[B-Greek] Proficiency Guidelines/just for the joy of it

William Zeitler william at faithfulbible.com
Sun Feb 13 19:19:22 EST 2005


'Amateurs' vs. 'Professionals':

AMATEUR: 1784, "one who has a taste for (something)," from Fr. amateur
"lover of," from O.Fr., from L. amatorem (nom. amator) "lover," from amatus,
pp. of amare "to love." Meaning "dabbler" (as opposed to professional) is
from 1786. (http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=amateur)

PROFESSION[AL]:  c.1225, "vows taken upon entering a religious order," from
O.Fr. profession, from L. professionem (nom. professio) "public
declaration," from professus (see profess). Meaning "occupation one
professes to be skilled in" is from 1541; meaning "body of persons engaged
in some occupation" is from 1610; as a euphemism for "prostitution" (e.g.
oldest profession) it is recorded from 1888. Professional (adj.) is first
recorded 1747 with sense of "pertaining to a profession;" 1884 as opposite
of amateur. As a noun, it is attested from 1811. Professionalism is from
1856. (http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=profession)

In other words, 'amateurs' do something simply for the love of it, whereas
'professionals' are in the position of publicly 'professing' their
expertise -- in other words, taking a publicly authoritative stance, and the
responsibility that goes with that. A 'professional medical doctor', for
example, can suffer very real consequences if their public profession is
wrong. Amateurs face no such risk.

Which is not to say that 'professionals' don't love what they do -- I hope
so! But one emphasizes doing it for the 'fun' of it, the other emphasizes
the responsibility that goes with being a recognized 'expert'. Both of
course have their place.

If something like Greek is worth doing, it's worth doing badly! -- as a
stepping stone to doing it well. The thing for us amateurs -- and I place
myself solidly in that category -- is to be extraordinarily cautious about
being more authoritative in our public stances than our skill warrants.
(Actually, professionals probably need to do that too!)

william zeitler


-----Original Message-----
From: b-greek-bounces at lists.ibiblio.org
[mailto:b-greek-bounces at lists.ibiblio.org]On Behalf Of
TuNeCedeMalis67 at aol.com
Sent: Sunday, February 13, 2005 3:48 PM
To: nebarry at verizon.net; Revdpickrel at wmconnect.com
Cc: b-greek at lists.ibiblio.org
Subject: Re: [B-Greek] Proficiency Guidelines/just for the joy of it


Yeah, but if you are reading the Septuagint just because it is FUN, who
cares
if your understanding is erroneous!

That can wait till you are good and ready to study a grammar book in depth
because you WANT to. You only need "correct" conclusions if you are trying
to
convince people they are "wrong" and need to do things your way :-)

Rev. Pickrel, have you seen the Dobson book? It's kind of like a "Dick and
Jane" reading book. My son likes READING it better than writing out
translations. It's a cheapy little paperback that any bookstore can order
for you so you
won't even need to worry about the cost of shipping.

Joy is a LOT more fun than trying to be "correct" :-) Just because we are
studying Greek doesn't mean we can't approach it like French and just
slaughter
it, if we want to :-)

Kat Doe
homeschool mom

In a message dated 2/13/2005 5:01:58 PM Eastern Standard Time,
nebarry at verizon.net writes:
With all due respect, Rev. Pickrel, I often find that when individuals such
as
yourself actually attempt to use what they have learned, that their
understanding of the Greek will be erroneous and their conclusions even
worse,
but I hope that you are an exception to that general rule.
---
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