[B-Greek] ? - please respond
gene baker
ekbaker at essex1.com
Fri Dec 5 22:31:42 EST 2003
Matthew,
I am very sorry to hear of the frustration you are experiencing. I am
also sorry your professor did not do more to motivate you, and to
demonstrate the usefulness of the language in sermon preparation. If you
are just completing your first semester, I can understand your confusion.
Yes, it is a lot of memorization, and until you have really mastered the
vocabulary, and paradigms, you will not be able to use the language very
efficiently.
The rule of spending about two hours of study for every classroom hour is
very close to an absolute in studying Greek. I found that if I spent the
time, I did fairly well. If I tried to shorten the study time, my work
began to suffer in very short order. All of us carried vocabulary cards
with us, and drilled each other during free time. At lunch you could
identify the Greek students because they were the ones with handfuls of
cards mumbling to themselves in the cafeteria line.
The first year is going to have some discomfort involved, but I hope you
will stick it out. If you are looking for a reason to quit, this is
probably not the list to give it to you. (smirk).
I'm not going to say that you can't put together a good sermon without
knowing the basics of Greek, but I will go so far to say that you will be at
a great disadvantage in trying to use a good many commentaries. If you
learn the language fairly well -- and you don't have to know it as well as
the authorities on this list to use it effectively-- you will find your
understanding of the New Testament to be greatly enhanced. My Greek
proficiency is sadly lacking, due to a number of years of neglect. (The
irregular verbs are gone with the wind.) But I seldom prepare a sermon in a
NT text without muddling through at least some of the Greek text. Twenty
years ago, I could translate with relative ease. I expect that some of that
will come back with some review and regular use.
Please don't quit. You will be doing yourself, and your future listeners
a disservice, IMO.
Since you have found this list, you have access to some outstanding
teachers who freely share their skills with interested students. I'm sure
there is plenty of willingness here to be of whatever help we can. There
are really hundreds of people in this list who very much want you to
succeed.
regards,
Gene Baker
Sterling, IL
----- 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 6:24 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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