Reviews of and Responses to Discourse Grammar

Dr. Peter J. Gentry, Professor of Old Testament Interpretation, The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary

NT Greek grammarians today are twenty years behind Hebrew scholars in applying insights from linguistics to our knowledge of the language and many applications at present are skewed. Ironically, linguists are often singularly unable to communicate. Steve Runge’s Discourse Grammar of the Greek New Testament brings us light years forward in the application of linguistics to Hellenistic Greek providing at the same time clear and simple explanations as well as examples that will help students to analyse and exegete texts on their own. This book is five stars—one of the most significant contributions to Greek grammar in the last twenty years!

Carl W. Conrad, Department of Classics, Washington University (Retired), Moderator B-Greek mailing list

B-Greekers well know that I am a confirmed skeptic regarding the ability and willingness of academic Linguists to explore and explain the workings of ancient Greek. Nevertheless, I won’t hesitate to say that Steven Runge’s new book, A Discourse Grammar of the Greek New Testament: A Practical Introduction for Teaching and Exegesis, is a real breakthrough achievement in the centuries-long endeavor to understand and demonstrate how ancient Greek effectively structured what its users wanted to say. That claim will require some explanation of my skepticism about linguistics and no less about conventional grammar as an account of how language works and my gratification at this breakthrough.

[Snip]

Steve’s regular procedure in the chapters of his grammar, wherever it is applicable — as it usually is — is to set forth clearly first the conventional grammarians’ accounting for a usage such as circumstantial clauses and then go on to discuss how these elements are understood in terms of discourse functions, then finally the discourse account is illustrated and applied with ample NT Greek examples. What is so far removed from what seems the common mode of presentation by academic linguists is the pains taken to communicate with those of us who have learned Greek in the old-fashioned way, when, whether rightly or wrongly, we often feel that our notions of how ancient Greek words are dismissed out of hand as antediluvian and laughable. One wants to say, if this is the beginning of a dialogue between the academic linguists and us dead grammarians, “Long live the dialogue!”

Full text available at: http://lists.ibiblio.org/pipermail/b-greek/2010-March/052806.html

Martin M. Culy, Associate Professor of New Testament and Greek, Briercrest College and Seminary

Steven Runge’s A Discourse Grammar of the Greek New Testament fills a significant gap in the available resources for teaching Koine Greek. Runge has taken complex linguistic notions that shed significant light on how Greek works and made them accessible to the masses. He takes us beyond morphology and syntax to explore the communicative goals that motivated the choice of particular words or grammatical constructions. The presentation is both compelling and a model of clarity. This impressive volume will provide advanced students of Greek with an effective tool for taking their Greek to the next level. It is “must read” material for every serious student of the Greek New Testament.

Gerald Peterman, Professor of Bible and Chair of the Bible Department, Moody Bible Institute

Steven Runge’s Discourse Grammar of the Greek New Testament fills a significant need for a well-researched yet readable and practical guide to discourse analysis. Using cross-linguistic principles and providing copious examples from both narrative and epistles, Runge takes the reader from linguistic theory to practical exegetical application. Runge’s work will become a required text in my Greek classes.

Constantine Campbell, Lecturer in Greek and New Testament, Moore Theological College

Discourse analysis is a burgeoning field of research that has great potential to aid students of the Greek New Testament. Unfortunately, it is poorly understood by many. By creating an accessible discourse grammar that brings together the fruit of careful research, clarity, helpful examples, and practical insights, Dr Runge has put countless teachers and students in his debt.

William Varner, Professor of Greek Exegesis, The Masters College

“Steven Runge has made a valuable contribution to the revolution [in discourse linguistics] by his insightful analysis of each New Testament book in his Lexham Discourse Greek New Testament. Now he has taken the next step and provided a theoretical base for his applications in Discourse Grammar of the Greek New Testament. . . . I commend his pioneering work for serious consideration by all New Testament students and scholars. . . I have always been interested in any type of analysis that will help me understand the New Testament better. Discourse Grammar of the Greek New Testament has helped me to do just that.”

Samuel Lamerson, Associate Professor of New Testament, Knox Theological Seminary

“The Runge grammar takes the discourse tools used to study the Greek New Testament and makes them useful and understandable for those students who have never had the opportunity to study these areas. Linguistic/discourse studies have moved at great speed over the past couple of decades and non-specialists have been left behind in trying to understand these studies, much less apply them to the Greek New Testament. Steve Runge’s grammar makes the concepts simple enough that students, even those who have forgotten much of their Greek, can see clear and obvious benefits as a result of the study of Runge’s work. Quite simply, there is nothing else like it. Runge’s grammar is the tool for the beginning student in discourse studies of the Greek New Testament. Logos has done the Greek student a wonderful favor by making this work available. It should not be missed. It is like no other grammar that is available today.”

Mark Dubis, Associate Professor of Christian Studies, Union University

“Having already completed his Lexham Discourse Greek New Testament, an ambitious project of marking selected discourse features (prominence in word order, forward-pointing devices, point-counterpoint sets, etc.) across the entirety of the Greek New Testament, Runge has now produced a full grammar that discusses these features and more. Building upon the work of Stephen Levinsohn and drawing upon insights from linguistic theory, Runge has produced an invigorating work that will repay the attention of all those who are interested in an alternative, though complementary, approach to that of traditional Greek grammars.”

J. Ted Blakley, Ph.D., New Testament Studies (University of St. Andrews).

As someone who has dabbled in linguistics, I would highly recommend Steve Runge’s Discourse Grammar of the Greek New Testament. Though Runge’s Discourse Grammar does not seek to replace traditional approaches to understanding and explicating the grammar and syntax of New Testament Greek, it provides a whole new range of conceptual and analytical tools that complement and supplement the more traditional approaches.

I wish I had been introduced to this material back when I was learning New Testament Greek because I think it would have filled in a lot of gaps and allowed the more traditional approaches to focus on the sorts of things that they do best. Having developed a better sense of language and linguistics over the years, I can see that textbooks and teachers have often pressed traditional approaches into service to explain things that actually went beyond their area of expertise. In the last few decades, a number of nontraditional approaches to grammar and linguistics have made inroads into the study and teaching of biblical Greek, and all to the better. Runge’s Discourse Grammar is no exception.

Moreover, Runge has done us a service because not only has he introduced numerous new resources for understanding the text of the New Testament, he has done so in a coherent and easy manner. His examples are really quite good because they really do explain and illustrate the linguistic tools he is seeking to present.

Jody Barnard, School of Theology and Religious Studies, Bangor University, United Kingdom

In this new digital title Steve Runge embarks upon a full scale delineation of the numerous insights acquired from applying discourse analysis to the Greek New Testament. The result is a clear, helpful, informative and responsible guide to the discourse features of the Greek New Testament. Runge’s Grammar provides a substantial discussion of the various discourse devices that are utilised in the Greek New Testament, thereby clarifying the core contribution that each device makes to a given text. This work offers a fresh and illuminating approach to the Greek New Testament and will make a superb addition to the more traditional Greek grammars.

Alan Macgregor, Doctoral student, University of Aberdeen [Full review-PDF]

In producing the Discourse Grammar of the Greek New Testament, Dr. Steven Runge has provided an important key to grasping and applying the principles of Discourse Analysis to the New Testament text. . . . For those interested in exploring Discourse Analysis as an additional exegetical approach to biblical studies it is the ideal starting point. If you what to understand Discourse Analysis and how it works then – read this first!