"Why Study Greek?"

KAREN PITTS kpitts at sarnoff.com
Tue Dec 14 11:23:09 EST 1999


Since I learned Greek through a class at church, let me talk about why I
keep it up (I started in late 1991).

1.  I love the language.  I did not anticipate this when I started it.

2.  I do get nuances out of the text that I don't get in English.

3.  Reading from the Greek slows me down and makes me think.  Probably
reading from any other than a very familiar language would work.  One of my
friends that reads Greek with me also reads her Bible in French and German.

4.  I now know enough to recognize faulty arguments made by other speakers.

5.  I find reading from the Greek more moving.  I was gripped by reading
the Passion passages in the Gospels, something I don't think I get from
reading English.

6.  I am a resource for the Bible study I am in.  I don't answer a question
every week, but there's an interpretation question I can answer, or get the
answers to, with some frequency.  Sometimes its a simple as whether "you"
is in singular or plural.

I keep my skills up with B-Greek, teaching (although I'm not currently
teaching a class, I have for most of the last seven years), and reading
regularly with other graduates from our original class.

I'd have a plan in place for keeping the skills up before you start. There
have been very high attrician rates.  My class started out at 25 and I
think about 6 finished the equivalent of one semester.  The next class
started with about 12-15, with two completing, although both of them are
keeping it up.

Anyway, good luck and God bless.
Karen Pitts
kpitts at sarnoff.com
Sarnoff Corporation
CN-5300
Princeton, NJ  08543-5300
609-734-3045



More information about the B-Greek mailing list