Dobson - Learn NT Greek

Eric S. Weiss eweiss at gte.net
Thu Jun 13 10:37:57 EDT 2002


Thank you very much, all of you who wrote on-list (and a few off-list) re:
Dobson's book. I'm about halfway through, and just want to mention one
other feature of this book I've noticed, which is: Dobson really acquaints
and familiarizes the students/readers with the fact that Greek words have
a range of meaning, and that translating from Greek to English is NOT
simply a matter of substituting an English word for a Greek word. In his
exercises he'll, e.g., give as part of the same exercise various sentences
using the same word (e.g., BALLW, POIEW) but use different words in the
translation answers that illustrate the range of meaning of the word.

Also, different from the other 1st-year grammars I'm acquainted with
(primarily Mounce, D.A. Black, and Story's GREEK TO ME), Dobson points out
frequently why a typical formal-equivalence translation might reflect the
Greek, but is really not good English; and not only that, but he, e.g.,
explains why translations like "Jesus answered and said" are NOT the best
translations.

This, to me, early on gives the student a more proper mindset for learning
to read the GNT. I too often still struggle with viewing translation as a
mathematical exercise of letting Greek words = English words, instead of
thinking of how best to translate a clause as a whole.



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