Hebrew for Christians’ does exactly what it sets out to do: namely, teaching Hebrew for Christians. The website is presented as a religious-backed study program, with profits from the sales of its resources going towards funding Ministry activities.
As far as learning Biblical Hebrew goes, there’s no clear set course, rather there are a lot of different resources and courses that you can pick and choose from. For some students, this approach might be all they need to remain engaged and have variety in their Biblical Hebrew lessons. For others, this might be a little bit too confusing and nonlinear for their learning needs.
Hebrew for Christians’ Course Content
Hebrew for Christians offers several different courses on Biblical Hebrew. There are worksheets and resources available for almost every area of study, from grammar on one web page to learning about the Hebrew alphabet, the vowels, the syllables, different parts of sentences and grammar, and even different verb forms and their uses.
If you’re looking for something more concrete, there are three courses available on Biblical Hebrew. These seem to be more structured, focusing on the basics of learning Biblical Hebrew to more advanced topics.
The courses are actually bundles of several resources, including the Biblical Hebrew trainer, which encompasses Biblical Hebrew lessons and Bible study. The similarly named Hebrew Trainer course teaches both Modern and Biblical Hebrew.
Both courses are a little light on the details, and when I clicked through to sample the live stream that was promised for both courses, I was met with an unsecured website and wasn’t able to experience what the courses had on offer. There is also an installer CD available for users who prefer to use the courses offline, as well as the ability to live stream the courses.
Hebrew for Christians also offers other online courses available that seem to be less in-depth, yet still teach aspects of Biblical or Modern Hebrew. These courses are:
- The Hebrew Prayer Trainer course goes into the minutiae of the Hebrew prayers and their meanings
- The Treasure of Hebrew Idioms course deals with the phonetic biblical lexicon of the 500 most important Hebrew idioms
- Hebrew Conversation with Fun deals mostly with modern Hebrew, with 25 Hebrew conversations and short stories, and a promise of teaching over 800 words.
- The Hebrew Words of Love course deals with Biblical and Modern Hebrew lexicon, via stories of love and endearment from the Bible and Talmud. It comes with 200 plus recordings and translations.
Full disclosure: For wannabe learners out there, I have to admit that navigating the site in order to see exactly what’s on offer here can be difficult. However, if you have a burning passion to learn Biblical Hebrew and fund Ministry activities at the same time, then I’m sure that you’ll persevere.
Hebrew for Christians’ Teaching Methodology
From what I could see of the courses, each of the courses appears to be self-led, with units going into detailed explanations and examples for learning purposes.
Looking at the website and all of the information on offer before even paying a penny, the courses seem to be incredibly structured, guiding you from the most basic topics such as the Hebrew alphabet, to more advanced topics, such as Hebrew vowels which are very complicated, to specific Bible passage exploration.
I feel like the focus of Hebrew for Christians pivots on understanding the language, with a significant emphasis on grammar but also on understanding the root of the language from a religious perspective. I like this dual approach and I think the target audience will be thrilled with it too.
Hebrew for Christians’ Instructor Expertise
The author of the site is John J. Parsons, who admits he’s not a professional teacher of Biblical Hebrew, nor does he have a PhD in Semitic languages. He is a passionate advocate of Hebrew, having been to Seminary twice to learn Hebrew and other ancient languages, and is a proud Messianic Christian.
His aim in creating and maintaining this site it’s a “Provide a resource to the church’s rich Heritage and promote Jewish literacy among all those who claim Jesus Christ as their lord”. It seems that he feels that many in the church today are unaware of the “inherent Jewishness of their religious heritage” and he would like to remind Church followers that Jesus was Jewish, and that lovers of Jesus should study the correct context for reading both the old and new testaments, and that is via learning Biblical Hebrew.
The Hebrew for Christians states that its mission is independent and unaffiliated with other organizations and churches.
Hebrew for Christians’ Student Interaction
Hebrew for Christians has a lot of places for student interaction. Not only that, but the interaction seems to be alive, well and thriving. Hebrew for Christians has both a Facebook and Twitter pages, but it also has a lively student forum.
At the time of writing, I was unable to access the forum as it seemed that the website was down, as I experienced with the learning previews for each of the courses. However, in the past when I visited the forum, I could see there were some lively discussions of specific grammar principles, Bible stories, and also just general getting-to-know-you between students. It was lovely to see and definitely kept me more engaged in my own Hebrew learning journey.
Hebrew for Christians’ Course Length and Pace
Each of the courses on offer are self-paced, allowing you to progress at your own speed. Each unit seems pretty in-depth. For example, the Hebrew Training bundle provides hundreds of hours of web-streamed videos, with units on the Hebrew basics, specific grammar, how to read Hebrew vowels, Hebrew calendars, Jewish holidays, Hebrew numbers, and the Genesis 1 trainer.
Each course seems incredibly in-depth, although for the Hebrew Trainer course specifically, some of the units seemed a little “out there” and not completely related to the others (“Hebrew clocks”, for example). I would say this would be an interesting course for anyone looking for a more general introduction to Biblical Hebrew, with a little bit of some Modern Hebrew too.
Hebrew for Christians’ Accessibility
Each of the courses available at Hebrew for Christians are available either to download to your PC, or to live stream on the website. However, at the time of writing, there seemed to be a bug on the site as I couldn’t access the live stream for any of the courses I’d bought.
Hebrew for Christians’ Cost
Each course is individually priced, with some courses costing up to $120, with online versions available. For example, at the time of writing, there was a special offer on the Biblical Hebrew Trainer course CD, where you also receive the Hebrew Trainer course for free, for $60 plus $8 shipping and handling for the US. To receive this deal outside of the US, it will cost $15 to ship.
I would say to check the price of each of the Hebrew courses that you’re interested in, but they do seem to be great saving opportunities for buying the courses online. The Hebrew Trainer and Biblical Hebrew trainer bundle would cost $120 if you ordered it physically, and only $60 when you order online.
The Bottom Line on Hebrew for Christians
Hebrew for Christians is a little all over the place, but what it offers is a good, in-depth set of courses and learning opportunities for both Biblical Hebrew and some Modern Hebrew.
It could afford to be less confusing to navigate because what’s here is very detailed and a good starting point for those who have absolutely no Hebrew, some Hebrew or want to strengthen their relationship with the language of the Hebrew Bible.
Unfortunately, the website seems to be prone to bugs, so I would say it’s best to get in touch with the staff at Hebrew for Christians if you’re interested in learning more, or trying out the courses on offer before committing to buying them.