[B-Greek] Re: Greek & Hebrew brush-up" tools

Joseph Weaks j.weaks at tcu.edu
Wed Feb 25 05:51:42 EST 2004


These comments simply do not resonate with me. They are not foreign to 
me either. I have a friend at Chicago who struck up a similar argument 
while we sipped a beverage on a balcony at Göetingen, and it still 
sounds like little more than techno-phobia.
Quite simply, using computer tools allows me to access the very same 
books/resources I would access on my desk but much quicker. When I'm 
teaching a Bible study at my congregation or in a small class or when 
my computer blows up as you say it will, I have a hard copy of my GNT 
with me, as well as any other lexicon/grammar/commentary I choose. Fact 
is, computer-aided study allows for greater depth of scholarship.
If you're working along and find something worth exploring, try 
checking it out in Liddel&Scott and Kittel and Wallace and a 
Concordance and Louw&Nida and BDAG and TLG and a Synopsis on your good 
old fashioned desktop. Fact is... you simply won't do it. You can, but 
you won't. John Henry wouldn't. Neither will you. You are more likely 
to access a larger amount or resources if they are (as Wittgenstein 
would say) ready-to-hand.
I do think that folks need to gain some faculty in the hard copies of 
their tools. Finding the lexical form of a word encountered is an art, 
but computer-aided look-ups increase the amount of 
work/study/scholarship one can do. But if for whatever reason I want to 
do the work in my hard copies, there's no atrophy at work. I don't lose 
the ability to remember if Zeta comes before or after Eta. There is a 
one for one correspondence between my etext and my paper text.
I'm sure it was argued as well, "Beware the seductive lure of the bound 
book. Stick with scrolls." "Achtung. This printed text is an 
abomination. Only written manuscripts fit the bill." "Beware the 
lethargic effects of the concordance. Much better to read the whole 
thing through for each new word study."
What is true is that computer-aided study can even more conveniently 
enable someone to keep from ever learning Greek or Hebrew. But, if the 
problem is the availability of an "Instant Details" box, then the 
problem is not with the technology, but rather the reader's will power 
(one doesn't have to have any of these helps open).

Also, for a good reader's lexicon as it was called, I recommend 
Zerwick's little fat book that is keyed to his very good grammar.
Cheers,
Joe Weaks


On Feb 25, 2004, at 3:34 AM, Donny Cameron wrote:
> ...I've been a silent reader of B-Greek for years.  But as a survivor 
> of a "Baby Greek" class, and a seminary Greek/Hebrew cycle, I just 
> have to offer up some thought-bombs on this.
>
> 1.
> Even better than "cheating via translation" is using the tried-n-true 
> "Reader's Lexicons" (such as Kubo's for Greek, and for Hebrew: Owens, 
> or Armstrong/Busby/Carr, etc.).  ...
>
> 2.
> I'm also somewhat surprised at the other replies to Steve's post, that 
> urged an even more subtle form of "cheating"--a too-casual resort to 
> grammar software.
>
> ...BUT the easy resort to such pre-canned means (as a replacement for 
> keeping up some personal skill) is way too seductive a crutch to get 
> used to.  I fear it could become a habit-forming road to lazy 
> scholarship.
>
> ... Why not validate all that time and effort it took, to keep your 
> own competency active and fresh w/ a little dedicated MANUAL 
> fingerwork and brainwork as well?
>
> 	B.  In a more mundane point, scholarship that settles into becoming 
> that dependent on software will be dead in the water whenever your 
> computer goes down, AND whenever you can't access that software OR 
> your computer.
>
> ...Those depending on your teaching need to have the confidence that 
> you know/can defend what you are talking about, without having to rely 
> too much on software.  They might conclude "Hey, if software's all it 
> takes, anybody could do THAT!"  (They'd be wrong, but they might think 
> it anyway.)
>
> ...Or is that too much like ol' steel-drivin' John Henry killing 
> himself for nothing trying to out-do the new technology?
>
> Yes, use the electronic tools as you need, but don't fool yourself 
> into thinking its ease-of-use isn't seductive; maybe eventually 
> destructive to your hard-won personal competence in the languages. 
> (Yes, that could be true of a lazy dependence on Kubo, also).   I 
> think serious scholars should NOT be so dependent on tools that they 
> lose their own basic attainments in the languages.  I could be wrong, 
> but isn't our credibility as scholars even a little at stake in this?
>
>
> --Donny Cameron, Portland, OR




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