Sentences in Greek

Richard Allan Stauch rstauch at charter.net
Wed Aug 7 20:20:53 EDT 2002


> -----Original Message-----
> From: Mark Wilson
> Sent: Wednesday, August 07, 2002 8:16 AM
> To: rstauch at charter.net; b-greek at franklin.oit.unc.edu
> Subject: Re: [b-greek] Sentences in Greek
> 
> Richard:
> 
> Just a few comments.
> 
> No one "thinks KOINE Greek" today. If that is
> your objective or hope, you are sure to fall short.
> Linguistically, that can not happen.
> 
> I would be far more content in understanding the small
> pieces than trying to reconstruct some overall grand design,
> a design that even the original writer never saw!
> 
> Too much time is spent, if you ask me, in trying to connect
> dots and fill in gaps. There is too much rich truth in the
> pieces to spend time reconstructing something on too large
> a scale.
> 
> Worst case scenario, you will keep it very simple...something
> the first century hearers would surely have appreciated.
> 
> There seems to be a tendency to see the writers of scripture
> having this intricate, complex hidden agenda, and if we could
> somehow discover it, we could at last figure out just what he
> REALLY is saying.
> 
> As for me, I recommend you not complicate the process of
> understanding the scripture; it really is not that esoteric.
> Jesus himself faulted the leaders for not understanding the
> scripture... not because they were unable to figure out what
> was behind the text, but because they couldn't understand
> what was right before their eyes.
> 
> My thoughts,
> 
> Mark Wilson

Dear Mark,

Nobody "thinks Greek" anymore? Maybe we should!

What I hear you saying is that we can, and should, try to understand the
text without comprehending the context. Do you really need me to
deconstruct that notion for you?

Also, I have written a few things, even a couple of quite long things,
and I certainly had no trouble keeping the "overall grand design" in
mind.

Finally, I am not trying to complicate matters. They are complicated all
by themselves. I am not even addressing that. What I am trying to do is
come to terms with the prose methodology used by the First Century
authors of the Biblical Greek texts. Once I do that, my translations
will be more accurate. I can address the complexities of the texts'
meaning elsewhere.

This has nothing to do with finding any hidden agendas. It has to do
with keeping the meaning of the text intact, and not slicing it up
willy-nilly.

Richard Allan Stauch
Long Beach, CA





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