Today for the New Testament there are more than thirty different versions in English translation alone. Churches and seminaries voice if knowing Greek is still necessary. They believe most versions are quite accurate, but we must also concern for the full understanding of the text besides accurate understanding of it. Knowing Greek and reading the Bible in the original language is much more than reading words in a book, because it allows a meeting and conversation with the original author of the Book. Thus, the main objective of translation is not only putting words into your own language but to revive the full spectrum of dynamics and meanings from the past to the present context.
From the beginning I wanted to write a grammar book that was actually useful to pastors and missionaries in their fields. They tell me what they need is a working grammar book, which can actually be used to prepare sermons from the Greek New Testament and to answer people's spiritual questions through the Greek New Testament. They needed something more than a book that teaches how to parse verbs and to know declension of nouns. Thus what I believed what PGG ought to be was already in their heart for a long time. Thus, Progressive Greek Grammar was born.
In Addition for the "Essential" EditionI am so glad that PGG has received warm welcome from students and pastors. Some of them were kind enough to leave excellent and helpful reviews as well that I appreciate immensely. However, I also noticed there were general readers who were neither seminarians nor pastors, yet willed to learn Greek. For them 438 pages of thick grammar book with technical annex and detailed paradigms at the back were felt heavy and negligible. Today Lisa and I feel fortunate being able to keep most of the main parts except vocabularies from PGG and to publish this "Essential" edition only in 330 pages. We hope this will help my readers to find the true truth.
