as you study. Consider writing your own
vocabulary cards rather than buying them ready made. Practice making the small case
letters in your own handwriting. Sing the alphabet. Use all your senses to anchor what you
are learning.
Take Time Off, Not Too Much
Try to take one day a week off. You'll burn out if you do this 7 days a week. Try not to take
more than two days in a row off. You'll lose too much ground if you take too many days
off in a row.
Getting Help
Luther Seminary Help Desk.
With questions about how technology is (or is not) working for you in the class, write to
helpdesk@luthersem.edu. You should have a reply promptly. Also during weekday office
hours, you can call the help desk at 651-641-3462. The technology help wiki is at
https://wiki.luthersem.edu/bin/view/TechnologyHelp/.
BibleWorks Wiki.
If you have purchased BibleWorks and are beginning to work with it, check out the
resources at our own Luther Seminary BibleWorks wiki. As a student, you can also add
pages to the wiki. Help us build the knowledge base as you figure out new things to do
with the software. The address is
http://wiki.luthersem.edu/bin/view/BibleWorks/WebHome.
βοηθει μοι (“Help me.”)
Post a question or an answer. This discussion forum might get you help faster than writing
to just one TA or to Mary.
Call or Email a Lifeline
Your entire teaching team is available to talk through exercises or offer help with Greek
beyond the conference call times. We want to help clear up confusion before it turns to
exasperation. In a pinch, it doesn’t matter if we are not “your” conference call tutor. If
you cannot reach one of us, call another one. Only a few of you will have me (Mary) as
a conference call tutor, but I am being paid to work with the whole class, so honestly,
don’t hesitate to call or write.
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Course Schedule
Our course week begins on Tuesday every week. This is so you have the weekend to
finish everything from the last week, and then can either work ahead on Monday or take
the day off. Weeks run from Tuesday to Monday.
I will do by best to post everything you need for a week by Friday noon before the week
begins the following Tuesday. (I won’t manage this before Week 1, but expect to after
that.)
Every Week

Start with the MyLutherNet Weekly Assignment page. Review the week’s
resources posted there.

Read and complete the workbook exercises for the assigned chapters in Mounce
(I suggest going back and forth between textbook and workbook so you
practice as you go.)

Memorize the vocabulary for the new chapters in Mounce and review previous
weeks’ vocabulary.

Participate in your small group’s two conference calls.

Take the quizzes or exams assigned for that week.
Schedule
Week
Start
Chapters
Date
in Mounce
1
9/4
1, 2, 3, 4
2
9/11
5-6
Other Notes & Reminders
1. Read the syllabus & find your way around
MyLutherNet.
2. Sign up for a group, and attend that group’s “later in
the week” conference call (only one call this week).
3. Introduce yourself to your group. (MLN Discussion
area.)
4. Sign up for the 10-minute oral quiz with Mary, and take
the quiz.
First vocabulary quiz this week (chapters 4-6).
First grammar & exegesis quiz this week.
3
9/18
7, 8, 9
4
9/25
10, 11, 12
5
10/2
13, 14
Exam on nouns and adjectives this week.
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Week
Start
Chapters
Date
in Mounce
Other Notes & Reminders
6
10/9
15, 16, 17
7
10/16
18, 19, 20
8
10/23
21, 22, 23
9
10/30
24, 25
Exam on indicative verbs this week.
10
11/6
26, 27
Mini-project due this week.
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11/13
28, 29, 30
Mini-project due this week.
Last vocabulary quiz this week.
Vocabulary final will be available this week (due by 7:00
a.m. 12/10).
12
11/20
Thanksgiving Break
11/27
31, 32, 33
Mini-project due this week.
Last grammar and exegesis quiz this week.
13
12/4
34, 35, 36
Mini-project due this week.
Last conference calls this week.
Vocabulary Final due Monday 12/10, 7:00 a.m.
12/11
Final Project due Thursday, 12/13, 7:00 a.m., (This is the
morning after classes end on campus.)