When I first saw the Ancient Hebrew Research Center’s site, I was initially put off by how clunky-looking it was. It kind of looks like a website from the early ’90s, however, what’s on offer here has a good price point, an excellent basic coverage, and might be a good course for you if you’re just starting out in your Biblical Hebrew journey.
Ancient Hebrew Research Center’s Course Content
The Ancient Hebrew Research Centers courses offer a good base to students looking to get started in their Biblical Hebrew learning journey. Alongside other resources from the course creator (but more about him later) there are three main courses on offer:
- Learn to Read Biblical Hebrew: This is the course for absolute beginners in Hebrew, focusing on learning the Hebrew alphabet, building Hebrew vocabulary, and even translating biblical passages independently by the end of the course.
- How to Do a Hebrew Word Study Without Knowing Hebrew: A cool fact of Biblical Hebrew is the etymology of the words used in the Bible, and this course teaches students how to investigate the Hebrew word, without even looking it up in the dictionary. Rather by taking this approach, this course delves deeper into the root of the word, teaching you how to investigate words, and offering insides into word pairings and more. It was fascinating to me.
- Learn the Ancient Hebrew Alphabet and Language: This course takes a more macro approach, looking at the history of the Hebrew alphabet, as it has evolved over 4,000 years. In this course, you’ll learn about the origins of the Hebrew alphabet from the very beginning of ancient pictographic scripts, which look similar to Egyptian hieroglyphs!
The courses on offer here were different from any other online language learning course, specifically for Biblical Hebrew, that I’d ever seen. I really like the micro and the macro approaches, especially the “Hebrew Word Study” course, which I really think is an important factor in learning either Biblical Hebrew or Modern Hebrew. It’s an approach that is too often overlooked or hurried over in most online Biblical Hebrew courses.
Ancient Hebrew Research Center’s Teaching Methodology
The Biblical Hebrew courses that the Ancient Hebrew Research Center are self-led, using online video content to guide you through the course lessons. There’s a main focus on reading and understanding the Hebrew language, obviously alongside understanding the historical and cultural context of the words and the letters.
There are also supporting resources on the website, especially the course creators’ self-published books. I would say this would be a good course for you if you’re interested in more esoteric aspects of learning Biblical Hebrew, and you’re a highly self-motivated learner.
However, for other learners who enjoy more interactive or teacher-led courses, you might find this a little stale, or even a waste of an investment.
Ancient Hebrew Research Center’s Instructor Expertise
The Ancient Hebrew Research Center is run by Jeff A. Benner and his wife Denise. Together, they’ve run the Ancient Hebrew Research Center website for over 20 years as a labor of love, teaching the world about the ancient Hebrew language, culture, and philosophy.
I couldn’t seem to find much more out about him, although he is a prolific author, selling his Biblical Hebrew and bible study-related books on the site alongside his courses.
I would say that based on what I could find out about his background, and recommendations from former students, a lot of whom are pastors, on the side, it seems that Jeff A. Benner is not a native Hebrew speaker, if that’s something that might bother you. However, I will say that his extensive research and his clear love for the subject definitely make him an expert in the field of Biblical Hebrew and Bible study.
Ancient Hebrew Research Center’s Student Interaction
Despite my searching high and low, I couldn’t find any forums or interaction opportunities for students anywhere in the course. There is a weekly newsletter, as well as other opportunities to communicate directly with Mr Benner, as he is so lovingly called on the website, however, if socializing with other Biblical Hebrew learners is very important to you, you might not find what you’re looking for at the Ancient Hebrew Research Center.
Ancient Hebrew Research Center’s Course Length and Pace
The three video courses on offer, which I’ve gone into above, are pretty expensive, especially for their price point.
The courses are all video-based and self-led. You’ll get lifetime access once you purchase.
Each course averages around 57 lectures, which is about 3 hours of video. They each come with closed captions, which I find incredibly useful, and a 30-day money-back guarantee. Interestingly, you also get a certificate of completion once you complete the course, although I’m not sure what you’d use this for.
If you’re interested in potentially buying a course, it’s best to visit the course landing page that you’re interested in and scroll all the way down to the lecture previews. You’ll be met with 4-5 lecture previews of about 3 minutes each, giving you a sample of Mr Benner’s teaching style, and see if it is suitable for you.
As with other online Biblical Hebrew courses, I found the self-led nature of the course a little bit lacking in interaction for me, but that’s really on me and my type of learning style. I would say that if you excel at self-led teaching and are very self-disciplined, this course could work for you. For other types of learners who might enjoy more teacher-led learning or interactive learning, this might be a little grating and slow-paced for you.
Ancient Hebrew Research Center’s Accessibility
The three Biblical Hebrew courses that I’ve mentioned above are available via a set of videos. There doesn’t seem to be a way to access these offline, and since they’re not hosted on YouTube either, you can’t seem to download them, as you would be able to if you had YouTube.
I would say the courses are accessible… as long as you have an internet connection to be able to access them!
Ancient Hebrew Research Center’s Cost
Here’s the thing. Each of the above courses is priced individually at $125. There’s also an offer to buy all three courses for $300, which will save you a nice $75.
Mr Benner offers a 30-day money-back guarantee for his courses, provided you contact him explaining the reason for requesting a money-back guarantee.
I’d say this is very generous of Mr. Benner, and the courses are pretty competitively priced. After all, for 3 hours of course content, $125 is a pretty sweet deal. I would say that it’s important to check on the course’s landing page for the course’s learning previews, to see if Mr Benner’s approach really works for you before you decide to shell out the money for either one course or three.
The Bottom Line on Ancient Hebrew Research Center
I was very intrigued by the Ancient Hebrew Research Center and the three Biblical Hebrew courses on offer. They definitely came slightly out of left field from what I’m usually used to seeing at other online language learning platforms and are certainly very interesting in their own right.
Their price points are good, the topics are interesting, however, it’s important to note that Mr Benner is not a native Hebrew speaker and sometimes his pronunciation doesn’t seem to be as native as it would be had he been a native Hebrew speaker; there’s absolutely no direct student interaction opportunities, and the learning methods might not fit for your learning needs. Yet, if you’re interested in seeing if this could potentially be a fit for you, then head on over to the course’s landing page that you’re interested in, and check out the sample lessons on offer.