279 - Greek to Me: Learning New Testament Greek through Memory Visualization

Greek to Me: Learning New Testament
Greek through Memory Visualization
By Cullen I K Story and J. Lyle Story
San Francisco, Harper & Row, 1979.340 pp. $7.95.

This introduction to the language of the New Testament is distinguished particularly by a multitude of amusing drawings provided as mnemonic devices. Readers first encounter personal pronouns via a picture of a loving young couple in an old - fashioned car: the young man resembles an egg (ego), the girl is named Sue (su), and the auto suggests autos. The 21 lessons present approximately 600 vocabulary words and all the basic grammatical concepts. There are numerous Greek - to - English exercises with translations, and most lessons offer lengthy untranslated texts, usually adapted from the Septuagint or the New Testament. Short "enrichment" paragraphs illustrate the exegetical insights that come with a knowledge of the original language.

Clarity and emphasis on essentials mark the text throughtout. The drawings may strike some students as too cute, but they give a light touch to an oft - dreaded subject and may lessen the pangs of memorization for many.

David M. Hay
Coe College
Cedar Rapids, Iowa