Invitation to Biblical Hebrew: A Beginning Grammar
Overview
Based on years of success in the classroom, Invitation to Biblical Hebrew: A Beginning Grammar provides a clear and accurate textbook for the beginning Hebrew student. It focuses on the basics of phonology (sounds) and morphology (forms) so that the student is able to learn the language by reason and rule rather than rote memorization. The textbook also includes helpful discussions of syntax with the ultimate goal of using Hebrew in ministry.
The Invitation to Theological Studies Series (ITS) provides primary textbooks for core seminary courses, including biblical Hebrew and Greek, Old and New Testament introduction, biblical interpretation, and preaching. ITS provides foundational works that are both intellectually stimulating and spiritually nourishing.
Key Features
- Stresses the mastery of of the fundamentals of Hebrew phonology
- Focuses on phonology and morphology
Top Highlights
“If the vowel to the right of the shewa is short, the shewa is silent—” (Page 13)
“In an open pretonic syllable, Hebrew requires a long vowel.5” (Page 25)
“Qameṣ, Ṣere, and Ḥolem, not historically long vowels, lengthen secondarily from short vowels.” (Page 6)
“With vocalic endings, thematic vowels, in the open pretonic position, reduce to vocal shewa” (Page 109)
“In a closed accented syllable, Hebrew prefers a long vowel.” (Page 25)
Praise for the Print Edition
I had taken eight semesters of Hebrew courses in the standard way that Hebrew is taught, and in two semesters of studying Hebrew on Dr. Fuller’s method I finally learned the language! . . . This is the best way to learn the language, bar none!
—James M. Hamilton Jr., Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary
The textbook stands out on several levels. First, it is a truly elementary Hebrew grammar. It focuses on only what the student needs to know. Second, the grammar utilizes a totally deductive approach. While some modern grammars promote the inductive approach or some mixture of approaches, these authors deftly take students back to the tried and true basics. Third, the true beauty of the authors’ method is in how after the students have truly mastered the basic rules, they can then tear apart any Hebrew word and give the reasons why every dot and dash is there, why it is not there, or why the vowel has lengthened, reduced, etc. With this mastery, the student’s fear and trepidation about Hebrew melt away.
—Eric A. Mitchell, Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary
Product Details
- Title: Invitation to Biblical Hebrew: A Beginning Grammar
- Author: Russell T. Fuller
- Series: Invitation to Theological Studies
- Publisher: Kregel
- Publication Date: 2006
- Pages: 388
- Resource Type: Grammar
- Topic: Linguistics
About Russell T. Fuller
Russell T. Fuller (Ph.D., Hebrew Union College) is associate professor of Old Testament interpretation at The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Kentucky. He has written for journals and has published several articles in The New International Dictionary of Old Testament Theology and Exegesis.
Sample Pages from the Print Edition
Reviews
4 ratings
José Carlos Martínez Cristóbal
5/11/2023
I bought this grammar in the electronic version because I found it extremely useful, so I considered how to adapt its content in my Hebrew teaching. The content is excellent, especially if the student likes to know the "why" of things, as it provides extremely useful explanations of the various changes in the morphology of the various elements (nouns, verbs, etc.). However, I was frustrated after seeing that the electronic edition has two problems: first, that many of the examples used by Drs. Fuller and Choi were scanned; and the second, related problem is the poor quality of several images, as well as the complete omission of those beautiful color references in the appendices of the printed version. The content is excellent, the presentation leaves much to be desired. Hopefully Logos will make an effort (as all of us who pay for this content), to make an improvement in this area.Mateus de Castro
8/30/2022
This is the best Hebrew grammar by far. Instead of giving basic rules and tons to memorize, Profs. Fuller and Choi make you understand the language. It's a deductive approach instead of a inductive one. Most "inductive" grammars dumb down the teaching and prepare you for a superficial reading quickly. And that presupposes lots and lots of memorization and no understanding. Fuller and Choi's method is to go through phonology, morphology, and then to syntax. When you get there, you will know how and why words change etc. And not just memorize paradigms. In my opinion, this is the best way to learn a language. The other thing is the exercises. Most grammars and their workbooks have some nice supposedly "biblical" exercises, but they don't always train your. This grammar and its workbook (get it!) have "drills". They will repeat and build upon each lesson with the basics in a crescendo, not jump subjects. And there are lots of drills. This is the way to go! A Grammar that teaches, not just skip through real grammar to make you memorize and try to read the text. Can't recommend enough.Jeremy Hulsey
2/13/2021
This is one of the most poorly written books I've ever tried to work through. It's basically class outlines, it's not really a book. If my professor wasn't a teaching me I would never learn anything from this grammar. It communicates in an extremely convoluted manner. It's nothing but raw data with no real explanation.Chris Linsky
11/12/2020
The version in Logos is very poor quality in terms of graphics. Perhaps where the book has been edited, the graphic that is pasted in is 99% of the time unreadable, which is a slight problem when the graphics are of vowels, boxes, etc. The workbook that goes with this course is of the same quality. In terms of learning the material, I felt like the content is organized best for a scavenger hunt. Imperative information is buried in footnotes often and trying to identify a clear path to success in terms of learning the material is difficult.
Matt Hamrick
5/4/2019
I used this resource in college to learn Introduction Hebrew and it is my go to resource.
