Welcome to In Common
A place for sharing insights into Biblical Greek (Koine Greek) language - minus the jargon.
1. The reason for being
I’m a linguist by background, with fond love for many languages—but especially Koine Greek. It all started with Classical Greek studies at university, back in the naughties. There I discovered the mighty epics of Homer, the heartbreaking plays of Sophocles, and the cutting oratory of Lysias. I also discovered a vibrant and generous community of Greek-language-lovers. It was an honour to learn from and among them.
Flash forward twenty years, and I’m now teaching Biblical Greek in a university setting. I love the way learning Greek opens up the text of the New Testament to deeper insights, fresh angles, new connections, and, most of all, a deeper emotional impact. Reading the text in Greek allows the authors’ emphases, humour, wit, and passion to come at me straight—and I love it.
Lately, I’ve sought a deeper understanding of the Greek verbal system. But as I’ve delved into modern scholarship on the topic, I’ve run up against three significant problems:
Much of the scholarly chat is extremely dense and jargon-filled, sometimes to the point of incomprehensibility;
Many leading analyses of the verbal system are replete with linguistic red flags: statements and summaries which defy what normally happens in human language; and
Many leading analyses of the verbal system do not accurately predict real-life usage of Greek (or at least, not without manifold exceptions); nor do they provide crystal-clear explanations for why a verb is what it is in any given context. In short: the analyses don’t help me understand a given text.
I’ll be explaining these problems in more depth (with examples) over a series of upcoming posts. But I won’t spend too long there. My goal is to offer a solution: a way of understanding how time reference, aspect (or something like it), voice and mood really work in Koine Greek. And I will explain it in everyday English—I promise.
And my second reason for creating this substack?
Sometimes when I read the New Testament, something in the Greek text hits me, and I really want to share it. I hope these types of posts will be encouragements to those among us who have laboured diligently to learn Koine Greek, and who could use a fresh pair of eyes to point out some of the delights along the way.
2. Who is In Common for?
I write for three groups:
Greek scholars: You have a wealth of experience in the texts—more than I can hope to gain in my lifetime. I hope you will comment on my posts, teach me, challenge me, test my theories as you read the New Testament or other Classical and Koine Greek literature. I hope together, we can refine our mutual understanding until the very best analysis emerges.
Greek students: Are you looking for simple, fruitful ways of understanding Greek verbs? I hope you will find my analysis and discussion enlightening—not just in relation to the verbs themselves, but as you see Koine Greek texts come to life as each verb falls into place. I hope you will bring your questions, reflections and “aha!” moments to the discussion.
New Testament lovers: My aim is to reflect on the New Testament in such a way that you, even without knowing any Greek, will gain an insight into what the Greek text is doing. I hope that you, too, will grow in your love for the New Testament text, and the One to whom it testifies.
3. Should I read Language Analysis or New Testament Reflections or both?
Subscribers, website perusers, and podcast listeners can choose between three bespoke options:
Just the linguistics stuff. These articles are numbered, and clustered under the heading Language Analysis. They’re popular-level articles, but aimed at people with at least some knowledge of Greek and/or linguistics;
Just the biblical stuff. These articles are unnumbered, and clustered under the heading New Testament Reflections. These are written for people who don’t know Greek, but are Greek-interested, and also for people who just enjoy soaking up biblical literature. For Greek-lovers who aren’t particularly interested in the New Testament, I hope these articles are still enlightening and enjoyable reads, and also put some flesh on the bones of my linguistic arguments, as they showcase practical implications of what I’m arguing in the Language Analysis posts; or
Read ‘em all. Because why not.
4. How often will I post?
A maximum of twice per month. I spend enough time dredging through my own inbox; I have no wish to become a plague upon yours.
(Sorry for those who subscribed back when I said “no more than once per month”—then I got a research grant to write this Substack, which meant I have started producing more!)
5. My author newsletter
In addition to writing about Greek, I also write children’s fiction, poetry, short stories and non-fiction. I have a separate newsletter for this, where I post occasional author updates. You can find that here.
And finally…
Did you get the double meaning of the substack name? If you translate it into Koine Greek, you will.
My prayer is that our common understanding of this beautiful and God-appointed language will bring joy and hope.
Until next time,
Anna