Scribes Trained for the Kingdom: A Pre-Grammar for New Testament Greek as a Spiritual Discipline

As a Pre-Grammar, this book is intended as a prelude leading to New Testament (NT) Greek studies. (1) It focuses on why the pursuit of Greek as a spiritual discipline can be an exciting adventure that forever changes the way one reads the Bible; and (2) it gives one a taste of the language—a kind of “jump start.” Each chapter is divided into two sections:

I. SPIRITUAL DISCIPLINE (with various titles) The first section of each chapter is the primary focus of the book. It emphasizes and illustrates why the pursuit of NT Greek can be a spiritual discipline: a life-long encounter with biblical texts, a spiritual journey.

Chapters 1-3 briefly describe spiritual disciplines and why the pursuit of NT Greek belongs here.
Chapters 4-10 lay out seven (7) benchmarks, one for each chapter. By looking at one specific text from the Gospel of Matthew (13:52), these chapters highlight the pursuit of NT Greek as one way of serving God: a truly spiritual discipline.
II. TIME FOR GREEK (always this title) The second section of each chapter offers some very basic Greek, enough to give readers a taste for the language. This is not a “shortcut” to learning Greek. (There is no such thing!) Here, a mere taste of Greek is offered at a light pace, a kind of “jump start” into the language, or maybe like a “sampler” in a restaurant. This small amount of the language is intended to help one see the larger picture as a way of serving God and to whet the appetite for taking the next step. A focus only or even primarily on the Greek part of this book will result in missing the point of the book.

TABLE OF CONTENTS
Explanation of Chapter Format: 9
Master List: The 7 Spiritual Benchmarks 11
1 A GREEK EXPERIENCE 13
2 A SPIRITUAL DISCIPLINE 21
3 A TIME TO SOW 31
4 SCRIBES 39
5 TRAINED 47
6 KINGDOM OF HEAVEN 55
7 HOUSEHOLD MANAGER 69
8 TREASURE 83
9 NEW 93
10 OLD 103
APPENDIX 119