[B-Greek] ? - please respond

Terry and Gail Cook cookie99 at fuse.net
Fri Dec 5 21:08:30 EST 2003


Greetings Matthew,
    I too am completing my first quarter of beginners Greek. It has been a
source of joy and of frustration. I've memorized about 144 words; I know a
bunch of different, albeit confusing, endings; I can translate a few
meaningless sentences; today I can scan a New Testament and "pronounce" most
of the words and, I actually know the meanings of a bunch of them! Once in
awhile I can read an entire sentence. I COULDN'T BE HAPPIER! I want
desperately to learn this language and I know I must first crawl before I
can walk, before I can run. I'll never be a scholar but, one day I'll be
able to enjoy God's Word in its original for. So, I'm going to stick it out.
I'm going to read my NT every day, I'm going to buy resources (as money
allows) that make sense, I'm going to keep up with B-Greek and other
websites so I can become familiar with the lingo. I'm going to stick it out
because IT'S A WORTHWHILE THING TO DO! And, in about 18 months perhaps I'll
look back on this period of discovery and wonder why all the fuss :)
Terry Cook
sDg

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Carl W. Conrad" <cwconrad at artsci.wustl.edu>
To: "Biblical Greek" <b-greek at lists.ibiblio.org>
Cc: "Matthew Creeden" <charlottematt2 at hotmail.com>
Sent: Friday, December 05, 2003 7:24 PM
Subject: [B-Greek] ? - please respond


> I am forwarding this directly to the list because I have added the
> requisite full-name signature in accordance with B-Greek protocol; I
didn't
> want to delay the message from reaching the list any longer than
necessary.
>
> Forwarded for: "Matthew Creeden" <charlottematt2 at hotmail.com>
> Subject: ? - please respond
> Date: Fri, 05 Dec 2003 19:08:42 -0500
>
> For the last three months I have been studying NT Greek at the seminary.
I
> have a final on Monday which I do not think I will do well on.  I have
> found this endeavor, which I was very excited about at the beginning, to
> truly be painful and almost wasteful in terms of time.
>
> All I did for nearly four months was memorize vocabulary words (few if any
> I remember) and paradigms.  I have been praying for God to show me
(because
> the prof certainly has not) how on earth I am supposed to incorporate this
> tool into my pastoral life.  What books are essential to have?  How should
> the language be used in sermon preparation?  What is the best way to go
> about learning the language from a practical standpoint without becoming a
> Greek scholar (clearly not my intention)?
>
> I hope you understand my frustration.  I am not certain what the
difference
> is between linguistics, morphology, syntax, etc. and how much I need to
> know of each before I can say I understand this language well.  I simply
> want to be more efficient and productive with the time I spend studying
the
> language for it to be useful to my congregation.  I have always prepared
> sermons from my NIV and a concordance.  Now I am being "sneered" at by the
> intellectuals for they feel this methodology is for backwood preachers.
>
> Any advice you can offer would be greatly appreciated.  I would like to
> know more about the language, but I simply feel it is out of reach.
>
> Matthew Creeden in NC
>
> ---
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