Difficulty of the greek of Romans vs Hebrews

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Jacob Rhoden
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Difficulty of the greek of Romans vs Hebrews

Post by Jacob Rhoden »

I'm in a fortunate position to be able to choose between greek subjects on either Romans or Hebrews for a second year seminary subject. The end goal appears to be (based on what is tested in the exam) includes being able to comfortably be able to read/translate the entire book in greek.

Is anyone able to comment as to the difficulty or difference between the greek in these two books, I am aware of the debate on authorship of Hebrews, but greek does not seem to feature prominently in the debate, which would seem to indicate that the greek would be roughly comparable.
timothy_p_mcmahon
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Re: Difficulty of the greek of Romans vs Hebrews

Post by timothy_p_mcmahon »

I think you'll find Hebrews more challenging than Romans.
Barry Hofstetter
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Re: Difficulty of the greek of Romans vs Hebrews

Post by Barry Hofstetter »

It's good that you have a choice, and both of them very good. Most students find Hebrews more challenging. With regard to style, the author of Hebrews uses more rhetorical devices and has a much more periodic structure than Paul uses in Romans. It also uses some difficult vocabulary, both in terms of words unfamiliar to the beginning student and morphology. Couple that with the actual concepts and arguments, which can be difficult even in good English translation, and you are presented with a challenge.
N.E. Barry Hofstetter, M.A., Th.M.
Ph.D. Student U of FL
Instructor of Latin
Jack M. Barrack Hebrew Academy
καὶ σὺ τὸ σὸν ποιήσεις κἀγὼ τὸ ἐμόν. ἆρον τὸ σὸν καὶ ὕπαγε.
Wes Wood
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Re: Difficulty of the greek of Romans vs Hebrews

Post by Wes Wood »

Barry Hofstetter wrote:It's good that you have a choice, and both of them very good. Most students find Hebrews more challenging. With regard to style, the author of Hebrews uses more rhetorical devices and has a much more periodic structure than Paul uses in Romans. It also uses some difficult vocabulary, both in terms of words unfamiliar to the beginning student and morphology. Couple that with the actual concepts and arguments, which can be difficult even in good English translation, and you are presented with a challenge.
+1, though I find the arguments made in Hebrews easier to follow than those made in Romans.

Regarding the original question, I don't have much to add other than you may wish to look outside of the Greek and pick the book that you know less about or that you find most interesting if both are familiar. I tend to associate Romans with doctrinal disputes that could be interesting to examine in a seminary setting. :ugeek:
Ἀσπάζομαι μὲν καὶ φιλῶ, πείσομαι δὲ μᾶλλον τῷ θεῷ ἢ ὑμῖν.-Ἀπολογία Σωκράτους 29δ
Jacob Rhoden
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Re: Difficulty of the greek of Romans vs Hebrews

Post by Jacob Rhoden »

My reaction to the suggestion Romans would be easier, (and yes I agree perhaps more useful to help engage in some theological matters), was that "Oh, but I really like Hebrews", My reaction was so strong, that I guess that settles the matter for me :D

I guess I'll have to aim to make and use some Hebrews flash cards over the semester/term break. Thanks so much for your feedback.
Barry Hofstetter
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Re: Difficulty of the greek of Romans vs Hebrews

Post by Barry Hofstetter »

Jacob Rhoden wrote:My reaction to the suggestion Romans would be easier, (and yes I agree perhaps more useful to help engage in some theological matters), was that "Oh, but I really like Hebrews", My reaction was so strong, that I guess that settles the matter for me :D

I guess I'll have to aim to make and use some Hebrews flash cards over the semester/term break. Thanks so much for your feedback.
There is no wrong choice here... :)

When teaching intermediate Greek I would start with selections from Mark, touch on John, then some selections from Paul, and finish with readings from Acts and Hebrews. The students would nearly always say something like "Just when I thought I was beginning to get Greek..."
N.E. Barry Hofstetter, M.A., Th.M.
Ph.D. Student U of FL
Instructor of Latin
Jack M. Barrack Hebrew Academy
καὶ σὺ τὸ σὸν ποιήσεις κἀγὼ τὸ ἐμόν. ἆρον τὸ σὸν καὶ ὕπαγε.
cwconrad
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Re: Difficulty of the greek of Romans vs Hebrews

Post by cwconrad »

Barry Hofstetter wrote:It's good that you have a choice, and both of them very good. Most students find Hebrews more challenging. With regard to style, the author of Hebrews uses more rhetorical devices and has a much more periodic structure than Paul uses in Romans. It also uses some difficult vocabulary, both in terms of words unfamiliar to the beginning student and morphology. Couple that with the actual concepts and arguments, which can be difficult even in good English translation, and you are presented with a challenge.
This is from earlier in this thread, but it makes an interesting point about rhetorical sophistication as a distinctive feature of the Letter to the Hebrews. I certainly agree with that judgment, but I'd just like to say here that, for my money, the most powerful and effective use of rhetoric in the GNT is Paul's in 1 Cor 1-4 and 12-15, the most dubious is that of the author in Ephesians 1 and 6. My 2c (and you know what 2c is worth these days when the U.S. mint is seriously considering dropping the penny out of circulation!)
οὔτοι ἀπ’ ἀρχῆς πάντα θεοὶ θνητοῖς ὑπέδειξαν,
ἀλλὰ χρόνῳ ζητέοντες ἐφευρίσκουσιν ἄμεινον. (Xenophanes, Fragment 16)

Carl W. Conrad
Department of Classics, Washington University (Retired)
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