[B-Greek] Classic or Koine

Dr. Don Wilkins drdwilkins at sbcglobal.net
Wed Dec 17 16:47:48 EST 2003


There are various opinions on this, but my own experience is that 
learning classical will indeed enable you to read both koine and the 
LXX. Also, I taught beginning Greek from Athenaze for several years and 
found it to be an excellent primer. Some might argue that you will be 
ill-prepared for the differences between classical, koine, and the LXX, 
but I think that for the most part you'll discover (at least in regard 
to koine) that some of the technicalities in classical Greek are simply 
missing from koine, rather than being significantly changed (again, 
others may disagree). It would no doubt be a good idea for you to obtain 
an intermediate or advanced grammar and lexicon for koine, and the 
choices out there fortunately are better now than they were twenty or 
thirty years ago. Consider Dan Wallace's grammar, perhaps Funk, etc. If 
you come across A.T. Robertson's advanced grammar or Dana & Mantey, I 
would encourage you to pass both of them up. Robertson, though valuable 
in many points, is very difficult to read and mainly dependent on 
secondary sources. D&M is prone to exaggerations and errors.
	As to the LXX, I do not know of any grammar that would improve on a 
good classical grammar like Smyth--perhaps someone else on the list 
will. As a Bible translator I have spent a good deal of time making 
comparisons between the Hebrew and the LXX, and the biggest problem you 
might face is dealing with "translation" Greek. Some of it is very nice 
Greek, deliberately altered from the original for that very purpose, and 
other parts might appear awkward or difficult to understand because the 
original translators were having difficulty handling the Hebrew.
	I hope that helps, and best wishes to you.

Don Wilkins

On Wednesday, December 17, 2003, at 09:49 AM, Carl W. Conrad wrote:

> Date: Wed, 17 Dec 2003 11:47:42 -0600
> Forwarded for: David Ramirez <dramirez at panam.edu>
> Subject: Classic or Koine
> To: "'b-greek at lists.ibiblio.org'" <b-greek at lists.ibiblio.org>
>
>
> Greetings all,
> I am a beginner self-taught student in Greek. And am using the Athenaze 
> book
> one. I enjoy it very much and feel that I am making good progress. 
> However I
> need some information regarding the Classic vs. Koine approach to 
> learning
> Greek. Will studying Classical Greek enable me to read the Septuagint? 
> and
> the New Testament in Greek? Or will I need to take the Koine route for 
> that.
> My interests are reading Biblical Greek scriptures as well as secular 
> Greek
> classics.
> Any feed back would be greatly welcomed.
>
> Thank you,
>
> David Ramirez
>
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