About
Dr. Rod Decker
Dr. Rod Decker, author, seminary professor, and an internationally known New Testament scholar passed on May 25, 2014. He was 61. “He always cared about others more than himself, always deflected praise, and always gave God glory,” says Mark McGinniss, a faculty colleague who had seen the soli Deo Gloria in action.
“Rod stands out as an unusually gifted and diligent teacher in a technically challenging discipline,” says James Ernest, senior acquisitions editor at Baker Academic. “At a moment when many seminaries and denominations are giving up on expecting ordinands to become competent in either Hebrew or Greek, Rod’s first-year Greek textbook will be a critically important new tool in the hands of those who refuse to abandon that undertaking.”
Education
- Th.D. (NT), Central Baptist Seminary (MN), 1998 Dissertation: “Temporal Deixis of the Greek Verb in the Gospel of Mark in Light of Verbal Aspect”
- Th.M., Detroit Baptist Seminary, 1980
- M.Div., Baptist Bible Seminary (formerly … School of Theology), 1978
- B.S., Baptist Bible College, 1974
Ministry
- 12 years pastoral ministry Fellowship Baptist Church, Glen Mills, PA, 1978-79 Calvary Baptist Church, Ecorse, MI, 1980-82The Country Church, Caro, MI, 1982-90
- Instructor in Bible, theology, and biblical languages, Calvary Bible College, Kansas City, MO, 1990-93
- Assistant Professor, NT and theology, Calvary Theological Seminary, Kansas City, MO, 1993-96
- Adjunct Professor of NT, Central Baptist Seminary, Minneapolis, MN, 1994-95.
- Assistant Professor of NT, Baptist Bible Seminary, Clarks Summit, PA, 1996-2000; Associate Professor, 2000-2006; Professor, 2007-2014.
- Courses taught at the MDiv level include the first three semesters of Greek (in a 3 year curriculum), NT textual criticism, and survey of Greek literature (non-NT koine reading). At the PhD level: intertextuality (= use of OT in NT), NT biblical theology, advanced Greek grammar, and NT textual criticism.
Books & Publications
Reading Koine Greek: An Introduction and Integrated Workbook
At the heart of God’s story is the hope that all things lost to man will one day be made new.
This in-depth yet student-friendly introduction to Koine Greek provides a full grounding in Greek grammar, while starting to build skill in the use of exegetical tools. The approach, informed by twenty-five years of classroom teaching, emphasizes reading Greek for comprehension as opposed to merely translating it. The workbook is integrated into the textbook, with exercises appearing within each chapter rather than pushed to the end or located in a separate book.
- La Biblia en Nuestro Idioma. Lima, Peru, SA, Seminario Teologico Bautista, 2004. (One portion of the lecture series noted below.)
- Temporal Deixis of the Greek Verb in the Gospel of Mark with Reference to Verbal Aspect. Studies in Biblical Greek, v. 10. Edited by D. A. Carson. New York: Peter Lang, 2000. See the page devoted to this book.
- The English Bible. Kansas City: Calvary Theological Seminary, 1993.
- Contemporary Dispensationalism. Kansas City: Calvary Theological Seminary, 1992.
- The Expositor’s Toolbox. Co-edited with James Raiford. Kansas City: Calvary Theological Seminary, 1992.
- A Koine Greek Reader (New Testament, Septuagint, Apostolic Fathers, Creeds), 2007 (Kregel).
- Reading Koine Greek: An Introduction and Integrated Workbook, 2014 (Baker Academic).
- Mark: A Handbook on the Greek Text, 2 vols. Baylor Handbook on the Greek New Testament series, ed. Martin Culy (Baylor Univ. Press), 2014.
