First Greek Lesson Live on Ustream, Thursday, 7 PM Central Standard.

Here is the saved video of the first lesson, John 1:1-5.


Some resources will be posted here Thursday AM.

This is the Ustream link for the first presentation.

http://www.ustream.tv/channel/bethany-lutheran-worship

To read Greek, everyone must know the Greek alphabet, which is almost the same as ours, since English is based on Greek via Latin.

There was a young vicar from Kew,
Who kept an old cow in a pew.
He taught each week,
A new letter in Greek,
But it never got farther than mu.

You do not have to write it out, but it may help to learn the alphabet, Later, in looking up Greek words, knowing the order helps.

Once the alphabet is learned, reading the Greek words is next.

We will use the Gospel of John.

Greek NT: John Chapter 1

1 ἐν ἀρχῇ ἦν ὁ λόγος, καὶ ὁ λόγος ἦν πρὸς τὸν θεόν, καὶ θεὸς ἦν ὁ λόγος.
2 οὖτος ἦν ἐν ἀρχῇ πρὸς τὸν θεόν.
3 πάντα δι᾽ αὐτοῦ ἐγένετο, καὶ χωρὶς αὐτοῦ ἐγένετο οὐδὲ ἕν. ὃ γέγονεν
4 ἐν αὐτῶ ζωὴ ἦν, καὶ ἡ ζωὴ ἦν τὸ φῶς τῶν ἀνθρώπων·
5 καὶ τὸ φῶς ἐν τῇ σκοτίᾳ φαίνει, καὶ ἡ σκοτία αὐτὸ οὐ κατέλαβεν.
6 ἐγένετο ἄνθρωπος ἀπεσταλμένος παρὰ θεοῦ, ὄνομα αὐτῶ ἰωάννης·

There are many sources for St. John in Greek. We will get into text issues later - how the text is chosen or manipulated.

Step One - The Obvious 
Look for words you already know in English, by changing the Greek letters into English. Later this will be easy. The brain has to switch over.

Connect them with English words.

arche - beginning - archeology
logos - word - study of beginnings, archeology
theos - God - study of God, theology
pan, panta - all, pandemonium - all demons,
egeneto - came about or born, genetics
zoe - life, zoo - zoology,
phos, photos - light, photography (graph - writing)
anthropos - man, anthropology - study of man
skotia - darkness - no derivatives in English
phanei - verb, shines, ephanescence
onoma - name, onomatopoia - cuckoo, a cuckoo is named for its cuckoo

Fill in Other Words
ἦν - was, imperfect. The be word is irregular in all languages
ὁ - article, nominative
τὸν - article, accusative
Learn to love the article in Greek, which shows the case of the noun. This is unusual for those with Latin. The article is "the".

Majorly Important

1. Never write the English in above or near the Greek. 
2. Never open the English up near the Greek. 
3. Never get anxious over grammar and vocabulary. Both build naturally.
4. No interlineal Greek/English.
5. No alternative page Greek/English.
6. Burn your Greek flash cards.

Must Do

1. You must spend time on the Greek alone. 
2. Learn the alphabet by heart. Write it down if that helps.
3. Read it out loud until the passage comes out easily. The brain is starting to let Greek take root. For every person Greek is chicken scratches at first.