This Greek reader is designed to accompany Clayton Croy's A Primer of Biblical Greek (Croy, Reference Croy2007). To the extent that it focuses on Koine Greek, therefore, its use as practice is limited for a typical British Classics audience; there is, however, much to admire and consider in how the book is conceived and executed.
Unlike most Koine textbooks I have encountered, in this one Jeong makes explicit reference to Greek teaching in Classics, citing Robert Patrick in this very journal on comprehensible input (Patrick, Reference Patrick2019). I am glad to see crossover between the areas, and hope this is a sign of the potential for future collaboration. Jeong claims to be taking a lead from Krashen in trying to write comprehensible and compelling stories which will carry second language learners along. By comprehensible, he means in keeping with Croy's sequence of presenting grammar and vocabulary. He leaves the reader to decide how compelling the Greek is. Titling it A Greek Reader, in presenting it as a companion to Croy, he is locating this as a book dealing with Koine Greek, expressed as ‘biblical’. This split between ‘biblical’ (which could include the Septuagint), ‘Koine’ (which need not be Christian), and ‘New Testament’ (as many textbooks describe themselves) is a tension felt throughout Christian Greek textbooks, but not one Jeong mentions. I discuss this in a forthcoming article (Ryan, Reference Ryan, Monaco, Machado and Boziaforthcoming).
The links with the primer are evident throughout. On p. 86, for example, there is a note tying the lessons to effective use within the semester system, emphasising the American market as a target audience. This can be easily ignored, and the book adapted for other groups. In the introduction, Jeong lists three key activities: translating the text, reading the text together, and listening to stories. This sequence reflects his teaching methodology. Teachers may want to develop further options, in order to get the most out of the book, particularly if not using Croy's primer.
To the extent that this is designed to complement Croy's primer, it will always be a supplement, rather than a method in its own right. Given that this book is a supplement, however, it also works well to supplement other things. Teachers in a UK setting, Classical or Koine, may find it useful for enhancing reading, stretching students, consolidating learning, and building fluency. It demonstrates how existing grammar-focused resources can be adapted to different teaching methods, converting something aimed at grammar-translation into an extended reading approach.
The exercises themselves may provide good supplementary reading for students of Classical Greek; the level of support given in the notes and vocabulary is such that any major Koine differences will be explained, and the easy flow of the Greek will enable students to follow along regardless of these differences. The lack of vocabulary list at the back may frustrate those who want to look things up, but this is indicative of Jeong's approach. He has taken care to make each lesson's notes and vocabulary as comprehensive as possible, so that the reading experience is not disrupted by students having to flip through different resources.
The Greek is clearly printed, although a slightly larger font size and better line spacing would have made this even better. Accents are used throughout, but not commented on in particular. Vocabulary is given with simple, single terms, rather than any depth or range of lexical possibilities, which may speed up reading, but does direct interpretation in particular ways, and teachers may find students benefit from some further vocabulary discussions to understand more about the variety of meanings for more complex words.
In summary, this is a useful book for Koine Greek students, and may have a role to play in supporting Classical Greek students in improving fluency and range. It is unusual in employing methods based in Krashen's theories to Greek, and may be extremely helpful in paving the way for more pedagogical support in doing this, and in bridging gaps between Classics and Theology teaching methods and resources.
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